MG Drive controls

[Les burrows]

Happy new year everyone
I Have question about MG5 but I think its the same on the ZS as well so the Question is on the rotary drive selection control you have on the top P for park and of course settings R N D on the dial but can the P be pushed while the car is motion? on ICE cars with an automatic gearbox that I have owned you need to push an interlock button in to move the gear stick between D R P but there does not appear anything to lock the rotary dial or stop you from pressing P on the MGs in the handbook it tells you you must not do this while the car is in motion but can you do this and could it happen accidentally with the P button being pressed by perhaps catching it while reaching for something else maybe KERS or MODE switch or even someone driving the car for the first time I would like to think that the drive selection controls LOCK once the car is in motion and can only be operated when your stopped
Thank you

 

[greentangerine]

I can't imagine that anything untoward would happen but as you reasonably state, it might. I guess someone out there might try and since there's a 7 year warranty, all should be fine. Anyone who wrote the software without taking that into account should be [insert preferred punishment here]

I do know that I can achieve the same on my wife's Zoe by hitting the start/stop button (whilst stationary) despite the protests i.e. not putting it into neutral first.

 

[Petriix]

I've not been brave enough to try it but the Leaf just beeps at you if you try to put it into reverse while driving and puts it into neutral. I wouldn't necessarily trust that the MG software has been flawlessly debugged so, even if it's designed to prevent dangerously selecting P or reverse, there may be some unusual circumstances where the logic breaks down. It's not that hard to resist the temptation to press it...

 

[Les burrows]

UPDATE UPDATE
Had an up date this morning from Miles Roberts about my post #1 in this thread,

Today at 9:43 AM
Hi Les,
Regarding the parking button. I have tested this at various speeds, and pressing the P button on the drive selector does nothing once the vehicle is above a snail's pace. I imagine that the limit is set to around 1mph, as pressing the button whilst rolling does nothing.
Kind regards,

Miles

Why that silly little handbook highlights you must not press this while moving Is beyond me if it does nothing so again it’s a thank you to Miles.

 

[LeoRBK]

UPDATE UPDATE
Had an up date this morning from Miles Roberts about my post #1 in this thread,

Today at 9:43 AM
Hi Les,
Regarding the parking button. I have tested this at various speeds, and pressing the P button on the drive selector does nothing once the vehicle is above a snail's pace. I imagine that the limit is set to around 1mph, as pressing the button whilst rolling does nothing.
Kind regards,

Miles

Why that silly little handbook highlights you must not press this while moving Is beyond me if it does nothing so again it’s a thank you to Miles.

I guess the safety is built into gear selection to prevent accidents, but it does not rule it out completely. Bugs in software cannot be ruled out, hence the lines in handbook do make sense. Maybe they classify this as a misuse and may deny warranty claim.

 

[Cocijo]

All of the automatic cars that I’ve owned have specifially stated not to select park when moving - but they all had an overide function to prevent damage. I think it’s a belt and braces approach in case the speed overide function fails - the book is bit of an overkill though the way it is worded!

 

[Kithmo]

There was a waning in the Prius handbook, but various forums have confirmed that selecting P (it was on the gear selector stick), whilst moving, did nothing but bleep loudly at you.