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Chrysler gear shifters confuse drivers causing crashes, injuries
Globe and Mail ^ | Feb. 8, 2016 | AP

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 ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: automotive; canada; chrysler; fiat; fiatchrysler; italy
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To: Chickensoup

That’s the damn electric fan due to front-wheel drive, and should still be prevalent but something must’ve changed. Rear wheel doesn’t need it as the fan always runs along with the engine crank.


61 posted on 02/08/2016 6:03:42 PM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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To: nascarnation

Got a similar one in my motor home.


62 posted on 02/08/2016 6:07:16 PM PST by TruthWillWin (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples money.)
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To: rickmichaels

My friends old three speed on the column pickup confused me..


63 posted on 02/08/2016 6:08:14 PM PST by jughandle (Big words anger me, keep talking.)
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To: aomagrat

Yup. Love my four door hatchback SAAB 9-3 Turbo with a manual five speed. Car hauls you know, and is comfortable. I’ll keep it forever.


64 posted on 02/08/2016 6:08:43 PM PST by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists Call 'em what you will, they all have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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To: TruthWillWin
My Acura has the shifter on the console

My Acura has a push button shifter.

If you open the door while it's in gear, it'll let you roll about 5 feet then it jams on the brake and puts it in park.

It also shifts to park if your push the button to shut it off, no matter what gear you're in.

Also if you put it in neutral and open the door, it goes into park. I'm not quite sure how the car wash guys keep it in neutral, but they've got it figured out. heh.

Finally, if you have brake hold on and are stopped, if you pop your seat belt off the brake stays engaged and it goes into park. I'm not sure why it does that. The brake hold is nice if you're at long traffic lights...you can take your foot off the brake and just the lightest touch on the accelerator disengages it.

65 posted on 02/08/2016 6:12:07 PM PST by Malsua
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To: rickmichaels

Does anyone remember the push button shifter on the dash of the 1958 Dodge? Nothing intuitive about it. If you wanted to shift for any reason, you had to take your eyes off the road and focus on the buttons on the dash.


66 posted on 02/08/2016 6:12:19 PM PST by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them with a pitchfork!)
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To: cripplecreek
"Gimmie an old stick shift and I’ll be fine."

Yep. Driving a 15 year old Ford pickup with a stick now. Next vehicle will most likely be a stick as well. Learned on the backroads of a Marine base when I was a third grader and my Dad was patient. Taught my son when he was 14 here on the mountain where I live in Montana. Nobody ever borrows his car now as they can't drive a stick!

67 posted on 02/08/2016 6:14:31 PM PST by Comment Not Approved (When bureaucrats outlaw hunting, outlaws will hunt bureaucrats.)
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To: nascarnation
I know back in the early 80s the US Army decided to go exclusively with automatics because so few recruits knew how to drive manuals and it took too long to train them.

Geez, I learned to drive a tractor first, and that wasn't an automatic by any stretch of the imagination. A four speed manual transmission in a car was nothing by the time I learned how to drive a car. It was second nature, and a damn' sight easier than a farm tractor.

I think I learned to drive in less than 20 minutes. Keeping a tractor between rows of corn is a lot harder than keeping a puny V-8 Olds 442 between two yellow lines!

68 posted on 02/08/2016 6:16:49 PM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: rey

Had a ‘64 Dodge Dart with that.

Remember a guy up the drag strip with a ‘63 Belvedere with a 426 wedge motor and push button automatic.


69 posted on 02/08/2016 6:18:04 PM PST by headstamp 2
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To: usconservative

One thing that happened in that era was the major consolidation of farms. Not that many farm boys and girls signing up for the service any more because their total numbers are way down.


70 posted on 02/08/2016 6:19:29 PM PST by nascarnation
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To: Farmer Dean
Doesn't anyone actually read an owner's manual any more?

Public skool graduates can't...

71 posted on 02/08/2016 6:20:42 PM PST by null and void (This war starts in the spiritual realm-it will end in ours though.)
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To: exDemMom

“This article caused me and my husband to have an argument about what an automatic gear shift even looks like.”

My mom would start singing to my dad during and argument. He would promptly throw up his hands and go into the other room after that because he knew he just lost the argument.

(grin)


72 posted on 02/08/2016 6:21:44 PM PST by headstamp 2
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To: null and void

I thought about that after I posted.Ever notice how more and more pages in manuals are pictures not text? bought a chainsaw last year and it’s owner’s manual is just about all pics.


73 posted on 02/08/2016 6:24:03 PM PST by Farmer Dean
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To: Farmer Dean
That's cause we don't all speak the same language...


74 posted on 02/08/2016 6:28:48 PM PST by nascarnation
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To: Chickensoup

Do you have a turbo- they build up so much heat that the cooler should keep running when you shut down so that the engine doesn’t cook itself from the residual heat.

I’ve always avoided turbos because of the heat issues.


75 posted on 02/08/2016 6:29:59 PM PST by PAR35
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

My dad had a rambler with those pushbuttons.


76 posted on 02/08/2016 6:31:14 PM PST by sockmonkey (Donald Trump will ban auto-correct with an Executive Order. Go Trump!)
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To: nascarnation

The manual was in French and English,mostly pics on both languages.


77 posted on 02/08/2016 6:31:19 PM PST by Farmer Dean
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To: sockmonkey

Was it lime green?

Mine was.


78 posted on 02/08/2016 6:33:43 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (Get Ready)
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To: nascarnation
They say a stick shift is the #1 theft deterrent available.

I know back in the early 80s the US Army decided to go exclusively with automatics because so few recruits knew how to drive manuals and it took too long to train them.

One of the many reasons that I have owned nothing but stick shift vehicles since the 1960s, including my current 6 speed Jeep Wrangler.

79 posted on 02/08/2016 6:38:07 PM PST by Inyo-Mono
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To: lacrew

This is partially why I’ve installed a manual in my explorer.
My daily is a stick. That and once you go stick you don’t go back.


80 posted on 02/08/2016 6:40:13 PM PST by SPDSHDW (Self Exiled in the State of Commiefornia.)
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