Poor shifter design causing accidents

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Originally Posted By: dishdude
I did a little experimentation and to clear up a few things in this thread, the car stays in drive if the door is opened and displays a warning message in the cluster along with a loud chime. If I try to turn the car off while still in gear, I get the same message and loud chime. Conclusion - only a moron could screw this up.




Well there are more than a few of those out and about.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Four pedals,I'm thinking accelerator,brake,clutch,and parking brake.



I drove a C-Class for a while last year that had a foot operated parking brake, took a while to get used to and felt awkward and convoluted - the hill start assist feature made me stall and the release lever was too small and very well hidden. As far as ergonomics are concerned a handbrake lever rearward of the gear stick is unbeatable.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
I did a little experimentation and to clear up a few things in this thread, the car stays in drive if the door is opened and displays a warning message in the cluster along with a loud chime. If I try to turn the car off while still in gear, I get the same message and loud chime. Conclusion - only a moron could screw this up.




Unfortunately, the overarching goal of the Safety Gestapo is: "Protect the Moron."
It's an unwarranted interference with the Law of Natural Selection, if you ask me...
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: dishdude
I did a little experimentation and to clear up a few things in this thread, the car stays in drive if the door is opened and displays a warning message in the cluster along with a loud chime. If I try to turn the car off while still in gear, I get the same message and loud chime. Conclusion - only a moron could screw this up.




Unfortunately, the overarching goal of the Safety Gestapo is: "Protect the Moron."
It's an unwarranted interference with the Law of Natural Selection, if you ask me...


Sure just like- ABS, front, side,knee air bags, padded dashboards, seat belts, safety glass, energy absorbing bumpers, collision avoidance systems, and collapsible steering columns,etc.

Some on here would be happy if we were all driving the death traps of the 50's.
 
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Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: dishdude
I did a little experimentation and to clear up a few things in this thread, the car stays in drive if the door is opened and displays a warning message in the cluster along with a loud chime. If I try to turn the car off while still in gear, I get the same message and loud chime. Conclusion - only a moron could screw this up.




Unfortunately, the overarching goal of the Safety Gestapo is: "Protect the Moron."
It's an unwarranted interference with the Law of Natural Selection, if you ask me...


Sure just like- ABS, front, side,knee air bags, padded dashboards, seat belts, safety glass, energy absorbing bumpers, collision avoidance systems, and collapsible steering columns,etc.

Some on here would be happy if we were all driving the death traps of the 50's.



You're confusing two topics:

1. Equipment to protect the driver from harm.

and

2. Equipment to protect the driver from themselves.

A person who has the capacity to cause damage or injury at the wheel of a parked car has no business behind the wheel at all.
 
Ouch. That really hit the nail on the head.

IMO a nice safety suite includes air bags and VARIABLE stability enhancement along with belts and such which we've had since 1968.

I absolutely refused a loaded Silverado last year due to the funky vibrating seat proximity alerts and the idiotic collision avoidance system. I will continue to try and keep that stuff far away from my rigs if possible...
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Ouch. That really hit the nail on the head.

IMO a nice safety suite includes air bags and VARIABLE stability enhancement along with belts and such which we've had since 1968.

I absolutely refused a loaded Silverado last year due to the funky vibrating seat proximity alerts and the idiotic collision avoidance system. I will continue to try and keep that stuff far away from my rigs if possible...


Exactly! I was extremely glad that the CPO 2er I finally landed on was not equipped with any Helen Keller option packages such as lane departure warning and such.
 
The kicker is Jag, BMW, and Ferrari have been using funky shifter's for ages with no issues. The XF has used the same knob for it seems like a decade...


It seems, surprisingly, that the average IQ of their buyers are a bit higher than FCA's customer base.

I played around with my Ram this morning. If you shut it off in drive it will shut off, but the gauge cluster yells at you with beeping and a warning message. The transmission defaults to park. To get the key out because it won't release, you have to turn the vehicle back on, shift it to park, than you can remove the key.

FYI if you use the parking brake, even if you leave it in drive the vehicle will not move.

I mean how fool proof do they have to make it?
 
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Everytime you make something idiot proof, someone comes up with a better idiot. I'm still waiting for someone to try and sue an automaker for slamming their own foot in a door
 
Originally Posted By: ironman_gq
Everytime you make something idiot proof, someone comes up with a better idiot. I'm still waiting for someone to try and sue an automaker for slamming their own foot in a door


It's only a matter of time; we have devolved to the point that the average imbecile has to be warned that razor blades are sharp, coffee is hot, and battery acid is not a beverage.
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: ironman_gq
Everytime you make something idiot proof, someone comes up with a better idiot. I'm still waiting for someone to try and sue an automaker for slamming their own foot in a door


It's only a matter of time; we have devolved to the point that the average imbecile has to be warned that razor blades are sharp, coffee is hot, and battery acid is not a beverage.


Darwin would be so disappointed in what we have become.
 
I had to circle back to this thread because of the rental vehicle I had all last week. Avis saw fit to give me a BMW X5, and the shifter in *THAT* thing should be against the law. Its just a pickle-shaped handle with a button on top and a button on the left (thumb) side.

To operate:

Reverse: press thumb button and press forward on the pickle. The pickle snaps back to center.

Drive: Press the thumb button and pull back on the pickle. Pickle snaps to center.

Park: press the button on top of the pickle.

Manumatic: pull the pickle left and then push forward to upshift, pull back to dowshift.

Parking brake: electric, operated by a button similar to a power window button- pull up to apply, press down to release. Located on center console.

A whole week and I *nearly* got used to it, but when I was tired at the end of a long day, I nearly jumped the curb more than once when leaving a parking place because I'm so used to "grab and pull one click rearward" for reverse.

Other than the stinking shifter, it was a nice-driving vehicle. I particularly liked the fact that you could pull up real-time torque and HP gauges on the multi-function screen. But overall I still like my wifes JGC maybe 10% better. Its FAR quieter than the BMW (road noise), almost as powerful despite being a N/A 3.6 instead of a turbo 3.5, handles almost as crisply, and even though the BMW has the 8-speed ZF (same as newer JGCs) and wifey's has the older NAG-1, the BMW more often felt like it was picking the wrong gear and I had to goose it to make it shift. I tried its "sport mode" and didn't have to goose it, but then it has the opposite issue: I kept putting it back to normal mode so it would *finally* upshift instead of carrying around 700 more RPM than necessary for conditions.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Four pedals,I'm thinking accelerator,brake,clutch,and parking brake.



That's my Challenger.
smile.gif


I'm probably in the minority, but I detest "hand brakes" in any form, whether a pull-handle under the dash or a lift-handle on the center console. Only my daughter's 99 XJ has one in my fleet, everything else is a foot-operated parking brake. Of those, I prefer the ones that have a pull-handle to release them, as opposed to the "push once to set, push again to release" type like my wife's Grand Cherokee.

But I dislike the electric P-brakes even more...
 
I don't mind the foot parking brake in an automatic. In a stick I prefer hand though: I've rarely used one to prevent rolling on a hill start but I'd like to have it just the same.
 
I love the foot ebrake in my Navigator. Stomp to apply, and it automatically releases when you put the transmission in gear. Doesn't get easier.

In some cars, the driving position simply won't support a foot brake. I actually like handbrakes.
 
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
I love the foot ebrake in my Navigator. Stomp to apply, and it automatically releases when you put the transmission in gear. Doesn't get easier.

.


Imperial and Cadillac feature from the 1950s :-)
 
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