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I remember my dad had a Edsel with the push button automatic transmission buttons in the steering wheel. I had a 1964 Dodge Polara with the automatic push button transmission of the left side of the dash. Attachment 228201
I'd be playing whack-a-mole with those Edsel buttons in a hot second. Thus, the transmission...what is left of it on a c. '59...would soon exit out the rear. Probably to the smell of burning fluid w/smoke too. Rest of the car's guts would thus match the rusty crap shown in the photo.
They were worthless the day they rolled out the showroom floor & twice that now. My dad's white '58 or '59 Ford Fairlane convertible with 'Police Interceptor' engine wasn't much better, he told me. I don't think it ever 'Intercept(ed)' a darn thing.
I hate not having a shifter. I get that it's probably the way of the future, but doesn't mean I like it. My Jeep has a shifter, I use it to rest my hands on. Same with my wifes Camry. Every time I get a loaner Ram from the dealer that has the knob (or the Durango), it drives me absolutely batsh*t crazy. At least the RAM has a big enough console to put my arm on, but I will admit, it takes me a second or two to remember to turn the knob when going to reverse or park. I go looking for the shifter!
Perhaps it is more of a theoretical problem than a real one, but leaving pressure on the shifter in a standard could increase wear in the gearbox.
First we had it on the steering column, then it moved to the floor, then moved to the center console and now it's back to the column in the form of a little stick that could be confused with the turn signal. Don't know about you but I drive with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the gear shifter. When it's not there, I don't know what to do with my hand(no jokes, please.) We have a C300 in the family and absolutely hate driving it. I was at a Ford dealer the other day and the shifter was nowhere to be found. May be it's the future.
You could put the other hand where it belongs, on the steering wheel.
It works fine for airplanes. All of the new commercial airplanes are fly by wire, as are the military aircraft. The Airbus crash was due to poor programming, and that's been fixed. Keep in mind that there were hundreds of airplane crashes of non-fly by wire types before they became as reliable as they are today.
On cars, the throttle and transmission are often electronically controlled. The brakes and steering are still mechanically connected.
Perhaps it is more of a theoretical problem than a real one, but leaving pressure on the shifter in a standard could increase wear in the gearbox.
I doubt it; you don't spin up the synchros unless you're already moving to the new gear. When you're in gear, the detent holds the shift fork in position and the outer synchro ring has tons of clearance to minor movements of the shift fork. The only time there's any meaniningful contact between the shift fork and the sync outer ring is when you pop out of the detent and move the collar over the new inner synchros.
The automatic shifter is going away because front seat, driver accessible real estate is very important to manufacturers. The majority of customers want bigger screens, more and bigger cup holders, place for cell phone storage (and now charging), etc. Removing the now not needed (because it is electronic) shifter allows them to do maximize the real estate. It is the same reason why most are removing the CD player (or at least hiding the slot behind a screen), because that takes up similar valuable real estate.
Is this thread about automatics, or stick-shift? Edsel had push buttons where you'd look for the horn button, 60 years ago. Some of us remember, don't laugh.
The OP said he drives with his hand on the shifter. I'm assuming he's talking about a manual because there's no need to keep his hand on the shifter in an automatic.
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