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When Bad UI Design Kills: Is Poor Shift Lever Design to Blame for Death of Star Trek Actor?

"Unintuitive" Monostable shifter design eyed in so-called freak accident

By Rain Noe - June 20, 2016

in UX | Cars

Last year we theorized that the design of a gearshift lever was what caused a 49-year-old mother to move her car directly into the path of an oncoming train. Now it looks like another unusual interface design from a different vehicle manufacturer may have contributed to another death.

Over the weekend Anton Yelchin, the 27-year-old actor known for playing Chekov in the recent Star Trek movies, was killed in what was referred to as "a freak accident" in his Los Angeles driveway. But was it really "freak?" It seems to us that lousy design may have played a role.

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Yelchin was found crushed between his car, a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the security gate at the end of his driveway. It appears that Yelchin had exited his car and walked behind it, perhaps to close the gate, and apparently believed the transmission was in "Park." Instead it appears it was actually in "Reverse" or "Neutral" and the car rolled down his steep driveway, killing him.

This brings us to the design of the 2014-2015 Grand Cherokee's shifter:

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The manufacturer calls it the "Monostable" shifter, and it seems to us that it fails to achieve its most basic purpose, which is to allow the driver to easily change gears and know precisely which gear it's in. Look at the freaking instructions for how to use this thing:

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Are you kidding me? As you can see in the video, the shifter automatically returns to the center position after each change is made. The driver must check the letters atop the shifter or on the dashboard to see what gear it's in. In contrast, the more traditional automatic shifter design is to move the lever to a particular angle, where it remains. Remaining in the position where you last manipulated it to is, we think, a better design for enforcing in the user's mind what gear you're in.

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The Monostable shifter does not appear to offer any performance advantage or improvement to the UI that we can see. Perhaps it's easier to manufacture. Nevertheless parent company Fiat Chrysler has tacitly admitted that the design is a failure, as they recently recalled 1.1-million vehicles featuring the shifter.

The recall was conducted because while the unfortunate Yelchin was the first reported fatality, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation has linked the design of the Monostable shifter to 121 accidents and 41 injuries as of April of this year. As Autoweek reports,

The [Monostable] issue itself is not a fault of engineering but rather design, as the shifter returns to the default center position without giving the driver sufficient feedback as to the selected gear.

As a result, a number of owners have exited their vehicles thinking that they had put the vehicle into Park, while in reality it remained in Drive or Reverse position. The NHTSA has called the operation of the shifter "unintuitive" and had opened an investigation into the issue months ago.

Sadly, it appears Yelchin had not submitted his vehicle to the recall.

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Steve Williams

7 years ago

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BMW, Audi, and just about every other car manufacturer has adopted this very poorly designed shifter. BMW calls it their Steptronic shifter. It amazes me that this thing has been allowed to spread like it has to every car in the world. It's UI is just plain dangerous. My wife recently purchased a 2013 BMW X5. The test drive didn't really give us enough opportunity to understand just how the shifter worked. It wasn't until we started driving it regularly (she more than me) that we realized the underlying danger with it. Both of us nearly had accidents directly related to the shifter. Because the knob springs back to the upright position, you can't just glance at the gearshift and know what gear you're in. The dashboard indicator is hidden just enough that it requires you to search for it. When your life depends on getting the car into the correct gear and proceeding either forward or backward (as in a mid-street K-turn) quickly, you risk serious injury or death. In those situations, instinct tells you that if you want to move forward you push the knob forward. WRONG! If you want to go forward, you pull the knob backward. To go backward, you push the knob forward. It's completely counter-intuitive. And this all goes back to the fact that the knob always returns to the upright position, confusing the shit out of the driver. After her 4th near crash incident, (I had 4 incidents myself) my wife asked if we could sell the car. After finding a 2010 BMW X3 with a standard shifter (YEAH!) we sold our X5 at a loss of $7,000 (that really hurt, but it's better to have a happy and safe wife). Now I need a new car, but EVERY new car (American and foreign) I look at has that same shifter. !@#$%

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- Eugene Chan
  
  Steve Williams
  
  7 years ago
  
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  No, those manufacturers' monostable gear selectors have an important distinction. Park is its own button. It requires a deliberate and unmistakeable action. When you become the operator of a 2-ton vehicle, it is in your best interest to learn how to operate its human interface elements.
  
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- Andy Schneider
  
  Steve Williams
  
  7 years ago
  
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  After driving bmw for the last 6 years (3 series, X6 now) I wonder if you're serious. Yes, the knob moves back to its original position. But common! I never ever had an issue that I wasn't aware whether the car was in D/N/P/R, nor was there any dangerous moment. Sometimes not the design of the product is problematic, but the one using it..
  
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  - Steve Williams
    
    Andy Schneider
    
    7 years ago
    
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    I've been driving automatic and manual shift cars for over 46 years. I've been driving BMWs for 16 years. In addition, I own a classic sports car that has a manual shift. My wife who can also drive both manual and automatic, decided that at this point in her life she likes a little luxury and selected a BMW with what she thought was an automatic. But what she got was a shifter that wants to be both. It's confusing. I suppose I'm a lot older than you Andy. Good luck with your X6.
    
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Kaio Garrido

7 years ago

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Teste

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João Gomes

7 years ago

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This would be much less likely on a car with a manual transmission (the distinction between a forward gear – any of them, really –, neutral and reverse is *very* noticeable) and a mechanical parking brake (ditto for that, if you manage to start driving with the parking brake ever-so-slighthly engaged, most modern cars start beeping like crazy)…

Though it *does* happen (a colleague of mine's stepdad just died a few months in the same fashion), and since it can happen on less than steep and even on steep inclines because of sheer oversight, that “automatic braking when opening the doors” function is very intriguing. It makes me even reconsider the mechanical parking brake interface (not my manual transmission and gear shifter, you will have to pry those off my cold, dead hands – hopefully not after a car crash, knock on wood) altogether.

Meh, cars will mostly feature electric powertrains and self-driving systems anyway, so I will eventually have to let go of them out of my own volition. :P

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- João Gomes
  
  João Gomes
  
  7 years ago
  
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  *a few months ago
  
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Sherrod Faulks

7 years ago

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This is an interesting question because I rather disagree, but not in the way you might think. I do think the UI is bad, but I think it's the fact that there is no distinct notification that you have put the car in park or reverse. I don't find the shift lever to be particularly problematic, and I say that as an owner of a Toyota Prius, which has a similar design. It's spring loaded, and the movement between the states is very easy to make, especially the drive and neutral positions. The first month I had the car, I kept shifting into neutral at random times until I figured out that I can't rest my arm on the shifter (be kind, this is my first car) because it's just slightly to the left of drive and doesn't require you to have braked 100%. What sets it apart is when you shift into reverse. The car makes a high pitched alarm inside and out the *entire* time the car is in reverse — it is unmistakeable. As another commenter mentioned, it does have a dedicated Park button. I don't feel that it's a "deliberate and unmistakeable action," but all the doors lock...loudly...so you have visual and auditory confirmation that something happened. To me, with the exception of the ability to easily shift into neutral, this is all great design that may have prevented this unfortunate death.

Now I will point out a somewhat related problem particular to Priuses that could easily result in death. I've been driving this car for two years and I still do this every single week. I usually leave the car in Eco mode as it has stellar fuel economy. In this mode, it cuts off the engine whenever possible and switches to the electric motor. Say you pull into a parking space. If your foot is on the brake for more than a couple of seconds, the engine shuts off and the car is totally silent. Often, I'm getting my bag or checking my phone, the engine shuts off, and I mistakenly think the car has been parked, despite not hearing the doors lock. I go to lift my foot off the brake and the car starts moving forward again. It's terrifying each and every time, and so easy to do. In my opinion, this is a fundamental design issue that could result in death.

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Victor Lombardi

7 years ago

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"Yelchin was found crushed between his car, a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the security gate at the end of his driveway."

This makes it sound like there were two cars and a gate involved. Consider instead the simpler and more clear:

"Yelchin was found crushed between his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the security gate at the end of his driveway."

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bMan Says

7 years ago

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I have a 2014 Chrysler 300S with this shift lever and it IS dangerous. From the day I bought it I hated it. I even asked the dealership to ensure it was working properly because I was forever missing Park. They assured me it was working fine, and I just needed to double-check the gear before I got out of the car. 18-months later I still screw it up regularly, although (touch wood) it hasn't killed me. Yet.

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Joe Ferris

7 years ago

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Chrysler just tossed fail-safe out the window on this one..

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Scott Brown

7 years ago

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I am filled with dismay hat the necessary squadrons of design, engineering, and marketing professionals could have possibly moved this along to a high production reality. After watching 30 seconds of that video I thought to myself "there's no way in hell I would ever own or drive a car with that shifting mechanism, because it's fucking ridiculous."

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ADDvanced 1

7 years ago

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Drive a manual and you don't have to deal with any of this nonsense.

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Michael Ayukawa

7 years ago

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My old Smart car has an automatic clutch paired to a similar +/- shifter, with the important exception that R (this is a mechanical gear transmission) is off to the side. This provides the obviously needed separation between forward and reverse! Since you can only remove the ignition key by placing the transmission in R. It acts somewhat like a P(ark) function.

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Juan Cano

7 years ago

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So terribly sad. The video is ridiculous. Is it a bit like the manual shifting feature on automatic cars? aka the 'tiptronic' transmission?

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