911 gear disengage
 

My 911 was involved in an accident. Airbags were deployed. After the accident I drove the car less than a block and the gears disengaged. This is a manual shift. No matter what gear I put the car in, the engine revs as if it is neutral. Just wondering if this is some kind of safety feature where if airbags are deployed that the gears will not engage. The engine starts, but when I put the car in gear, none will engage. Any ideas???? Thx.

What year, and location of impact? I am assuming this was a rear impact, and one of the axles was damaged in the accident.....then when you started driving, the axle joint either broke or came off the transaxle or hub end. Once one side is loose, the car isn't going anywhere.

1999 Carrera. Impact was a hard impact directly sideways into a curb. Technically the rear hit first and then the front. The strange thing was that I was able to engage the gear initially, but then after a block or so, the car disengaged and I could no longer find any gear to engage. I was wondering id that was a safety feature of some kind (i.e. air bags deployed then car disengages). However, the rear wheel did hot the curb very hard - hard enough to deploy side airbag. Does that sound like a major repair issue??? Thank you.

Most likely the axle was slightly damaged when it hit, and then driving a little ways caused the axle to fail completely. Without seeing the car, I can't say how much you will have to replace. Probably an axle, control arm/toe link, wheel, new airbags, alignment, etc....again I can only make assumptions without pictures of the damage. There isn't a safety feature to prevent driving after a crash.

Thank you for that reply. I think you are correct. It looks like the rear axle shifted slightly towards the drivers side by about a 1/2" - which would probably be enough to damage the axle and disengage the drive. I will find out soon enough. Thanks again.