Ford recalls over 550,000 pickup trucks because transmissions can suddenly downshift to 1st gear

jballs@sh.itjust.works to News@lemmy.world – 258 points –
Ford recalls over 550,000 pickup trucks because transmissions can suddenly downshift to 1st gear
apnews.com
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If you dont know the shifter well you can definitely put it in the wrong gear though.

Maybe, if you're also driving an antique that doesn't have high-RPM lockouts to prevent overspeeding the engine. But even my old cars going back to the '90s have those.

06 Subaru has no problem pulling a money shift, the reason you'll never accidentally hit first isn't because of lockouts but first not having a synchro. Now grabbing second from fifth on the highway, yea, that can happen

I'm more worried about beating the transmission to death, but I didn't know about high rpm lockouts so thanks for sharing that.

Nah, the only thing that might be worth worrying about learning to drive stick is the clutch, and that's a wear item designed to be replaced anyway. (Not necessarily often or cheaply, but still, a wear item.)

Even then, unless somebody's truly hopeless, they'll figure it out well before putting on any noticeable excessive wear. (Source: I've taught at least five people to drive stick using my own cars, including myself, and haven't had to replace a clutch due to wear yet.)

To be fair nearly all my concerns about manuals are from stories others have told me. We have had two manual cars for maybe a decade now and haven't had a single bit of trouble with the transmissions or clutches.

I even taught myself to drive stick driving one of them home from the dealership. Plus I didnt become proficient at it for a bit of time after that.

I really prefer manuals at this point. Feels simpler.

One of the first lessons from my instructor was to push the gear stick from the right with your palm for 1/2, top for 3/4, and left for anything else.

That way, there is less chance of shifting from one section to another. Useful when you car sometimes needs a downshift on the motorway, and 4th is adjacent to R.

For me it was only a problem when I had to drive two cars:

A pickup with the shifter on the steering column (makes me sick thinking of it, horrible design)

A jeep with an absurd shifting handle which made the gears miles apart.