The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the US is investigating complaints from motorists about the operation of the automatic transmission selector in several models of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
The agency believes that the electronic gear shift mechanism on the mentioned cars cannot be called intuitive - the device is hardly capable of providing the driver with visual or tactile information about what is happening.
By its principle of operation, the Chrysler automatic transmission selector resembles a similar device on modern BMWs. The lever looks like a joystick, which actually does not move anywhere, but is only used to select a mode, after which it returns to its original position and notifies the driver of the selected gear with a backlit indicator.
In the current version, the car's on-board electronics emit a sound signal if the driver's door is open and the selector is not in the Park position. It is noteworthy that the start-stop system cannot automatically turn off the engine if the automatic transmission lever is not in the Park position.
The NHTSA investigation concerns 850,000 Fiat Chrysler vehicles, primarily Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs, as well as Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans.
The agency reports 314 complaints, 121 of which describe an accident involving an uninformative selector. In 30 applications, injuries of varying severity were mentioned, in particular, fractures of the pelvis and kneecaps.
Uninformative "machine" selector on Jeep cars caused hundreds of accidents
