Odd Shift into Neutral at Bottom of Steep Driveway

Take it to the dealer. You're still under warranty.

 

I don't know - taking 250 years to get down the driveway may have exhausted his warranty.
(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

 

^. i vote for the bump. try going really slow and see if it happens. maybe your shifter needs adjustment.

 

It's electronic. No mechanical connection. If OP hasn't bumped the shifter then something is wrong with the transaxle.

 

when you say no mechanical connections, there are still some electronic contacts inside the shifter, no?

 

Yes but those are not likely to be effected by mechanical bumping. Though if the shifter supports are not up to standard it's possible that they might contact during certain changes of direction. (?)

 

This happened once to me. I was in a parking lot one day and got down on the steep part of the parking lot to get to the main road and all I noticed was that the car as if lost it's brakes. I have to press really hard on the brake. I would like to compare the situation to something like losing your hydraulics. You keep pumping on the brake pedal but is slow to react. This happened going down the steep part(really steep) of the parking lot without the engine motor running.

OP, was your engine motor running when you experience this? Maybe you need to try this. Make sure you let your engine motor run before you go down the drive way and shift your shifter to "B" and see how it works.

 

i believe you're referring to antilock brake/regen syndrome where a change in the road surface makes you feel like you've lost braking because the car is switching from regen braking to brake pad braking (around 6mph) and the abs senses the loss of traction on the road surface. however, the car remains in drive.

 

When you were doing your 3-point turn, is it possible that you didn't shift into drive? I find it I try to move the shifter too fast, it won't engage.

 

I don't think that's it though. There was no change in surface condition. Just flat steep driveway with electric motor only. Was still in "D" though. Sorry about that mistake. Did not go into neutral.

 

You can rule out problems within the transaxle.
No shifting ever takes place in the transaxle. All the gears are always engaged. Very simple!
The current flow and phase changes going to or coming from MG1 and MG2 are all controlled externally.