Odd gearbox behavior - Neutral -> Drive sometimes won't shift unless brake is pressed
 

Hi,

My wife noticed an odd behavior with the auto gearbox on her 2012 Q5 this past weekend. She went to an automated car wash that slowly pulls/pushes the car through via a guide track, requiring the driver to put the car in neutral. When she went to exit the car wash with the car slowly rolling forward with no throttle applied, she would normally (all previous automatic cars) just pull the shift lever to Drive and then exit the car wash. She said the gear selector would not move in Drive and she had to apply the brake and then shift into Drive.

Anyone else experience this ? Seems a little unusual.

The new normal. Same thing from neutral to reverse. Takes a little getting used to. Can be scary if traffic is approaching.

Noticed the same on my '10 Q7. New safety features.

-ThinkMac-

Standard and not new. stops people accidently knocking it into gear and running over daddy while he closes the garage door!
To me its more scary to think of a car moving in traffic in neutral!

Is this a safety standard for all cars now, not just Audi? Coming from manual trannies, it took me a while to get used to this also.

If in drive and moving, can the car be put in neutral w/o stepping on the brake? If so, what if one accidentally puts it in neutral while driving down a highway? Do you have to stop the car in the middle of the highway (or just tap the brake for a second) to put it back in drive?

Not being able to easily/quickly put the car into drive seems more dangerous to me.

I really don't like some of these 'safety' features that Audi has (i.e. having to depress brake before turning car on). I see no reason for this one as the car is in park and isn't going anywhere, so why not let my passenger turn the car on and get the a/c running on a hot day while I'm putting the baby in the car seat? So annoying...

>> Are you 100% POSITIVE that the Audi IS in Park? <<
there have been times I have turned off the automatic (not the Audi or even in the last 5 or so years since the safety aspect of apply break) and it is still in gear ... as with a standard/manual if you are not in neutral when starting the car, it will and can lunge so so much for putting the baby in the car seat safely if the car jumps forward on you!

maybe annoying but better safety for the general public.

I didn't think the car would start unless it's in park (which, by the way, I think would be a much better feature than requiring the brake to be depressed). I could be mistaken though.

Also note that depressing the break is a safety aspect for having the keyless functionality too ... you cannot Start the Q via the push button unless the break is depressed.

Audi 5000
 

Ever hear of the Audi 5000?
That may help explain why it's now standard in most cars to have to put your foot on the break to shift out of Park.