niko79

Thank you!

Thank you, Thackeray for the insight! Would this situation above be similar to trying to back up in a steep hill while the gravity force drags the car down the hill? Which im pretty sure has happened to many of us?

Well, there is a litle plastic cover in the panel (RX 450h at least) that will expose a recess area. When you press that, it allows you to force the gear into another mode i.e. neutral, reverse etc.

Thank you. Yea, that is what bothered me at that time but did not want to make a big deal out of it.. They also thought the electric parking brake was still ON, and with a dead battery you cant really tell. Im trying to visualize what happens when gear is put into reverse, and you push the car back? Shouldn't this naturally align with the way the transmission is locked in R mode AND would not have been a problem at all even if the car was pushed back for a longer distance?

Excuse my ignorance. Given there is no mechanical reverse gear, what does shifting into "R" do exactly? I ask the question because recently ran into this situation. Had parked nose in into a parking garage. Battery had died a couple of months later. Then I could not jumpstart it because some pipe would not let me open up the hood. Had to call roadside assistance; they came in and BEFORE they lifted the rear wheels and tow the car a few feet back, they SHIFTED the gear into reverse first for some reason. I was worried that this might have caused some harm somewhere. However, reading your post, it seems shifting into reverse before towing the car backwards for a few feet should have been fine? Is that correct?