Are car manufacturers moving away from shifters in the column for automatics to a console shifter? I’ve looked at several cars 2006 and later and noticed that all, I’ve looked at, have shifters in a console
I’ve noticed that too. Must be the design cut backs. It is a simpler mechanism and probably easier on the assembly line. After all, EVERYTHING they do is to benefit the assembly line like electrical harness plugs, fuel lines, sub-assemblies, sub-let manufacture etc.
To the extreme that I have a shifter in a center console, yet there’s nothing to shift !
No manual down-shifting or up-shifting is even possible. Why’s it down there ?
( a CVT trans in a hybrid Escape. Park, reverse, nuetral, and drive, a totally useless waste of valuable space in my car. )
Might it also be that the Nader safety lobbyists have gotten to the designers ( no air bag there ) to keep that third person out of the front seat ?