Shifting does seem backwards…

[leafamiga]

I’ve had a Leaf for years, and it’s never bothered me, but my forgetful 78 year old mother just bought a Leaf and she is having the hardest time remembering how to shift in to gear.

To be clear, she’s only spent fifteen minutes behind the wheel, with me as instructor, in an empty parking lot, and she doesn’t plan to take it out without me until we practice for another hour today, where I will also show her how to use CarPlay, plug in the charger, etc, as well as more shifting practice !

She keeps pulling back to go in to reverse.

I’ve made a diagram that I have taped to her passenger door, and With more practice she’ll get it, but she asked a valid question…

Wouldn't it have been more logical had they designed it so that, to go forward, you push the lever left and forward ? And to go backwards, left and back ? Anyone have any idea what Nissan’s logic was ???

(Since I know people will comment… Yes, she is still in a state where she should be allowed to drive, although I will fully admit that she’s drives more slowly than she should)

 

[Drew21]

I have thought about this often since we got our Leaf a bit over a year ago, as it felt weird to both my wife and I at first. Now we don't even notice it.

In a traditional automatic transmission you pull the shift lever back to move from Park to Reverse to Neutral to Drive. In other words, going from Reverse or Neutral to Drive you move the shift lever down or backward, and going from Drive to Reverse you move the shift lever up or forward. You have the same arrangement in the Leaf, except instead of Park being above or further forward of Reverse it's just a button push.

So, it's the same movement pattern except for the offset center position that the shift "knob" returns to between selecting Reverse or Drive, which is the part of the process that felt weird to me at first. With a bit more practice I'm sure your mom will get it. You have the right idea about practicing in an empty parking lot. Get her to practice pulling in and out of parking spots for a bit and the movement pattern will become more natural to her.

You might show her that the gear selection is displayed in the middle of the instrument cluster which is a useful confirmation that she has the car headed in the direction that she wants to go before releasing the brake pedal.

I suspect that a traditional automatic shift lever *could* have been used in the Leaf, but when you're trying to market a new product you get tempted into being cute and innovative (e.g., the Tesla touchscreen that controls pretty much every function) instead of sticking with a well-sorted procedure that works fine.

As an aside, if I ever get behind your mom when she's driving slower than she should we can form a Karma convoy - all the drivers tailgating, honking, passing on double yellow lines, and flipping me off for driving the posted speed limit are driving way faster than they should and deserve to suffer.

 

[Flyct]

I’m 75 years old and I understand what you’re mom is going through.

We have a Kawasaki FXT Pro side by side UTV, and the shift lever is opposite of the Leaf. I constantly find myself putting it in drive to back up. I wish there was standardization.

 

[Toby]

Yes, it does seem backwards but one eventually gets used to it. The upside is that it is a shift lever. We can find it without taking our eyes off the road. We can slip into and out of B mode with ease. Etc. Imagine push buttons.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The Leaf shifter works very much like the one on the Gen III Prius. That may well be the answer.

(There is, BTW, already a whole topic on this.)

 

[tps]

A LEAF basically shifts mostly like a normal car. Reverse is forward of drive. We have Gator vehicles at the local glider club where you push the shifter forward to go forward and back to go backwards. Shifting a Gator seems totally different than a normal car to me...

 

[JoeFabulouz]

Agreed, it DOES seem backwards...at first. But, if you think about it, it's likely is just an evolution of the typical standard console-mounted shift lever of old, where Reverse was further forward in the selection range than Drive was.