Question about the Button Electronic Gear Selector
Thread Starter
Cruisin'
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 15
Likes: 10
Question about the Button Electronic Gear Selector
Got a new mdx 2017 yesterday. While just now, a scary thought came to my mind:
What if someone (like driver or front seat passenger) accidentally hit the gear selector button while car is in motion? like hit P, R or N? N probably OK, what about P, R? not like traditional shift lever which has a mechanic lock.
I searched the manual, and found in Page 379, it shows:
Restriction on selecting a gear position
You cannot select a gear position under certain circumstances that may lead to unexpected crashes or damage.
So, the statement seems to be unclear. Does that mean:
1. you just never try to (accidentally) hit it otherwise causing damage.
2. you still can accidentally hit it, but the system already disables it which will not respond to your action.
If the answer is 1, then super scary:frown2:
If the answer is 2, wow, good safety design:smile2:
Anybody has some idea about this, or even had some tests?
Another big question is, is this Electronic Gear Selector waterproof? cause it is right next to the cup holder. Spill can possibly happen if you put drink there. Electronics is very fragile to water spill. A big design defect, I think.
What if someone (like driver or front seat passenger) accidentally hit the gear selector button while car is in motion? like hit P, R or N? N probably OK, what about P, R? not like traditional shift lever which has a mechanic lock.
I searched the manual, and found in Page 379, it shows:
Restriction on selecting a gear position
You cannot select a gear position under certain circumstances that may lead to unexpected crashes or damage.
So, the statement seems to be unclear. Does that mean:
1. you just never try to (accidentally) hit it otherwise causing damage.
2. you still can accidentally hit it, but the system already disables it which will not respond to your action.
If the answer is 1, then super scary:frown2:
If the answer is 2, wow, good safety design:smile2:
Anybody has some idea about this, or even had some tests?
Another big question is, is this Electronic Gear Selector waterproof? cause it is right next to the cup holder. Spill can possibly happen if you put drink there. Electronics is very fragile to water spill. A big design defect, I think.
Racer
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 482
Likes: 56
I'll preface this by saying that most of your traditional shifters without the necessity to move left/right between gears (and even these can be shifted accidentally or intentionally into the other gears) or lack the button you need to hold while shifting have the same problems. The way they compensate is by the programming of your TCU.
Since modern cars are all computerized transmissions now (aside from manuals), they have safeties built into them that will prevent you from say... throwing it into reverse while driving at high speed forward. So I know you've seen the response on MDXers and you will see that it is answer 2, but to what degree, we do not know (since none of us want to risk our powertrain warranties). Most modern automatic transmissions will also allow you to shift on the shift knob/buttons, but will wait until you're slow enough or rev matched correctly to do the actual shift, which is why people sometimes complain of "delays" in shifting (in reality, most people should just plainly stop between going from forward to reverse/vice versa). I have accidentally thrown one of my older cars into neutral and back to drive at over 60mph, and the AT handled the accident just fine by waiting for an appropriate rev match to engage the proper gear (otherwise that AT gear would have been toothless after that accident).
The shifter is not waterproof, but it seems pretty resilient since I have seen others talk about spilling on it without shorting it out. Even with the knob style shifters are susceptible to liquid damage if the liquid travels to the contact points. Everyone thinks these knob shifters are mechanical, but they are just mechanical for the movement, electronic for the selection. You can find plenty of damaged shifters from long ago where this has occurred with all types of shifters located near the cup holders (or even not, people just sometimes spill while driving).
Since modern cars are all computerized transmissions now (aside from manuals), they have safeties built into them that will prevent you from say... throwing it into reverse while driving at high speed forward. So I know you've seen the response on MDXers and you will see that it is answer 2, but to what degree, we do not know (since none of us want to risk our powertrain warranties). Most modern automatic transmissions will also allow you to shift on the shift knob/buttons, but will wait until you're slow enough or rev matched correctly to do the actual shift, which is why people sometimes complain of "delays" in shifting (in reality, most people should just plainly stop between going from forward to reverse/vice versa). I have accidentally thrown one of my older cars into neutral and back to drive at over 60mph, and the AT handled the accident just fine by waiting for an appropriate rev match to engage the proper gear (otherwise that AT gear would have been toothless after that accident).
The shifter is not waterproof, but it seems pretty resilient since I have seen others talk about spilling on it without shorting it out. Even with the knob style shifters are susceptible to liquid damage if the liquid travels to the contact points. Everyone thinks these knob shifters are mechanical, but they are just mechanical for the movement, electronic for the selection. You can find plenty of damaged shifters from long ago where this has occurred with all types of shifters located near the cup holders (or even not, people just sometimes spill while driving).
