Anton Yelchin, “Star Trek” Actor, Dies At 27

I think almost anyone who has driven a car for more than a few years has done this... I have accidentally done it a couple of times at least. Lucky, I was able to catch the car before it ran over me or someone else.

That Jeep shifter helping you mess up seems even more terrible.
 
Armenius said:
Here is the monostable gear selector from ZF that is used in the Jeep, for anyone wondering. I have to say that this is the most idiotic design decision I have seen in the operation of a car since Nissan's steer-by-wire. What is this for? To save space in the dashboard? Increase repair cost if anything goes wrong? Change for the sake of change?

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This is worst design I have ever seen, so if you get in a hurry and bump up your shifter but don't hold it forward long enough you could be in Neutral, Reverse or Park? No wonder they had to recall it. How did that ever pass through Q&A?
 
ruffbytes said:
I think almost anyone who has driven a car for more than a few years has done this... I have accidentally done it a couple of times at least. Lucky, I was able to catch the car before it ran over me or someone else.

That Jeep shifter helping you mess up seems even more terrible.
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I don't know about that. My unconscious habit when stopping a car whether or not I'm going to leave the engine running is to set both the parking brake and handbrake in an auto, or shift into neutral and set the handbrake in a manual. Been driving 15 years in both automatics and manuals.
 
Armenius said:
I don't know about that. My unconscious habit when stopping a car whether or not I'm going to leave the engine running is to set both the parking brake and handbrake in an auto, or shift into neutral and set the handbrake in a manual. Been driving 15 years in both automatics and manuals.
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Me too, but with the crappiness of the Jeep shifter, plus the fact it was 1:30AM so he was probably not thinking straight it would make sense why this accident happened.
 
Shmee said:
Me too, but with the crappiness of the Jeep shifter, plus the fact it was 1:30AM so he was probably not thinking straight it would make sense why this accident happened.
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Agreed. My point to ruffbytes, however, was that I have never made that kind of mistake in cars with the traditional mechanical gear selectors we're all used to, contrary to his assertion in the post quoted.
 
And the idea is that technology improves and makes life easier and more efficient. This is (potentially) the second time in a week now where something bad has happened because of technology's so-called improvements (there's probably more actually but these two are the ones I know of) not actually being improvements:

- this event with Yelchin and the Jeep potentially being because of the faulty shifter/transmission issue (which of course being defective is an issue all by itself)
- last week a kid died because of heat exhaustion in a car when he went back to get a toy he forgot, then he closed the door after entry and it automagically locked on him and he wasn't able to get out because the newfangled "child-proof" locks kept him inside (no keys to power the car to roll down the windows eitther)

I swear, sometimes technology becomes more responsible for people dying than people themselves. :(
 
From Variety:

Anton Yelchin’s Jeep That Fatally Pinned Him Was Recalled for ‘Rollaway Risk’
The vehicle that fatally pinned Anton Yelchin on Sunday outside his Studio City home had recently been recalled due to “rollaway risk.”

Yelchin drove a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Select 2014 and 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees — manufactured between July 16, 2012, and Dec. 22, 2015 — were recalled in April by manufacturer Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for a transmission issue that made it possible for the vehicle to roll away after being parked. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study investigated 14 complaints of “rollaway” after shifts to the “park” gear.

“Drivers erroneously concluding that their vehicle’s transmission is in the ‘park’ position may be struck by the vehicle and injured if they attempt to get out of the vehicle while the engine is running and the parking brake is not engaged,” the NHTSA concluded.
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FULL ARTICLE HERE
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
what a shitty way to die.. guessing he went to get the mail and forgot to put the car in park or something? i thought he played Chekov perfectly, he'll definitely be missed.
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aeliusg said:
Something to be said for learning to drive a manual. It definitely gives you more respect for what's going on under the hood instead of 'press this pedal to go and this pedal to stop.'
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rat said:
Apparently he got out of his car without putting it in park and it rolled back to crush him against a stone wall. Kind of a dumbass way to die, honestly.
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Whach said:
oh for fuck sake...............I want to know what car he was driving. Hand brake Hand brake Hand brake....at least hill stop if it was an automatic. I'm guessing he either forgot the handbrake or put the thing in neutral. bah. Another potential bites the dust =/
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meanmodda[H] said:
Sounds like a case of the Darwin awards. Very sorry nonetheless , was truly a nice guy.
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Tiberian said:
It was a Jeep according to reports, and it could potentially be one of the models that had some defective emergency parking brake hardware in the recent past (like within the past 12 months) and it could end up being shown that his particular Jeep happened to be one of the models that was part of the recall earlier this year, we'll find out more info as time passes. It could have been completely in Park, as well, we just don't have enough factual info at this point in time.
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Dwango said:
It was a 2015 Grand Cherokee which is one of the models that Fiat Chrysler recalled because it's too easy to put the transmission into neutral when you think you've put it in park. The shifter in it is one of those newer types that doesn't stay in any particular position to indicate a gear selection, it ratchets back to center after you select a gear. They've had a lot of runaway vehicles because of it and it sounds like that's what happened in this case.

Kind of a freaky "Final Destination" way to go. I feel bad for his friends that had to find him that way.
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TechLarry said:
This is all kinds of messed up :(

I also think this isn't the last we've heard of this. The picture I get is at the last minute, he hopped out of the car to grab the mail and left it out of part or, if manual, didn't set the parking brake.

But is that what happened?
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Nukester said:
Shitty way to die. Sucks. But, can happen to anyone. Hate to sound incompassionate, but having a severely mentally ill daughter, I never know what day I could wake up and something bad happen. We all have things to worry about.
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Quix said:
Apparently it was a Jeep Grand Cherokee with one of those stupid stateless shifters, that were recalled because it's very easy to leave the card in neutral and think it's in park. Car companies need to stop trying to redo things for no reason.
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Shmee said:
Me too, but with the crappiness of the Jeep shifter, plus the fact it was 1:30AM so he was probably not thinking straight it would make sense why this accident happened.
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See Zloth's message above. Appears it wasn't his fault. Several reports of vehicle rolling even when in "park". Awful he had to die because of a car companies stupidity.
 
Tiberian said:
It was a Jeep according to reports, and it could potentially be one of the models that had some defective emergency parking brake hardware in the recent past (like within the past 12 months) and it could end up being shown that his particular Jeep happened to be one of the models that was part of the recall earlier this year, we'll find out more info as time passes. It could have been completely in Park, as well, we just don't have enough factual info at this point in time.
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The recall was because it was easy to leave the car in Neutral if you didn't double check. The recall was about changing the car to act in N as if it was in P when stopped, to avid unintentional rolling.
 
I've had my parking brake not catch on my truck a few times, and have come back to my vehicle being in a ditch. It's embarrassing, but I'm always glad that no one had gotten hurt. I've been lucky. I've seen some people question why this vehicle was left in neutral. I try to tell some of them, that I drive a manual, and I cannot leave my truck in idle while in gear. So, I can understand why it would be. Poor kid. Probably was exhausted and this error cost him.

Then, I'm reading now that it seems the fault might be in the design of the gear shift. Man, totally sucks.
 
DukenukemX said:
More the reason to have self driving cars on the road.
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Considering all the bugs in every program ever written I think it is "overly optimistic" to presume self driving cars will be bug-free. Based upon the probability of buggy software I would suspect an increase in crazy and absurd fatalities not less...
 
twonunpackmule said:
I've had my parking brake not catch on my truck a few times, and have come back to my vehicle being in a ditch. It's embarrassing, but I'm always glad that no one had gotten hurt. I've been lucky. I've seen some people question why this vehicle was left in neutral. I try to tell some of them, that I drive a manual, and I cannot leave my truck in idle while in gear. So, I can understand why it would be. Poor kid. Probably was exhausted and this error cost him.

Then, I'm reading now that it seems the fault might be in the design of the gear shift. Man, totally sucks.
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I posted a video of how the gear selector in the Grand Cherokee Anton had works earlier in the thread here:
Anton Yelchin, “Star Trek” Actor, Dies At 27

Notice how there is a delay when going from D to R and another delay going to P, while there is no delay going from D to N. Also, despite the claims otherwise in the video, you can go into neutral without applying the brake or pressing the button on the lever. There have been reports from drivers of the transmission going into neutral while at speed just from brushing the handle while reaching for something else in the dashboard.
 
Shmee said:
This is worst design I have ever seen, so if you get in a hurry and bump up your shifter but don't hold it forward long enough you could be in Neutral, Reverse or Park? No wonder they had to recall it. How did that ever pass through Q&A?
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It's a Jeep, now made by Fiat.
The worst of the worst when it comes to design & reliability.
Don't know why anyone would ever buy one.
 
Him and Paul Walker be up there like 'yeah we never saw that coming'. In all srsness too many ppl dying recently, just got over Ali...
 
Armenius said:
I don't know about that. My unconscious habit when stopping a car whether or not I'm going to leave the engine running is to set both the parking brake and handbrake in an auto, or shift into neutral and set the handbrake in a manual. Been driving 15 years in both automatics and manuals.
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That also is based on where you live. Personally, never touched the parking break in a vehicle ever. I would be the first one to get a ticket if I was in San Francisco due to their parking laws as I don't turn my wheels and don't apply parking breaks. Because I live in flat area. Everywhere I visit is flat. I have never been in a single instance where a parking break was needed in my 20 years of driving. Same goes for a hand break. Only ever touched that once and that was to see what it did, which was snap the cable due to being rusted. I later found that I shouldn't have been able to tell the repair shop to remove that cable as I don't need it and have them actually remove it. So for somebody like me, I would never have that level of habit you have as that is a worthless process for me to do. If you are use to an area that is nothing but hills you are going to be more use to that. If you are use to somewhere in the middle it might be more of a crap shot.
 
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I am so paranoid with my car doing this that I always, always use the hand brake. My wife used to get annoyed with me, but now she understands.
 
Armenius said:
Here is the monostable gear selector from ZF that is used in the Jeep, for anyone wondering. I have to say that this is the most idiotic design decision I have seen in the operation of a car since Nissan's steer-by-wire. What is this for? To save space in the dashboard? Increase repair cost if anything goes wrong? Change for the sake of change?

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High technology for the sake of being high technology. These days manufacturers of various products are insistent on removing anything traditionally mechanical. Maybe electrical and computer engineers are trying to justify their paychecks.
 
So how will this work in the star trek universe? Can't just replace the actor. Going to CG some footage of a shuttlecraft sliding backwards into him in the docking bay?....too soon?
 
Darunion said:
So how will this work in the star trek universe? Can't just replace the actor. Going to CG some footage of a shuttlecraft sliding backwards into him in the docking bay?....too soon?
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Actually they could. There was that news about that demo some weeks ago about how they can superimpose another person's face on an actor speaking now. So they can record everything with a different actor, then put the known face/voice on the footage in post.
 
rat said:
Apparently he got out of his car without putting it in park and it rolled back to crush him against a stone wall. Kind of a dumbass way to die, honestly.
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Poor dude, I can imagine him at the last second thinking "Not like this". Its one of the top 10 most retarded ways to die.

I can't stand automatics in the first place, but even if you have it in park that is never an excuse to not use the parking brake. Automatics are making lazy people even lazier. Lets use this as a reminder, and I strongly encourage reverse parking too since that is where the majority of accidents occur (which at our office is an offense that loses you your parking spot the first time, and the second time is grounds for a disciplinary review by your manager for unsafe business practices).
 
Whach said:
oh for fuck sake...............I want to know what car he was driving. Hand brake Hand brake Hand brake....at least hill stop if it was an automatic. I'm guessing he either forgot the handbrake or put the thing in neutral. bah. Another potential bites the dust =/
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EXACTLY. Most people would be shocked to see how small the park prawl is in a automatic transmission. It is and has always intended to be to keep the car from rolling on relatively flat surfaces; NOT inclines. That is what a parking brake is for.
I think a much needed safety features is equipping cars with incline sensor and sounding a buzzer if you exit the car without setting the parking brake.
 
Armenius said:
Here is the monostable gear selector from ZF that is used in the Jeep, for anyone wondering. I have to say that this is the most idiotic design decision I have seen in the operation of a car since Nissan's steer-by-wire. What is this for? To save space in the dashboard? Increase repair cost if anything goes wrong? Change for the sake of change?

Click to expand...

Modern transmission are completely electronically control. There is no need for mechanical linkage, and that includes a shift cable. Yeah, it is new and different. I know a dial gear selector the dash was optional on my 2014 Ram pickup.
 
M76 said:
Actually they could. There was that news about that demo some weeks ago about how they can superimpose another person's face on an actor speaking now. So they can record everything with a different actor, then put the known face/voice on the footage in post.
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If they do a 4th Trek film with this cast most likely they'll just find a way to write out the character and put another character in his place. Not only would I not expect Paramount to want to spend the money to do that technique for an entire movie, it would end up giving the impression that they're trying to cash in on his death still and will put a lot of people off. The movie is coming out in exactly one month so they don't have to do anything for this one and there isn't time to shoot anything to give the character a send off.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
EXACTLY. Most people would be shocked to see how small the park prawl is in a automatic transmission. It is and has always intended to be to keep the car from rolling on relatively flat surfaces; NOT inclines. That is what a parking brake is for.
I think a much needed safety features is equipping cars with incline sensor and sounding a buzzer if you exit the car without setting the parking brake.
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Electronic parking brake is fairly common in many cars. Just add some code to engage it when on an incline.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
Modern transmission are completely electronically control. There is no need for mechanical linkage, and that includes a shift cable. Yeah, it is new and different. I know a dial gear selector the dash was optional on my 2014 Ram pickup.
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Me and my 3 Pedal Mafia folks would like to disagree.
 
The monostable shifter is likely being developed to support automatic control of the transmission through some form of autopilot software. It's difficult to have both a computer and human driving a car when things like the shifter are mechanical and placed in 'park' when the computer wants to move it to 'drive'. They are electronic systems anyways, so the mechanical system is really not necessary. That said, this is a stupid fucking design. Why not push buttons?
 
Regardless of the design, this was simple human error.

The transmission is never designed to act as a replacement for a parking brake.
 
Ducman69 said:
Regardless of the design, this was simple human error.

The transmission is never designed to act as a replacement for a parking brake.
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That would be great, but this vehicle also has an electronic parking brake, which ironically is set by default to automatically engage when the transmission is set to P.

As you say, it was human error. But the whole system design is not intuitive in the least. Other manufacturers with these types of gear selectors have a failsafe that automatically puts the transmission in P when a door is opened while the vehicle is stopped.
 
Armenius said:
That would be great, but this vehicle also has an electronic parking brake, which ironically is set by default to automatically engage when the transmission is set to P.

As you say, it was human error. But the whole system design is not intuitive in the least. Other manufacturers with these types of gear selectors have a failsafe that automatically puts the transmission in P when a door is opened while the vehicle is stopped.
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Agrreed. Airbus had (hgas) a habit of doing the same thing with planes.
 
Armenius said:
As you say, it was human error. But the whole system design is not intuitive in the least. Other manufacturers with these types of gear selectors have a failsafe that automatically puts the transmission in P when a door is opened while the vehicle is stopped.
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Not to mention seat weight sensors. But, there also needs to be a way to override for when the vehicle needs to be pushed.
 
I can see Jeep never being able to overcome the perception on this one. No matter what paperwork they come up with to show that it wasn't their fault(legit or otherwise), they'll have a stigma that the 1st death involving their recalled jeep shifter was a promising young actor cut down in his prime.

I recall a friend who had a Dodge truck loaner a year or so back & he showed me the on dash rotary shifter knob. First thought I had was "thats close to the radio & heater, how long before someone hits it by accident?" Said as much to my friend & he said that he had already hit it multiple times by accident. There was nothing on the column so why couldn't they have put an electric switch in the "conventional" place?

Clever for the sake of clever to justify someone's job.
 
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