Hey all, I just bought a 2006 Camry, super awesome car. When in park, the shifter locks in place as it should until I press the brake to release it. But, when it is in gear; reverse, or drive, it is VERYYYY easy to slide it into neutral, where any small nudge of the shifter will throw it into neutral. It makes me nervous in case I'm driving and subtly move my arm that could bump the shifter, which will then throw my car into neutral, then even worse, right into reverse which could blow my tranny.

Am I just not used to this yet? Has anyone experienced this?

I'm about to screw a lifting bar on the shifter to lock in place whenever i put it in gear so it doesn't slide to neutral. But I found this forum and want to get other's thoughts before that.

 

Read owners manual. There used to be a button on the shift arm one pushed to move into R. Perhaps the shifter assy has problems.

 

Hey there Joey, Thank you for your quick reply! I found the button you were talking about, but i guess that's only to force the car into reverse when the brake lights are out. Interesting! But helpful!

Unfortuntely I checked the owners manual and it didnt say anything regarding my main issue. Some clarifying details though I have for you.

Shifting car from park -> reverse = normal tension.
Shifting car from reverse -> neutral& vise vsera = very easy, almost too easy to do so.
Shifting car from drive to neutral& vise versa = very easy as well.

Hope this helps! It could be the shifter assembly, i may take it to a local mechanic and see what they think but your messages are helping still!.

 

Page 112 of the owners manual has some info.

To move the gear shifter for Park, the side shifter button needs to be presses AND the brake pedal pressed.

To move from Neutral to Reverse the side shifter button needs to be pressed.

Your shifter seems to have a problem with the side shifter button lockout not working.

The brake light lockout is a different locking system the side shifter button lockout.

 

Hello Joey! So i apologize for any confusion. But I reviewed my issue on a step by step level in accordance to the owners manual. I have attached the manual you described.
Through my efforts, I found out that the lights on the shift **** i use with my hand say they're changing gear from R > N, N > D, and vise versa. The shifter assembly just doesnt exactly line up with what the lights say on the dash but that's just because it is a sliding piece of plastic telling me which gear i am in.

Therefore, ALMOST everything works as it should in accordance to the manual. I say almost because my concluding issue is that when the car is in N, it can go into Drive or Reverse WITHOUT pressing the shifter button lockout mechanism. This is the issue cause according to the manual, I should have to press the lock release button in order to get the car from N to R. SO, that is the only issue and it could be now narrowed down to that specific part.

Thanks for everything!

 

That is the page.

One can take the shift cover off to a look. Search under changing the light bulb for the gear shift letter illumination.