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Here come the shifter lawsuits

9K views 72 replies 43 participants last post by  Roadkill 
#1 ·
#3 ·
This is such bullshit. People with the early 2014 models have been living with this for 3yrs now (I was included too). 1 somewhat celebrity dies and everyone gets sue happy. They got their recalls and need to wait their turn to get it done. The only people making out on these lawsuits are the lawyers not the individuals. The shifter isn't "defective", this was most likely user error. Stop being in a damn rush to get out of the car and pay attention to your shifter as you knew what you were getting into after you bought it. It's not a death trap just because of this, you've been perfectly fine until now and somehow now you think you need to be compensated?? Some people just need to be taken out back and beat. just my 2 cents.
 
#12 ·
Because the design may have looked good in theory & once the whole shifter confusion issue came about they went back to a more traditional shifter. Hence the recall- which again was already out there prior to Yelchin's death.


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#10 ·
I'm not fond of the shifter design. It makes things more difficult than they are with pretty much every other existing shifter - from that standpoint it's a bad design. It is not an unsafe or criminally bad design - it is reasonably simple to adjust and pay attention to.
 
#11 ·
You can probably say every shifter has something that could be tweaked. And what that something is varies among people. Hard to assign liability to a manufacturer for something that is operator error. Should FCA always strive to make things "more safe (idiot proof)"? Sure, that's good business. Product liability law is a unique creature (it's not the more common negligence standard) but here what is the "defect" per se. The design? So if you knew you didn't like it from the get go, then why didn't you pay more attention later? Does it have a higher rate of accidents than other vehicles? If so, how much higher and where is the blame? Remember we are talking about WHO SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE AND PAY MONEY when talking about lawsuits, we're not talking whether or not you like the shifter design. What is being done now (software improvements, etc.) is helpful to society, but lawsuits here aren't adding any value except to the lawyers.
 
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#14 ·
I really like the design on the Benz or BMW ? Can't recall which but you tap a button and your in park. My sons Benz automatically shifted to Park if the door was opened under a certain speed.

This is the type of safety system (IMHO) they need to incorporate when they go to new electronic shifters.

We've all seen the video of the person with door open at the parking garage trying to get the ticket or put one in and hits the gas by mistake. Person in our area was killed doing this a while ago.
 
#15 ·
I really like the design on the Benz or BMW ? Can't recall which but you tap a button and your in park. My sons Benz automatically shifted to Park if the door was opened under a certain speed.
I'd prefer the existing system over an auto park feature. I've also read people say they got the recall fix done and a control module was actually replaced and then reprogrammed.
 
#16 ·
I'm not inclined to jump to Chrysler's, or any car manufacturer's defense...but this is such bullshit. Like the Toyota shakedown a while back. That said, Toyota paid up and paid BIG to make the problem go away. And like paying a kidnapper's ransom, we knew that would encourage others to behave badly. :(
 
#20 ·
I have a '15 and although I wouldn't sue for it I will take money for lost value if they offer it to me.
Diminished value? Oh come on, there was ZERO misrepresentation and a software safety enhancement is on the way. Please someone stop this nonsensical thinking....what has this country come to where everyone wants to pile on blame to get a payout.
 
#18 · (Edited)
This isn't about owners suing FCA, this is about a bottom feeding law firm smelling blood in the water.

If this turns out to be anything like the 17 state Certainteed shingle class action settlement you'll probably dance through hoops filling out a 20 page claim form just to get pennies back on your dollar while the lawyers rake in millions of dollars.
 
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#21 ·
Exactly. The law firm that filed the class action will get millions, whereas those of us who purchased a vehicle with this shifter will receive a $100 voucher good towards the purchase of a 2017 Chrysler vehicle.
 
#22 ·
The problem is, FCA kept handwaving it away as "customer confusion", and that's the bull$hit. Some of you must work for FCA if you're supporting the idea that it's the drivers' faults. THE SHIFTER SUCKS! Probably made on the cheap with crap solenoids or whatever does the actual shifting now.

I'm aware the shifter is crap and in my case occasionally gets stuck in R on the way to P, but if you're not keenly aware if the problem every time you try to park, it can bite you (or in some poor sucker's cases, kill you).

FCA have been trying to ignore this as a serious issue and now they should pay.
 
#25 ·
The problem is, FCA kept handwaving it away as "customer confusion", and that's the bull$hit. Some of you must work for FCA if you're supporting the idea that it's the drivers' faults. THE SHIFTER SUCKS! Probably made on the cheap with crap solenoids or whatever does the actual shifting now.
Both sides of that are true...the poor design caused user confusion. ;)
 
#53 ·
Somewhat ignoring the concept of understanding why that funny looking foot-pedal to the left of the brake is called the PARKING BRAKE.

I suspect that some of the older geezers like me got into the habit of always using that parking brake due to having driven 50s and 60s series automatics where a very very light tap in a parking lot would break the transmissions parking pawl.
 
#34 ·
Why would a software upgrade cause a delay in a recall? How hard can it be?

I had a hardware recall take a year for my '12 to get done. This is what bugs me. Who wants to wait for a recall once aware of it? I almost traded mine in because of the delay...

This sort of thing is probably more common (shifter error) in manuals than autos.. But no one drives manuals anymore.
 
#40 ·
Why would a software upgrade cause a delay in a recall? How hard can it be?
Software upgrades are not "simple"...changing even one small parameter can affect a whole bunch of other things. So when new firmware is put together to add features or change how things work, there is generally an extensive testing period to insure that things work properly across the board before general release. The change with this update to address the recall isn't simple in any way, shape or form...it affects multiple vehicle systems and control points. What they did to get it out sooner was kick up the resources for testing. The actual development part was only a portion of the work.
 
#35 ·
Still makes me cringe when people say "oh just look at what gear you're in and you'll be fine". It's a BAD design! Just because you haven't gotten killed yet or even shifted once into the wrong gear, doesn't mean people that very smart/careful people have not. I've shifted a few times in which I thought I was in one gear but was in another even when I was sure I shifted correctly.

It's a flawed design which invites bad things to happen. That's it.


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#56 ·
It could be argued that the majority of other vehicles using the same ZF monostable design tend to be sold to owners who have to actually prove they can operate a vehicle [e.g. Germany] before being turned loose with a lethal device.

Somewhat snarkier would be that the other vehicles using the design tend to be purchased by people possessed of somewhat higher situational awareness.
 
#38 ·
If you have to look at the screen to actually confirm the gear you're in then it's a bad design.

A great design is when you can activate the gear you're in by tactile feel, feedback, without having to double check on the screen the selection you made.

Now that's common sense.

I love this short throw shifter. I wouldn't want to go back to the old method. But for the love of God just make the gear selection actually register correctly based on the number of indents.

I don't want this activate to park fail safe workaround but the shifter still isn't responsive to the indents in the first place.


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#39 ·
I think it's a good shifter. I have had it for 3 years and never had an issue. Is it different? Sure. That's where I think the issue lies. People don't like change. They don't like learning new things. I'm not saying everyone, but the majority. Once the shifter recall is done, there will be something else to complain about, like the ebrake, for not having any feedback and having to look at the cluster to see that it activated.
 
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