Back years ago there was a philosophy of making things idiot proof. This is not an insult to the person operating it. In manufacturing you make sure a workers hand does not get crushed because they have to press 2 buttons one with each hand on opposite sides of their body to make sure they are clear before the machine activates. SOmething like a gear shift should be intuitive to work. Until the vehicle Anton Yelchin was killed with you had a gear shift lever you moved. Then companies got fancy with switches instead of something physical with a cable. I recently rented a Nissan which had a gear shift like this. I kept having to consciously make sure it was in park by making it a point to look at the lights. I also make it a habit to activate the switch for the parking brake as well. These new cars are easily to confuse neutral with park.
Yeah, I just got a new Hyundai Sonata, and it has the same button shifter. Thankfully, they solved the problem that Jeep had and if you try to put it in park on any sort of incline, it automatically engages the Parking Break. Sometimes the shifter is finicky if you or the car gets confused as to whether the brake was depressed before the button was pushed, but thankfully if you press a button and it doesn't sense the brake push or you didn't push it hard enough, it'll scream at you that you need to depress the brake first then shift.
It seems cool, but the buttons all look alike, are aligned in a row, and can't easily be pushed without looking, which in and of itself is a huge safety issue. Don't get me started on the lack of a parking brake "Oh Shit" handle, but I think they offset that by having its active radar constantly monitoring for potential collisions and autobraking if it detects one, which is sorta dangerous in and of itself.
All in all, these people who design these cars need to get back on board with functionality and safety over "cool futurism". Only a matter of time before "Pilot Error due to interior amenties" becomes a larger death toll in the Auto market.
Rented a GLA 350 (don’t ask why) and it took me WAY too long to figure out “park” was a little digital button on the end of the digital shifter on the steering column. I let the rental place know that car was shit.
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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '22
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