Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 November 9

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 9

Honda CRV 2015

Just bought this diesel car (my 8th Honda) but have continual troubles when reversing up a slight slope into my garage when the throttle fails to work, or if it does so only then on full throttle, even then the car only creeps backwards. The supplier can find not fault! Anybody else had this problem please?Artjo (talk) 09:50, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

Not directly, but I notice in my present Honda Civic that I have to press the accelerator pedal down harder when reversing than I did with my older Civic. Perhaps they've changed their suppliers. --TammyMoet (talk) 11:03, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

Or perhaps it's for safety. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:27, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

This forum has posts by other owners claiming a similar issue. There is a suggestion that, in fact, it's normal for a car with a Constantly variable transmission as opposed to a 'normal' Automatic transmission. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 12:45, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

I'm sure many of us remember the similarly-equipped DAF Daffodil... Tevildo (talk) 19:23, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

I certainly recall the CRV version of the 2002(?) model year MINI Cooper had a similar problem. The rubber belt drive was really only designed for moving the car forwards and could be damaged by turning too fast in reverse. So there was a software speed-limiter when the car was going in reverse that imposed a really low limit on maximum reversing speed. Many owners assumed that there was a fault in their car because of this - no matter how hard they pushed on the gas pedal, the car simply wouldn't reverse any faster than the slow crawl it was designed to achieve. SteveBaker (talk) 03:09, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

One possible workaround is to pull forward into the garage, so you will be in the forward gear while going up the slope. If it's enough of a slope, you won't even need to put it in gear to back out, just neutral should do it. (If you do need reverse, then at least the slope will help you back out.) StuRat (talk) 20:54, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

The reverse gear seems to be intended primarily for maneuvering a car when driving forward is not an option. It's not really for "driving with". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:52, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

Harry Hartz found a use for it. He drove backwards across the contiguous United States. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 05:31, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

With all that practice, I wonder if he was better at backing up sloping ground than the average citizen would be? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:39, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

The DAF 600 also had a belt-drive continuously variable automatic transmission - and to solve the problem of reversing, they actually had a separate gear to reverse the entire drive train. An interesting consequence of this is that the car could go just as fast in reverse as forwards!! To celebrate this rather lethal design, there have been MANY races run for DAF's where the entire race is done in reverse gear. Google "backwards DAF racing" - and you'll find many instances - and quite a few hilarious videos. SteveBaker (talk) 16:59, 14 November 2015 (UTC)