Carmakers Transform the Gear Shifter, Leaving Drivers Puzzled
Sean O'Malley has test-driven thousands of vehicles throughout his almost forty-year career. However, a few years back, he encountered an unusual predicament where he was sitting inside a Hyundai unable to figure out how to make the car go.
O'Malley, who serves as the senior test coordinator at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, along with his team, struggled to locate the gear shifter in the Ioniq 5 SUV. Eventually, one of them discovered it positioned behind the vehicle's steering wheel.
"It certainly wasn’t clear where it was," O'Malley stated.
Car buyers, vehicle renters, and valet staff can relate to O'Malley's frustration. The abundance of electronic systems has enabled automotive designers to eliminate most mechanical links between the gearshift and the transmission. As a result, the traditional, large shifters usually found on the steering column or central console are becoming obsolete.
“After removing that mechanical connection, every possibility becomes fair game,” explained Paul Snyder, a previous Ford designer who currently heads the transportation design program at the College for Creative Studies.
Nowadays, numerous vehicles are equipped with compact joystick shifters, knobs, buttons, and even touch-screen gear shifts. These sleeker, unconventional designs create additional room inside the cabin for items like phone chargers and cup holders. However, these features can sometimes confuse individuals who find themselves driving an unfamiliar vehicle.
During her visit to California, Linda Hoff, who is 65 years old, leased a Nissan Rogue SUV equipped with a gearshift resembling a joystick. Despite her experience renting various car models, she was unable to determine how to make the vehicle go into reverse when trying to exit her parking space.
“I didn’t even know how to drive this damn car,” she said. “So I had to go back to the rental agency and say, ‘Is there a trick here?’” She was soon on her way after a tutorial.
The Michigan resident mentioned that she gets the effort by car manufacturers to devise innovative designs for distinction. However, she pointed out that the absence of uniform standards makes everything more complicated.
"When everyone else is doing this and you have to enter the rental market, it drives you crazy," she explained.
Will Clayton, a 33-year-old from Greenville, South Carolina, who works in finance, often rents vehicles during his business trips. During one of these journeys, he found himself unsettled by an unusual feature in a Chrysler Pacifica minivan—a silver dial located very near to the volume control for the radio. This led him to ponder if someone might have accidentally shifted gears instead of adjusting the sound level, mistaking the shift lever for the volume button.
I don't recall any significant demand from consumers for a major overhaul of gear-shifters," he remarked. "I've come across the phrase 'reinventing the wheel,' but never ‘reinventing the shifter.’ Who came up with this concept?
Chrysler declined to comment.
Various automobile manufacturers are exploiting the design possibilities offered by electronic shifters differently from one another.
The Genesis brand, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company, introduced the Crystal Sphere for their GV60 electric SUV, describing it as an artistic marvel in automotive design. This transparent orb is placed within the central control panel; it illuminates upon the approach of the driver, akin to a luxurious snow dome. Upon starting the vehicle, this sphere rotates 180 degrees downward to unveil a rotary gearshift knob.
The European branch of Genesis released a nearly four-minute video last year detailing how the orb functions.
Genesis stated in a release that the Crystal Sphere aims to "boost safety and establish an emotional bond with the driver" once the car is turned on. According to Genesis, the lack of engine noise in electric vehicles can make it harder to recognize when the car is prepared for driving.
A motorist mentioned placing a reminder on a Post-it note for a task and positioning it inside the console, where it partially touched the Crystal Sphere.
When I switched off the engine, it drew the paper inside," they posted on an online forum last summer. "Now whenever I start or stop the vehicle, I can hear the paper. It’s become quite difficult to spot it again.
A popular design nowadays features buttons positioned beneath the car's infotainment screen for gear selection. This idea has roots extending far back; even as early as the 1950s, Ford promoted its "Teletouch" button-shift mechanism on the steering wheel of the Edsel model.
“One Edsel advertisement stated, ‘It places the shift where it should be!’”
The electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla allows owners of certain models to change gears like park or reverse using their car’s touchscreen interface. However, a series of small buttons can also be utilized for this function once they are enabled.
Jeff Tropeano, a 43-year-old inhabitant of Colorado, mentioned that the touchscreen gearshift in his Model S Plaid required an adjustment period initially; however, he seldom notices it anymore. His spouse finds it less intuitive when she occasionally drives the vehicle.
"When she got into my vehicle, she said, 'I simply don't know how to proceed,'" he mentioned.
Certain advancements have introduced safety hazards. About ten years back, federal authorities stated that a Chrysler knob shifter associated with multiple incidents of vehicles rolling away and one death was "non-intuitive" and heightened the likelihood of unintentional gear changes.
Recently, Consumer Reports encountered an issue with a Rivian R1S electric SUV. During a test drive on the highway, when one of their testers tried to deactivate the car’s adaptive cruise control during slow-moving traffic, the action inadvertently triggered the vehicle to switch into reverse gear. Rivian stated they resolved this by updating the software.
Despite the continuously expanding realm of shifters causing confusion for motorists, patience remains crucial, according to O'Malley from the IIHS.
It's all about becoming familiar," he stated. "Once you understand where everything is located in your vehicle, nothing seems foolish.
Send your correspondence to Ryan Felton. ryan.felton@wsj.com and Christina Rogers at christina.rogers@wsj.com
