Gated gear shift - What is the supposed benefit over more conventional design?

[IgoZoom]

Does anyone know why some automakers (not just Mazda) use gated gear shifts for automatic transmissions??? Inquiring minds want to know! (uhm)

My 2012 CX-9 is the first car I've owned with a gated shifter, but I have used quite a few in rental cars over the years. Some are a real pain to use and others are just slightly annoying. Thankfully, my CX-9's shifter is a very minor annoyance. It drove me crazy in the first few weeks, but over time I have grown accustomed to it. The only time I have any trouble is when I'm shifting from Drive to Reverse (while completely stopped, of course). I back into my driveway whenever I have stuff to unload from the cargo area and, for some reason, the pattern of the gate feels VERY odd when moving the shifter from D to R.

Nothing about gated shifters feels intuitive. If I'm not mistaken, Mercedes-Benz created these back in the 70s. I was surprised that they didn't develop them much earlier, perhaps in the 40s as a Nazi torture device??? (eek2)

We've all them, so what is your opinion on the subject?

I drove my dad's '04 Accord earlier this week and was reminded just how simple the gear selector could be. The only oddity is that you can move the shifter from D5 to D4 without pressing the release button. Some reviewers in the past commented on that and complained that it was too easy to overshoot D5 and end up driving in D4 without realiizing it....somehow that never happened to me on my older Accords and my dad has never done it in his 190k miles with the car.

I just don't see the purpose or benefit of wrangling my gear shifter thru a maze all the time!

 

[ceric]

IMHO, gated shifter prevents accidental gear change such as from D to N at highway speed.
Have you ever experienced that? Very scary for the 1st time.

 

[LawHawk]

I also assume it is a safety concern. I have done the D to N thing before, which was a little scary. Much more concerning would be glancing down and thinking you're in R when you're actually in D and running over a kid on a sidewalk or something. When it's weirdly-shaped, your hand is much better at knowing where the right spot is either without looking or with a brief glance. I assumed it was mandated by the government in newer cars but my father-in-law just bought a Sentra and it has a straight line.

 

[tex2670]

Honestly, I think it's all style--Mercedes was doing this years ago; I always thought companies did it to make the gearshift look more upscale. N and D on a gated shifter are on the same line, so it is not any easier to accidently shift from D to N on one or the other--just a bump will do it. A non-gated shifter can go from D to N without depressing the shifter button; but it can't go from N to R without pressing the button. Likewise, you need to push the gearshift to the side on a gated shifter to go from N to R. Consumer Reports hates them, and thinks straight line shifters are safer.

 

[ceric]

To correct myself, you still can go from D to N with gated shifter.
I am surprised that no one corrected me yet...

 

[J&J's Dad]

Agreed that it's more about style than anything else. It just takes getting used to for those that are new to it. Some adjust more easily to new controls, and some don't.