WHAT? NHTSA Claims Gear Shifters Are Too Confusing For Drivers To Use

I find it amusing that manufacturers fix what isn't broken. I don't like the trend to a rotary knob for controlling radio and or climate and or transmission. Conventional knobs, buttons, and stalks are better. A lever with detents results in a driver having an automatistic awareness of what gear the car is in without even having to look.

I agree. Very amusing. Did anybody complain about the transmission control switch in the new Jags or BMWs? Remember the crazy transmission column stalk on M-Bs?

Similarly, the wife recently pitched a huge fit b/c she drove home from work one night with her headlights off. Her complaint: She keeps the headlights on - all the time - so she doesn't forget to turn them on when driving at night. Huh...wha..?! I recently drove her car & turned the lights off after parking. She simply never checks to see if the lights are on or not. Yes...very silly.

Tell NHTSA that the minimum wage guys at the local car wash seem to figure it out easy enough.

As a owner of a 2015 GC this gearshift is a pain. After decades of driving where one can intuitively know what gear one is in by the "feel" of the levers position, with this gear selector one has to physically look at it and read where it is. You are in drive and push all the way forward to put it in park, only it isn't in park but reverse. Or back up and pull all the way down to go into drive only it isn't in drive but is in neutral. PUGPROUD, you likely have a 4 speed in that hot rod pictured. You shift fast because you intuitively know the H pattern. What if a manufacturer "rearranged" the positions of the gears in that transmission? That is what this GC arrangement is like. Note that the 2016 models did away with selector and went back to firm position detentes.

You can't fix stupid, only natural selection does that.

@absent - Or the Fed can try to protect those to dumb to survive

The biggest problem with the Fiat Chrysler gear shifts is that they are low down on the console and are one or two sizes too small for the prominence of a gear shift device, and give the appearance of a Radio Volume knob or climate control knob.

I rented a Dodge Durango SUV in Kansas visiting the in-laws and my nephew grabbed the knob and put it into "park" (which the computer defaults to "neutral" while driving, thank God)thinking he was turning the volume down.

Mercedes shifter on the column where it can be accessed only the by driver is the best solution (with the addition of paddle shifters).

The BMW, Volvo, Audi transmissions where you push forward to go into reverse and push backward to go into drive are a different level of challenging but not as bad as the PCA. PCA is really bad - also the knob is cheapo and offers zero tactile feedback. Really bad design.

Yet the Mercedes stalk selector where one pushes up or down on the lever to change gears was likely a factor in the suburban NY train crash that killed a woman in a Mercedes ML. In a panic she needed to get off the tracks in a hurry to avoid being hit by the train but went the wrong way. The Mercedes lever was not intuitive.

She was an intelligent woman but needed intuition to avoid death.

Not sure if that was the exact cause of the accident. By witness accounts, after the rear of her car was hit by the gate, she got out of her car to inspect any damage. When she got back in, she lurched forward onto the tracks. So, if she was cognizant enough to put the car into Park in order to get out, it doesn't sound to me like she was as unfamiliar with the gear stalk as it would appear. And, being that the gate hit her rear, it sounds like her move forward may have been intentional to clear her car, and maybe she wasn't aware she was that far onto the tracks at that point. If she was in a panic and accidentally had activated the gear stalk incorrectly, she would have panicked again when the train blared its signal, and witnesses would have seen an inadvertent jerking of the car forward, but no witnesses stated seeing that.
It's a very sad situation considering 6 people were killed, but not so sure the gear stalk is to blame.

Of course it HAS to be the car's fault, and not the human operator.

The North American attitude of unaccountability (i.e., "not my fault") continues to astound me, as well as authorities' reactions, by agreeing to such nonsense.

If an operator leaves their vehicle without shifting into Park and turning the engine off, they might blame the shifter control, or the keyless entry and go system, or the automatic engine start/stop technology (intended to save fuel when idling), but the truth is simple and unflattering:
- I was not 100% engaged in the operation of my vehicle
- My mind wandered, and was elsewhere, rather than on the task at hand
- I was inattentive, and left the vehicle without properly shutting it down and securing it
- The patterns in my brain are so deeply entrenched in the operation of my old car, that I was acting like a zombie, out of habit rather than deliberate thought, when I exited my new car (e.g., can't hear the engine = I must have shut it off, rather than making the connection with the auto start/stop tech).
- I ignored audio warnings that I had not properly shut down and secured my vehicle before exiting


You can never design systems to completely compensate for human stupidity. There's a saying in computer circles: "Just as soon as you create an idiot-proof system, nature comes along with a better idiot."

A tad anal. Must be tough living with the majority of these imperfect beings who don't run through precise checklists when doing things, but learn habits.

If you push the Jeep lever (not a dial but a console T lever that looks just like all the mechanical linkages over the years) all the way forward to a point where it resists like it is all the way forward in park, but is not, the Jeep cannot be turned off. Great. BUT if you push it forward in the same manner thinking it is in park so you can get out and move your kid's bicycle out of the driveway behind you, intending to get right back in and complete your process, then the vehicle has no warning that it is not in park. It could be in reverse and as you open the door to get out (still no warning visual or audible) the vehicle leaps backward with your foot on the ground. The only warning is a delayed notification that "the FOB has left the vehicle" which you see when you get back in.

If you have NEVER done anything like that you may cast the first stone.

Yes I have learned new habits and how to deal with it, but wonder in an emergency if there would be time to go thru the new check list. Meanwhile I don't feel safe letting my wife drive it lest she have an emergency like the suburban NY woman killed by the train mentioned above.

FCA has likely been told by their lawyers that by doing away with this set up in the 2016 GC they cannot win any cases involving the 2014-2015 GC gear selectors. The change admits that they have a problem. See the Jeep forums for the number of complaints.

Correction: My analogy should have had the bicycle in front of you as you pull in. It happens when you try to go from drive to park. I found the problem when getting out to pick up the mail street side before going into the driveway. Also occurred when hitching up a trailer, getting in and out several times to get things aligned.

Would the new selector bolt in in place of the old one? If so, FCA should voluntarily replace them.

I rented a 4 series a few months ago. I was making a U-turn and saw something that prompted me to back up. How about I couldn't get the car back in drive. Traffic was coming fast and I barely got out of the way.

P-R-N-D-S
The government thinks that is too confusing? To who, the government employees?

I cannot believe any American is to stupid to be confused with the operation of the Chrysler transmission control.