Journal Article
Mechanisms of Automatic Transmission Console Shift Selection and Driver Egress
2009-04-20
2009-01-0094
Inadvertent vehicle movement incidents, in which a vehicle rolls away after the driver has exited, may occur in automatic transmission vehicles as a result of environmental, vehicular, and/or driver factors. Some explanations have focused on claimed potential malfunctions or design flaws in the vehicle's console shift mechanism or in the automatic transmission itself. However, growing evidence suggests that driver errors unrelated to vehicle design may in fact be the primary cause of many inadvertent vehicle movement incidents. The present research extends previous work on driver gear-shifting behaviors and vehicle egress by conducting more in-depth analyses of data collected by Harley et al. (2008).