Car Designers Just Can’t Resist Messing with Automatic Transmissions
TM Detwiler
Back when cars only had 3 manual speeds and reverse, the chances of mixing up gears were minimal. I got it right at least 1 in 4 chances. However, after the prevalence of automatic transmissions in the 1950s, controlling gear selection became a matter of both design and ergonomics.
In 1971, the Department of Transportation mandated that automatics use the PRNDL (called “prindle”) layout. The impetus for this law, like many automotive regulations, stems from a 1965 book. dangerous at any speedRalph Nader accused General Motors, Studebaker and Rambler of using a confusing transmission design that placed reverse after drive. Nader cited the crash as the driver disengaging the intended gear and accelerating in the wrong direction. The PNDLR pattern is dangerous, he declared. Plus, it’s not that much fun to say.
The debate continues today. 2016, Star Trek Actor Anton Yelchin died after being crushed by a Jeep after failing to properly secure his vehicle in a park due to an obscure shifter design. The accident led to the recall of more than a million vehicles and the installation of software that allowed them to park when the driver’s door was opened. Eventually, then-parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles redesigned the affected model to incorporate a shifter with his traditional PRNDL feel.
Maintaining consistent shift patterns across cars and brands is a seemingly obvious driver benefit, but designers can’t stop playing with alphabet soup. These days, with no mechanical connection that limited the shifter’s quirkiness, and no physical link between the shifter and the transmission, shift-by-wire his gear selector allows automakers more flexibility in interior design. can be further enhanced. But freedom means that PRNDL can scatter like Scrabble dropped his rack of tiles. This results in some strange constructs such as: