I think its just the stupid shifter and people think its in one gear, but its not, then they get hurt. I also think its not only user error, but a design screw up...just my opinion US Agency Probes Jeep SUV Rollaway Complaints - ABC News
It is human error ... one I made a couple of times myself with my '14. Although more than a few people love it, some just because it was something new, I believe most people could do without it.
Putting aside the folks who just don't like it, many people proclaimed that they got used to it. That is good, but shifting in and out of gear shouldn't be something you need to get used to. It should be as natural to use as a gas or brake pedal.
Although it has been dumped for '16, it will be interesting to see if they will be forced, by our overly aggressive feds, to retrofit something for those on the road.
I have a feeling people are either ending up in reverse because they aren't fully pushing the shifter forward to get it to park or they're going the wrong way with it and putting it in Sport Mode instead of Park.
Maybe they think the "S" stands for "Stay".
For what it's worth, the Jeep won't let you shut the engine off without it being in park, so it would only be an issue if the Jeep is running.
Having said that, I'm pretty sure the Jeep applies the brakes if you open the door while in gear - at least in Drive, anyway. It might not do that in reverse since some people might need to open the door to back up into a tricky spot, such as onto a dock.
IT DOES MOVE IF IT IS IN REVERSE AND YOU OPEN THE DOOR WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING. On several occasions I have pushed the lever forward thinking it was in park and opened the door to get out and found the car moving. Happens when you are in the middle of attaching a trailer, jumping out to get your mail, etc. Common things. I've been driving automatics with console mounted selectors for over 20 years so the process is now ingrown. Tough to change to the Jeep system.
The GC system is an accident waiting to happen, ala the woman hit by a commuter train in her ML with it's different arrangement. It is not intuitive in an emergency situation. Jeep ought to retrofit the 14s and 15s.
It is one black mark on an otherwise outstanding vehicle. Love my GC.
Interesting. When i shift into park i almost always apply the parking break. I have caught my self that i incidentally stay in Reverse thinking i switched to Parking. its rare that i do that but i can see it a happening. With that said i believe that is more of a driver error. Also, applying the parking brake if you push in to far to engage ive noticed that i will eventually dis engage.
Maybe the parking brake is not applied properly or at all?
I'll let the NHTSA do their study to determine what's really happening here. Personally, this has never happened to me, but I'll agree the shifter can be touchy, and it takes some getting used to it. I will admit that I still have a problem, although very infrequently, ending up in park when I think I've shifted into reverse. I'm sure it's "operator error", but it's still disconcerting to give it gas and hear the engine rev, but get no power to the wheels. At least I'm not rolling, because it's in park.
Having said that, I'm pretty sure the Jeep applies the brakes if you open the door while in gear - at least in Drive, anyway. It might not do that in reverse since some people might need to open the door to back up into a tricky spot, such as onto a dock.
I can attest to the fact that my JGC did not apply the brakes when I opened the door and exited the vehicle yesterday (on flat ground) after backing out of a parking spot...it rolled forward into a fence post before I got my foot back on the brake. Now I had assumed I accidentally put it in D instead of P as intended, though I didn't look after I got the car stopped, I was too pissed to think about it. But now I wonder...
I'm 63 years old, been driving since I was 16, owned cars since I was 18. Having said that, I recently bought a 2015 GC. In my opinion, the ??*&^%$##!! shifter is the MOST AWKWARD shifter I've ever encountered!
Whoever designed it, should be subjected to a "dunk tank" at a county carnival, for 72 hours straight!!
As someone previously said, it SOULD be intuitive, and it isn't...........
I fully understand what you're getting at, but sometimes the fault DOES lie in a poor design. While over time, you "may get used to it" (the shifter), for some of us, the GC isn't the only vehicle in the family fleet, therefore we don't drive the GC on a daily basis. Consequently, "getting used to it" isn't accomplished in a timely manner.
With respect to the comments about electronic shifters, my wife has a couple of Jags, and they have a rotary knob, that rises out of the console when the ignition is turned on. While not 100% fool-proof, they're a LOT more positive, in their operation, compared to the GC.
I'd hate to be in an emergency situation, in my GC, and have to change gears in a hurry.....
I'm always apprehensive about letting anyone else drive mine. I know they'll have problems if they've never driven a shift by wire like the wk2. The car wash I go to won't touch it. I need to stay with it going through. They tell me they do this for any vehicle with an electronic shifter.
I'm betting that ALL of these events were caused by Human Error.
But the piece of $h!t shifter is partly at fault!
I've done this a few times over the 6 months I've owned my 2015. I've placed it in PARK (or thought I did) only to discover that it had gone into Neutral. :slapfight:
Once it happened a second time, I started paying closer attention to CONFIRM it was in the Gear I wanted it to be in!
And if Jeep/Chrysler is somehow forced to "fix" this issue on the 2014/2015 models, it will serve them right! They should have done a LOT more testing before coming out with this crappy design!
This is the reason I kept my 2012 Overland. Last year my wife had an accident with the Pilot we had and the insurance company gave us a rental until it was fix and we got a 2015 limited for a while. After a week of both us driving it we decided to buy out the lease on the 2012 and keep it. Both of us could not stand the shifter.
I've thrown it into reverse several times meaning to put it into park. Thankfully I caught it, and even made sure the gf knew that she needs to pay attention
The shifter mechanics in my 14' is stupid to say the least...so easy to throw it in N when going up to R from D and into R from D when heading to P....
I have driven hundreds of cars/SUV's and this is a very akward system. As others said it should be natural, not something forced to conform to.
That said, if you look to see what gear it is in, you will never have a problem. I do not do anything without verifying the illuminated letter on the actual shifter. Period
Very interested to see the findings of the inquiry...
One of the least intuitive moves for me was going from sport mode back to drive. If you pull back going into sport mode pushing forward would be the natural way back to drive. Unfortunately that gets you into neutral.
no offense but people who are messing up the gear shifting are the reason why they put instructions on shampoo. People need to take responsibility for their own stupidity and not try to blame someone else for their own negligence.
All is takes is a quick second to look at the dash or shifter to see what gear the car is in that's all. Owner of a '15 and I ALWAYS look to see what gear the car is in when I'm shifting.
It is good that you do this. The point you might be missing is that for me, and I'm sure for others, it is the first vehicle in over 40 years of driving that I have had to look. It was change for the sake of change. If they reversed the position of the gas and brake pedal, would that be OK as long as they mentioned it in the manual?
You are correct that at the end of the day it is user (my) error. And as a responsible driver I got rid of my Overland and will be replacing it with a new Summit if the new shifter works as expected. It wasn't the only reason for the change, but the shifter was high on the list.
i wonder what would happen to this small percentage of jgk owners that cant seem to figure out how the electronic shifter works if they were put into a vehicle with a manual transmission? talk about carnage.
i wonder what would happen to this small percentage of jgk owners that cant seem to figure out how the electronic shifter works if they were put into a vehicle with a manual transmission? talk about carnage.
Manual transmissions are more logical. Each position is a different gear and you don't use the same movement to the same position to do two different things ... d to s and back to d
It isn't about figuring it out. I can figure out how to do a lot of things that I don't want to do, because they don't make sense.
Making everything idiot proof just encourages the idiots to continue their stupid behavior. It used to be that natural selection would cull the idiots from the herd, but not so much anymore.
I didn't put my blinker on and changed lanes...cut someone off...why didn't the Jeep know this and notify me?
I want an investigation
:lol:
Oh wait, I did use my blinker and the triangle was illuminated...and it did beep at me. How was I able to switch lanes without that before?
HAHA the sifter sucks initially, but now is easy to use and even easier to check what gear I moved it into. Yes you read that right, the driver does in fast select the gear...LMAO
For all of you "critics", who are taking potshots at those of us who are less than enthralled by the GC shifter, consider this.....
I went out to the garage (attached to the house) this morning, and was preparing to move a bulky chair into the house. I wanted to simply roll the GC a foot or two forward, to allow better access to the door of the house, and make the job easier. I get into the vehicle, key fob in pocket, push the brake, just to slip it into neutral, so it would roll.
Nothing doing. The shifter wouldn't operate, unless the engine was running. Now I don't know if this also is the case, if the vehicle was in motion, say if the engine stalled, and you're trying to steer it off to the side of the road, but I don't see how this "operation" is in any way logical.
I used to roll my vehicle back to access the pull down stairs in my garage. Now I start it up, no big deal.
As for not being good for the car ... that's just a try at supporting a position. Unless of course when it is time to move the car back up the incline, you go for a five mile drive first.
I'd prefer to have the vehicle running, that way the power assisted brakes, sensors and camera (if rolling backwards) are all in operation.. We see on the news in Australia all too often, children being hit by the family car in the driveway. I could think of nothing worse than my little girl not hearing the car moving and walk in front or behind it. I know we are only talking a couple of feet, but that's may be all it takes..
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