I Hate the Stupid Dial Shifter: Now With Poll

[Ponyprez]

I feel like I've given the dial a fair shake and have determined I frikken hate the stupid thing. It is just not intuitive to being able to grab it and put it where you need it to go without deliberately looking down at it.

The Mav is my wife's DD and I drive a manual trans Tacoma or MT Miata and am used to knowing by the feel what gear I'm in. I'm lost in the Maverick with the dial. I have had many, many episodes of going the wrong way with it when trying to turn quickly when turning around.

Today sealed the deal for me and the stupid thing.

Wife and I were driving an old 55 mph 2 lane backroad in Podunk, OK. Idiot 2 cars ahead was running 60mph for most of the time but would drift into a coma (or on the phone) and slow down randomly for no reason to 45mph.

I was getting frustrated being 2 cars back and after about the 15th time flopped my arms down at my sides like "Why, why?". As the lead car sped up I was not accelerating while pushing the gas pedal down.

I looked down and the tach was at 4,000rpms and we were slowing down. I immediately started thinking about reports in here of people's trucks doing this and being stranded with an electronic glitch.

Looked down again and the dial was in "N" neutral. Flipped it to "D" and all was well. Just a random flop of the hands and the truck was inoperable. No locking detent or button to push to make the shift, no click or tactile feel, just a flick and it's in neutral.

I really hate this dial.

I am not a fan of the dial myself, I agree with you on there is no detent or even a click. I know there is an indicator on the dash but my old school mind wants to look down at the shifter. I guess I am just a relic and most of my vehicles are old like I am. LOL. 76 & 73 MGB's 72 El Camino and 65 Mustang. My 90 Mustang has automatic a shifter as well.

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[Ozarkbeard]

...I wonder what happens if you hit reverse at that speed??

It goes into Neutral.

 

[Bruce W]

I feel like I've given the dial a fair shake and have determined I frikken hate the stupid thing. It is just not intuitive to being able to grab it and put it where you need it to go without deliberately looking down at it.

The Mav is my wife's DD and I drive a manual trans Tacoma or MT Miata and am used to knowing by the feel what gear I'm in. I'm lost in the Maverick with the dial. I have had many, many episodes of going the wrong way with it when trying to turn quickly when turning around.

Today sealed the deal for me and the stupid thing.

Wife and I were driving an old 55 mph 2 lane backroad in Podunk, OK. Idiot 2 cars ahead was running 60mph for most of the time but would drift into a coma (or on the phone) and slow down randomly for no reason to 45mph.

I was getting frustrated being 2 cars back and after about the 15th time flopped my arms down at my sides like "Why, why?". As the lead car sped up I was not accelerating while pushing the gas pedal down.

I looked down and the tach was at 4,000rpms and we were slowing down. I immediately started thinking about reports in here of people's trucks doing this and being stranded with an electronic glitch.

Looked down again and the dial was in "N" neutral. Flipped it to "D" and all was well. Just a random flop of the hands and the truck was inoperable. No locking detent or button to push to make the shift, no click or tactile feel, just a flick and it's in neutral.

I really hate this dial.

Or maybe they get rid of the knob completely and incorporate it into the new huge display on the new models. Just kidding. Another topic but I wish they had kept the screen the same and saved the cubby.

 

[EIlig]

On day one - I didn't like it as it was something new; days 2-3 took a little getting used to it - required a little thought; days 3 thru 700+ so far - I never think about it and it's never caused me any trouble.

Exactly... Its not an issue. In fact I like its positioning. It allows me in one swift move to disengage the parking brake, put the car in drive, and turn off the start/stop function, which is on the dash on a Tremor

 

[2lbgill]

I feel like I've given the dial a fair shake and have determined I frikken hate the stupid thing. It is just not intuitive to being able to grab it and put it where you need it to go without deliberately looking down at it.

The Mav is my wife's DD and I drive a manual trans Tacoma or MT Miata and am used to knowing by the feel what gear I'm in. I'm lost in the Maverick with the dial. I have had many, many episodes of going the wrong way with it when trying to turn quickly when turning around.

Today sealed the deal for me and the stupid thing.

Wife and I were driving an old 55 mph 2 lane backroad in Podunk, OK. Idiot 2 cars ahead was running 60mph for most of the time but would drift into a coma (or on the phone) and slow down randomly for no reason to 45mph.

I was getting frustrated being 2 cars back and after about the 15th time flopped my arms down at my sides like "Why, why?". As the lead car sped up I was not accelerating while pushing the gas pedal down.

I looked down and the tach was at 4,000rpms and we were slowing down. I immediately started thinking about reports in here of people's trucks doing this and being stranded with an electronic glitch.

Looked down again and the dial was in "N" neutral. Flipped it to "D" and all was well. Just a random flop of the hands and the truck was inoperable. No locking detent or button to push to make the shift, no click or tactile feel, just a flick and it's in neutral.

I really hate this dial.

You belong to the .5% group. Just a guess

 

[710-oil-614]

I feel like I've given the dial a fair shake and have determined I frikken hate the stupid thing. It is just not intuitive to being able to grab it and put it where you need it to go without deliberately looking down at it.

The Mav is my wife's DD and I drive a manual trans Tacoma or MT Miata and am used to knowing by the feel what gear I'm in. I'm lost in the Maverick with the dial. I have had many, many episodes of going the wrong way with it when trying to turn quickly when turning around.

Today sealed the deal for me and the stupid thing.

Wife and I were driving an old 55 mph 2 lane backroad in Podunk, OK. Idiot 2 cars ahead was running 60mph for most of the time but would drift into a coma (or on the phone) and slow down randomly for no reason to 45mph.

I was getting frustrated being 2 cars back and after about the 15th time flopped my arms down at my sides like "Why, why?". As the lead car sped up I was not accelerating while pushing the gas pedal down.

I looked down and the tach was at 4,000rpms and we were slowing down. I immediately started thinking about reports in here of people's trucks doing this and being stranded with an electronic glitch.

Looked down again and the dial was in "N" neutral. Flipped it to "D" and all was well. Just a random flop of the hands and the truck was inoperable. No locking detent or button to push to make the shift, no click or tactile feel, just a flick and it's in neutral.

I really hate this dial.

If it had a traditional stick for an automatic you can push it into manual just the same way.

The dial is perfectly fine. Adapt, or don’t. Ford isn’t changing it and they don’t care.

 

[AVC]

I don't have an issue with it being a knob, but rather being an ILL-DESIGNED knob. It should have hard stops at P and D.

And stiffer detents so it's easier to mentally count them; I constantly overshoot R and get into P on multi-point maneuvers, when moving the dial quickly.

 

[Chewy]

I got use to it on my Bronco Sport but it did not spin all the way around. You didn't have to look anywhere to see what position it was in. It had four positions and stopped at each end. Some idiot at Ford decided to just let it keep spinning on the Maverick.

You must have had a ‘21 Bronco Sport because they changed the dial in ‘22 to the same as the Maverick. I had a ‘21 BS that stopped at park and drive. Then I got ‘22 BS and it turns indefinitely. Didn’t matter to me but the Bronco Sport forum was full of complaints.

 

[Bruce W]

I let mine drive. She's better at it than me plus she never has a problem with the shifter.

Be sure to disable the air bags…..

 

[Tom 71 Maverick 24]

You must have had a ‘21 Bronco Sport because they changed the dial in ‘22 to the same as the Maverick. I had a ‘21 BS that stopped at park and drive. Then I got ‘22 BS and it turns indefinitely. Didn’t matter to me but the Bronco Sport forum was full of complaints.

They probably saved 19 cents per vehicle with the newer dial.

 

[Brianx]

they claim it frees up space. i don't like the dial either. i could go for a stubby stick that frees space and also is intuitive. perhaps us old-timers hate it more as we've been using stick shifters since the 1960's and earlier.

 

[rclee]

The dial is actually safer for you in an accident. No steel rod sticking up for you to fly in to or on to. Just saying.

 

[1929]

My dial has solid detents. If I hit it hard enough to brush it into another gear, I can feel I’ve done it.

As for knocking the shifter into N at highway speeds, both my ‘07 Fusion and my wife’s ‘14 Avenger can be bumped into Neutral without pressing anything, just a passing bump of the shifter.

as a wise doctor once said; “Does it hurt when you do that? Really? Then don’t do that!”

What year is your Maverick? Did the shifter change?

My dial may turn clockwise or counter clockwise to infinity and beyond. No solid detents on mine.

 

[Zager94]

I detest the dial shifter, by I’m learning to live with it. The only time I glance at it, is when I’m going from P to R or D to R. Otherwise, I just spin the dial, with no looking, to get from P to D and D to P.

 

[Mike1597]

I don't like the roulette wheel shifter that just spins around with no stops. The proper place for the shifter for the last 100 years have been on the steering column.

Ford needs to follow GM's lead and move to an electronic Column-Mounted Stalk.

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