Transmission Not Go Into Gear problems of the 1996 Toyota RAV4

When I was driving down the highway, my friend (who was sitting in the passenger seat and likes to sit with his knees up) accidentally bumped the gear shift into neutral. I was in the passing lane on a busy highway and found that all of the sudden I had no power to the wheels. It was very frightening. I pulled over as soon as I could. I feared that if I put the gear shifter back into drive, the car would drastically lurch (faster or slower). After this happened, I noticed that the gear shift is actually located closer to the passenger side than the driver side and easily bumped into neutral. I called a local Toyota dealer and asked that they fix the problem. I was told that all cars are designed to be able to switch into neutral should you be sliding on a slippery road. And that they therefore could and would do nothing about this problem. I have read only great things about Toyotas but after this experience, I plan to sell this car and never get another Toyota. This, I think, is a very, very serious safety design flaw. People with kids in the passenger seat must have this happen to them all the time. I think these cars should be recalled. No automatic gear shift should be easily accidently tapped into neutral while driving on the highway.