Discussing the incident below in another forum, where some said that one should always engage the parking break when parked, to which I said the parking break is unnecessary with an automatic transmission, as when it’s put into “park”, the vehicle can’t roll anywhere due to the trans being locked.
What's Veeky Forums opinion on using a parking break with an auto trans?
Anton Yelchin: Jeep that killed Star Trek actor was recalled for rollaway risk
The SUV that rolled down a driveway and killed Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin was being recalled because the gear shifters have confused drivers, causing the vehicles to roll away unexpectedly, government records show.
Yelchin, 27, a rising actor best known for playing Chekov in the rebooted series, died on Sunday after his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee pinned him against a mailbox pillar and security fence at his home, Los Angeles police said.
The 2015 model-year Grand Cherokees were part of a global recall of 1.1m vehicles announced by Fiat Chrysler in April, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records show.
The agency urged the recall because of complaints from drivers who had trouble telling if they had put the automatic transmissions in park. If they were not in park and a driver left the vehicle, it could roll away.
My grandparents own the same model Jeep with the same gearshift. It was a accident waiting to happen, there is no alert to let you know, hey you ARE NOT in park, but reverse.
Kevin Phillips
Do you really need one? Can you not just look at the shifter and see what position it's in?
This is exactly the nanny bullshit we don't need. People shouldn't feel the need to assign all of the blame on the manufacturer for not chiming off and sounding a warning whenever the vehicle isn't in park? Press the button and push the handle all the way forward. Just like it has always been. Nothing has changed except for consumers getting dumber.
Christian Kelly
When I learned driving in highschool the instructor said that you only need to engage the parking brake if you're on an incline, as well as turning your wheels towards the curb.
Gavin Lewis
This. You can never be too safe parking on an incline. Don't you look down at what you're in before you get out or whatever? I drive an automatic and everytime I Park I lookdown to make sure I'm in Park.
Hudson Peterson
There have been tons of injuries with these shifters. It was bound to happen. I've never owned a manual, until literally yesterday, but I still have always engaged the e brake and turned the wheel toward the curb. Just seemed like a good habit so I did it.
The issue is the shifter is spring loaded and goes back to center, with no identification anywhere except on the shifter that it went into neutral instead of park.
Mason Edwards
I don't understand this thinking, I have owned auto and manual cars and always used the handbrake when I'm parked. What is it for if not to keep your car from moving, it's not like it's going to wear out.
At the end of the day its a parking brake so use it when parked
Joshua Gutierrez
That's what he gets for owning a fucking Cherokee.
Jason Wilson
it's not "locked", there's just a little pawl that gets engaged. all that's holding the car is a little piece of metal. it's not hard to break or bend. to be honest, i don't really understand the point of it- because if you really don't want the car to move, it needs to have the parking brake engaged anyway.
Austin Ross
>being recalled because the gear shifters have confused drivers
Why are people so idiotic? It's an automatic. It's still PRND. Nothing has changed. You want to put it in park? Put it in P. Move the shifter all the way forward like it's always been.
Andrew Russell
why the fuck would anyone make this "return to center" shifter? what's the point?
Parker Adams
How did they remove key if the shifter wasn't in park?
Aiden White
Exactly. On the shifter, where you would be looking anyway. Your indication is right there where your hand just was. It's really not a difficult concept. How about the indicator on the dash? Is that too dim for people to pay attention to?
Austin Taylor
>U-uhhh, another faulty American ignition switch
Wyatt Garcia
The pawls ARE quite hard to break. How many autos have you seen where park doesn't work?
Mason Gomez
a e s t h e t i c s
Ayden Hill
>he doesn't just slam it into whatever gear he wants >he needs to look at the shifter to know if hes in park
Tyler Nguyen
This guy knows what's up
My gf's gti is a dsg and if you don't pull the parking brake on the car it wears out the motor and transmission mounts faster and puts alot of stress on the input shaft
Always use your fucking e-brake I cringe when I see someone throw it into park and the whole car lurches forward until the tranny stops it
William Perry
This. Park is always at the top.
Every shifter is PRND. It has never been different in the last decade of cars.
Nicholas Perry
>Automatic drivers are so stupid they can't even put their car in park
Why can't the mass media chalk this up to what it is.. idiocy.
Millions of these types of shifters have been sold and only ~100 people have died from it. Literally the same amount as yearly lawn mower fatalities. You can't fix stupid negligent behavior no matter how soft the padded room you put people in.
Owen Torres
You'reproving my point. All the way forward is park. You don't NEED to look at the shifter, but it's a good habit.
Guess who didn't know what gear he was in, and still didn't look at the indications he wasn't in park?
Kevin Russell
That has nothing to do with what he just said.
Isaac Mitchell
Didn't mean to respond to you bro
Landon Morris
Read, retards. It's not about PRND.
The shifter doesn't change its position based on the gear it's in. It's like a joystick, you tap it up/down to change the gear and it goes back to the center position again.
That's why this particular shifter is a piece of shit, you *do* need to look at it to know for certain what gear it's in. You can't just feel it like nearly every other transmission.
Kevin Jenkins
No, you don't. Push it all the way up and release. It's in park. It's not a game where it goes into park at a random time after holding the shifter all the way forward. Read the posts you're responding to. They're arguing that park has always been all the way forward, and it has. You're arguing that the transmission doesn't go into park if the handle is pushed all the way forward, then released, which it does. It doesn't matter where the lever is at when you release it. Push it all the way forward and let go. just like a normal selector.
Carson Torres
why the fuck wouldn't you put the cunt on automatic, or manual why not? That's what it's for
Parker Walker
You should be looking anyway. And you should be using your parking brake on any kind of hill.
The shifter is not to blame. Stop blaming retarded people doing retarded shit on whatever they were using at the time of their death. Millions of cars have this kind of shifter. bmw, audi, mercedes, toyota, etc.
>le guns are bad because one guy didn't check the chamber before cleaning and now he's dead
you would think the second you got in this car and realized the shifter springs back that you would make a point to check the big fucking illuminated light telling you what gear you're in.
Nolan Stewart
Of course you need to put handbrake on ffs. It's just inclines. What if someone hits the car and starts it rolling? Or it moves more than it otherwise would have and hits something else?
How long does it take to apply? A fucking Sec? lazy pedantic shits.
Logan Edwards
>too fucking stupid to put his handbrake on >somehow the car's fault When I was your age this shit qualified for the Darwin Awards.
Angel Jenkins
Why the fuck wouldn't you engage the parking brake when parked? When else is it supposed to be used?
Jayden Wilson
>he doesn't want to feel like a racecar driver slamming through gears with a sequential shifter
Cooper Jones
i used to all the time but fuck it i dont anymore, my Chevy Silverado after using the Ebrake and park for a year wore the little brake shoes inside the rear rotors down to clean metal so if you apply the Ebrake they screech for 5 minutes after you take off, that and my old Nissan KingCab it seized once applying it. now on inclines i just use park and slowly let off the brake
Blake Martin
That's the issue with this shifter if you push it all the way forward and release you select either reverse or neutral. You have to push it forward and hold it for a few seconds then it engages park. It's just a bad design and why dodge went with it who knows.
The reason this issue doesn't happen with the BMWs which have a simular design is bwm added a little extra logic that says if the driver doors opens and the car is not in park put it in park.
Aiden Brooks
We should place bets on which manufacturer is first to put touchscreen gear select in a car.
Dominic Wilson
THIS, that's what happens when you put electronics instead of good old mechanics and hydraulics in charge of any kind of transmission. Even the stupid dial shifter it's safer than the Fiat shit.
Easton Roberts
Modern electronics work well enough, this is just bad human interface design.
I mean, if you're going to go to the trouble of driving something by wire, use that flexibility to make a better control instead of half-assedly aping the mechanical version.
I can't say I particularly like the idea of push-button or dial gear select, but even those make more sense than this shit.
Asher Foster
Always engage the parking brake Otherwise in "Park" you are relying solely on the "Parking Pawl" inside the transmission.
A car can be moved when solely in "Park". This risks breaking the parking pawl, deep inside the transmission.
Now, which is cheaper; to use the parking break every time your parked or risk shearing the parking pawl and paying for a tranny rebuild.
Jason Ward
>a tranny rebuild. And why would a sheared parking pawl require a complete transmission rebuild?
Liam Hernandez
$100 on Mercedes
Joseph Walker
Fucking Americans, seriously. There's no 2nd country on the face of the earth that even discusses the topic of engaging parking brakes, you pull the parking brake when you're parking, no two opinions about it.
Gavin Wood
>And why would a sheared parking pawl require a complete transmission rebuild?
Transmission has to be dropped from car Transmission has to be drained Transmission has to be opened up Transmission has to be checked to be certain no metal flakes 6-to-12 (or more) parts have to be pulled just to do a pawl and sprag repair All that shit has to go back together.
Not a full total rebuild, but damn close to being one. Lots of labor. All because cucks are too dumb to apply parking brake.
Christopher Fisher
>Transmission has to be dropped from car >Transmission has to be drained >Transmission has to be opened up >Transmission has to be checked to be certain no metal flakes >6-to-12 (or more) parts have to be pulled just to do a pawl and sprag repair >All that shit has to go back together. None of this is true. The owner could just use the parking brake to keep the vehicle from moving.
Parker White
>Why the fuck wouldn't you engage the parking brake when parked? When else is it supposed to be used? Drifting Yo
As others have stated, as part of my drivers test we were required to do a hill park. We lost points if you didn't turn your wheels or use the brake.
Unrelated, I think it should be mandatory that they also test how to change a flat tire
Ian Flores
and this, THIS is the entire problem a fundamental flaw in their interface design, you shouldn't be able to turn the car off unless it's in park, yet apparently you can shut it down in neutral
Julian White
>shearing the parking pawl and paying for a tranny rebuild.
48 year old here and I know of nobody this has happened to, nor have I ever seen anyone use the parking break on a car with an auto trans, except to do a Jim Rockford power slide in the winter.
Parker Fisher
I really need to adjust my parking brake..
David Clark
>I have never seen anyone use the parking break on a car with an auto trans >Americans
Christopher Williams
>90 seconds apart
Gabriel Campbell
Shut it off and remove the key are two different things. I'm fairly certain that I can shut off the engine in any gear (FJ80). But the key will not turn to the steering lock position and come out until tranny is in N or P.
Besides, some people may want to jump out of a car and move a toy or open a gate without shutting down the engine. Being in park is necessary in this condition.
Christopher James
>bought the poverty cruiser >forgot to shop for the fzj But yes, the key will not come out unless in park. Not sure about n.
Michael James
with the dial on the Rams if you turn the engine off and it's not in park it'll put itself in park anyway. the only way to have it in neutral with the engine off is to pull a release cable which is kind of hidden and only intended to be used if the engine won't start so you can get a tow
William Cruz
When doing hektik skids
Lucas Ramirez
He never took the keys out. When they found him the car was running.
Sebastian Evans
That's anecdotal evidence. How many people would you say you've met in your life? How many of those have you asked if they've ever busted a parking pawl? Now compare that number to 250,000,000 cars on the road in the US. Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Camden Howard
NAWALT!
Evan Rivera
I believe the manual for a 2004 audi says to always engauge the parking brake when parked. Whether it be an auto or manual.
Brody Kelly
Dumb question:
WHY doesn't the parking brake also engage when you shift the autotragic to P?
For what reason is it still only tranny-brake and not also using the real brakes?
Eli King
its not necessary.
and its just another thing to go wrong and leave the car unable to move.
Cameron Anderson
F
Why can the key be removed when the vehicle is not in park?
Every automatic I have ever driven the key stays locked in the key hole until the car is in park. The key less starters cannot be turned off until the car is in park.
James Sullivan
> For what reason is it still only tranny-brake and not also using the real brakes?
Because the parking pawl in the trans is more then sufficient to hold the car in place (as long as the car doesn’t have a retarded shifter lever…) and unless you’re parking on the side of a mountain, there’s no need to use the parking break on an auto trans car.
> its just another thing to go wrong and leave the car unable to move.
I thinks is almost guaranteed that electric trans cars will now include an automatic parking break gizmo.
My buddy works for GM in the test lab and he said company safety regs mandate big ass wheel chocks on ANY vehicle being worked on that has an electric trans.
