NHTSA Complaint #11629328 — 2024 LEXUS RX

While driving on a local highway recently, my forearm brushed the automatic shift knob while reaching to place my phone on the wireless charging pad. The transmission shifted into neutral, resulting in an unexpected loss of speed. It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened - I shifted back into Drive, and resumed my trip. No accident resulted from this, but it has happened twice in the month that I have owned the car. I reported the issue to the dealership thinking my car had a problem - they said that this is the way the car is designed to function. I found a section in the Owner's Manual which confirms this - shifting from Drive to Neutral while stationary requires the knob to be held to the left for a couple seconds; for some reason, doing this while moving requires only a tap (see attached photo of the owner's manual). This seems like a design issue - the unexpected loss of power from bumping the shift knob to the left (no forward or backward motion is needed) could easily result in an accident. I don't understand why they specifically created a system where a "push and hold" is not required to shift into neutral when the vehicle is moving. I reported this issue to corporate Lexus today. They said they will consider this feedback in subsequent model designs, but I wonder whether a recall is appropriate. That's why I'm reporting the issue to you, as well.