mmarshall

Hope this isn't a repost....didn't see one after checking.

A lawsuit against Land-Rover for defective rotary-shifter-designs in the Range Rover may be in the works, here, according to CBS News.

I myself am taking a more or less neutral position on a lawsuit, and not necessarily choosing sides. It's no secret that I'm no fan of rotary-shifters (never was, probably never will be). But, on the other hand, it's also my firm belief that, even with a crappy shifter (and I've seen some doozies in my lifetime), it is ultimately the driver's responsibility to make sure the vehicle is properly secured before getting out.

Warning: Before watching this video, be aware that there are a couple of disturbing scenes. One woman passed away.

SW17LS

All of these shifters are just dumb, this is the result of drivers just not being comfortable with the shifter design.

I'm pretty sure my Pacifica with the rotary shifter always puts it in park and engages the brake if you open the door while its in gear...theres some process they have to do at the carwash to leave it in neutral, for instance...

mmarshall

Yes....this suit is apparently based on pre-2018 shifters in LR products.

When a young mother of several children, however, is killed, I wouldn't call that dumb...I'd call it tragic.

SW17LS

Tragic for sure. So I went out and tested it on the Pacifica. There is some sort of park mode override, but it’s it not very good. It could easily kill you...I tried it in drive and reverse 3 times each and it only kicked in once

mmarshall

The Pacifica's rotary shifter, though with a similar shape to that of the LR, might not be the same design inside, and could (?) use different hardware. I'm not necessarily stating that as a fact, just a possibility.

Fizzboy7

I've been against rotary shifters from the start, and this is just further evidence they are not as safe or intuitive as a lever. However, the report I heard on the news here in L.A. said the drivers were not putting the e-brake on. For that, I must say it is driver error at that point. The e-brake should always be applied when put into park.

SW17LS

Ive driven several JLR products with that shifter, it’s the same thing. What it looks like she did was put it in reverse instead of park. She would get an audible
warning but she would have to be paying attention. The engine was clearly still running too.

Just running around in a hurry like we all are and wasn’t thinking. The reality is that these gear shifts that don’t Telegraph what gear the car is by where the shift lever is physically sitting make these kind of accidents more likely. My Mercedes included.

SW17LS

These cars all automatically set and release the parking brake. My Lexus did, my Mercedes does, so does the Pacifica and those Range Rovers do too. If you don’t put it in park properly it won’t set it.

Benoit

My boss killed his dog with a Landrover. He actually had the giant 67 cm high and 35 kg heavy dog in front of this car, oveseeing him completely in the dark winter night.
The biggest problem is that, in the moment you come under a Land Rover's wheels, you have around 6000 pounds between the four wheels, pushing on a few centimeters. Beeing crushed over a car is never fun, but having it double the weight of a normal car puts a lot of stress on a potential victim's body.

Och

iTrader: (3)

While I personally hate these gimmicky shifters, ultimately the driver is at fault. We need better driver education program, especially in the age when everyone is driving an SUV the size of a semi.

Blaze876

iTrader: (1)

Happens to me a few times when I drive my girlfriend mercedes. Putting it into drive I depress the gear level connected to the steering column. Putting it into park you have to click the button on the edge of the same gear lever. However, I sometimes move the gear lever up.

I'm sure I could get use to it if I drove it often but imo pressing down on gear lever to go from park into drive and pressing the same gear lever up to go to park seems more intuitive.

UZ214

blows my mind on why would you even buy this if you are uncomfortable using it. very tragic ....I remember my wife complained about this setup too.. needless to say we didn't buy it.

Toys4RJill

I guess you don’t really notice it until later on. Very easy to be enamoured by a test drive or the allure of something.

RR obviously knows there is some confusion as they added it to later models.

I do think the push button start buttons adds to the flaw.

Vladi

Sometimes the thing just won't rise at all but that's just LR **** poor quality. On a more serious note every automatic vehicle that comes to complete stop should engage into P when either door opens. That would require for all transmission levers to go completely digital but it should be a law at some point. In LR's case that's just stupid omission by their **** poor senior engineers and senior designers that go overboard with form over substance and don't do proper cognitive walktrough. Considering the fact they are aware if the fact a gear change is so bad that it can take up to few seconds to kick in they really should have done something about it.

SW17LS

Im a month in and I still do that. It’s more natural to push up to get into park IMO