I'm a fan of automotive innovation when it comes to design and technology advancements. Without that, we would be still driving around in unsafe tin cans with underpowered and thirsty engines.
What I'm not a fan of is when something universally understood and functionally perfect gets re-designed for the sake of re-designing, in the process making it function worse or more complicated than it needs to be.
Top of mind would be the modern gear selector. Various companies have made this vital part of the car more complex and needlessly unintuitive, removing the classic P-R-N-D selector gate with a defined detent for each setting. In some cases, this has led to dangerous situations, to the point where Jeep had a lawsuit against them for transmissions not being properly put in park.
BMW have been doing this for years now, Volvo joined the party, and now Ford.
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If these shifters saved space on the center console, that would at least be a functional benefit. But they don't, so these things are just different for the sake of different.
And while I'm at, Ford, the + and - button for manual shifting has to go! A terrible design that just isn't intuitive or pleasant to use. Ford had the manual function on most of its cars nailed, this solution is a massive step backward.
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The only alternative gear selector I like is what Jaguar have been using since the release of XF back in 2008. Ford have also added it to a selection of their models, the Mustang GT500 as well.
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This solution is so wonderfully intuitive, offering a defined P-R-N-D detent, all operated in a single movement rather than having separate park switches, which in turn makes selecting a gear a two step process.