Posted on 02/08/2016 5:22:46 PM PST by rickmichaels
Electronic gear shifters on some newer Fiat Chrysler SUVs and cars are so confusing that drivers have exited the vehicles with the engines running and while they are still in gear, causing crashes and serious injuries, U.S. safety investigators have determined.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in documents posted during the weekend, has doubled the number of vehicles involved in an investigation of the problem, but it stopped short of seeking a recall. The agency found more than 100 crashes and over a dozen injuries, mostly in Jeep Grand Cherokees.
Agency tests found that operating the centre console shift lever “is not intuitive and provides poor tactile and visual feedback to the driver, increasing the potential for unintended gear selection,†investigators wrote in the documents. They upgraded the probe to an engineering analysis, which is a step closer to a recall. NHTSA will continue to gather information and seek a recall if necessary, a spokesman said.
The investigation could determine just how much auto makers can change the way cars operate when they introduce new technology, and how far they can stray from conventional ways of controlling vehicles that drivers are accustomed to.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
No, paddle shifters are just to pick which forward range you are in. There’s another shifter for mode selection (P N D R)
Wow! That's a terrible design.
“I think these are like a BMW where the lever doesn’t really move into a detent position, it just contacts switches and you have to watch the indicator to see which mode it’s in.”.
I think you are absolutely correct. I’ve got a BMW and it took a while to get used to the gearshift as it is electronic. That being said, the iDrive system in the BMW is exactly the garbage that everyone has always said it was. Not at all intuitive.
Just realized how off-topic the last part of my post is. I guess it still bothers me.
You're right about the R for Race part, but it's D for Day and N for Night.
My brother used to be a valet driver...and he had a lot more stories about ‘incidents’ than I expected. I couldn’t imagine how this would work with a valet.
I just can’t imagine the design team dismissed the possibility of a valet, or somebody borrowing the car, or some mechanic driving it into the tire shop.
Rule number 1 when designing a car should really be that anybody can hop in and drive, without instructions.
I thought maybe they’d changed the gear letters to cursive but I see it isn’t so.
Notthat simple.
Though, to be honest, that little display in this model car is better than the little black “round knob” of the gear selector on the center console, right between and below the little black round radio knob, right near the little black “On/Off” button near the steering wheel, right above the little round black fan motor speed knob and left of the little black round radio tuning knobs.
I use rental cars frequently, and YES! Have turned the fan “off” but been forced to leave the engine running and the car in gear: The engine CANNOT turn off without the gear selector knob rotated to “Park” AND the key removed. BUT! The engine does not turn “off” because the radio key fob do not require a key to be in the switch.
With the radio key fob securely in the driver’s pocket, the “key” does NOT need to be in the key slot to turn the engine “On”. And, regardless of where the key fob is located, the engine will NOT turn off automatically under any conditions.
Worse, if the selector knob is left in “Fwd” or “Reverse” the engine cannot be turned “off” at all, regardless of where the driver is or whether he or she is trying to leave the car.
Indeed, it is easier, faster, and more likely to step out of the car WITH the car running AND in gear (forward or reverse) than it is to have turned the engine “off”.
It moves a little bit but you have to confirm that you are in the gear you want.
In other words, it moves up a little and down a little but its a defined distance (about an inch )and doesnt correspond to a physical gear shift where you physically move the handle into a gear.
If in park, move down until the D illuminates, if in D, move up until the P illuminates.
Its totally possible to think you are in Park and not be and step out if you are functionally retarded, and fully half the population or more is.
They are 500 pages long. I doubt it.
Just imagine what happens when you take this thing to the tire shop, or get valet parked, or somebody borrows it, etc.
I can understand a gearshift so poorly designed that you might not know what gear you are in, but if you can’t tell whether the car is running or not, you probably shouldn’t be driving.
” drivers have exited the vehicles with the engines running and while they are still in gear “
six speed manual here!
I had an old Dodge truck with push buttons.
Doesn’t anyone actually read an owner’s manual any more?
****************
Perhaps they may have printed the manual in the wrong Spanish dialect?
The documentation on my new car is in two manuals each more than 200 pages.
If the car isn’t intuitive when it comes to basic functions, then it is poorly engineered.
Drove a 6-speed manual in the UK recently.
Right-side driving was not too difficult to get used to, and the manual gear and clutch were themselves easy to use - even with my left hand.
But the 6 gear selector was tricky because I every-so-often down-shifted to 3rd instead of 1st, or upshifted to 1 or 5 rather than 3, or down to 2nd rather 4th from 5th.
I would have been better with a 4-gear selector if I was going to be usign my left hand to shift.
Typewriter Dodge. Same company.
I can understand a gearshift so poorly designed that you might not know what gear you are in, but if you can’t tell whether the car is running or not, you probably shouldn’t be driving.
____________
My car has some sort of cool down system when I turn the car off. I could not tell whether it was running or not and had to bring it back to the dealer where they explained that ever though it doesn’t sound it, it is off.
Chrysler products and Edsel had them in the ‘50s.
Totally different issue. In fact, buttons are a great idea. No reason they cannot work well for automatics.
I’ve had all of them too. N pattern on the SAAB, that’ll confuse most. My personal plow truck, is a 4 speed with reverse in the lower right, the municipal plow truck I use is a 6 speed with reverse in the upper left, the interiors are almost identical, I forever getting them mixed up.
My Freightliner has a 15 speed non syncro roadranger with 2 air shifters over a 5 speed pattern, my Mack has a 9 speed over a 5 speed pattern with 1 air shifter, git ya some of that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.