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Disable autostick?

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rcoapman

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
If there is a way, it's not spelled out anywhere that I've found. Just bought a 17 FWD Patriot last week. I just got rid of the last new car bought that was 15 years old. I didn't know about the autostick "feature" until I drove off the lot and thought the transmission was stuck 5 miles later.

The autostick engagement is a terrible design. To have autostick always on shows that the designers did not think this through in terms of practical, every day use. Many of us grew up on manual and so the hand resting on the shifter is natural and a habit that won't break any time soon. Add to that that there is no other comfortable place to put my right hand in this vehicle and you know what is going to happen. I've had this car 7 days and I'll well on my bloody way to burning out the transmission because of this stupid design flaw.

I can absolutely see the advantage of having control over the gear in use *AT SPECIFIC TIMES* such as towing, off road, long descents, etc. I'm still just gasping at the utter shortsightedness of having it always on and having the engagement be so easily misapplied from the D position.

If Jeep reads these forums, give us a way to turn this off! Or at least send us something to clip into the shifting column to not allow the shifter to move left or right.

Until then, I'm going to have to design a physical way to block off the side to side motion when in the D position. This is probably going to cause other problems getting in and out of drive but since that will only be when I'm stopped it's less of a danger to the vehicle. It's certainly not going to lesson my disappointment over having to Jerry-rig a vehicle that's 7 days old and has less then 200mi on it in order to get it to operate in a sane manner.
 
#2 ·
Personally, I don't see a problem here. Just like driving the CVT--it did take a little "getting used to", so this too, could be just a period of adjustment.

As far as a place to rest your hand--the arm rest works great for most of us! Unless I was driving farm trucks with the two-speed axle switch by the shift knob, there really wasn't a need to rest the hand on the shift lever.

But, then, that's just me...
 
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Discussion starter · #3 ·
Yeah, there is definitely some personal subjectivity here. I have driven with my hand on the shifter forever. It's comfortable for me and it's what I prefer. I'll admit to that much personal preference in my opinion.

However I still stand by the view that the combination of the "always on" nature or autostick as well as it being so easy to engage unintentionally shows a lack of design forethought and a serious lack of attention to detail on the part of whoever the heck designed this thing. It's like they had this idea, which does have merits as I mentioned above, but just slapped it in without doing any testing or design from a driver's perspective. From an electrical engineering point of view a toggle or switch somewhere to turn it on or off should be very easy to implement.

jack.allwardt said:
Personally, I don't see a problem here. Just like driving the CVT--it did take a little "getting used to", so this too, could be just a period of adjustment.

As far as a place to rest your hand--the arm rest works great for most of us! Unless I was driving farm trucks with the two-speed axle switch by the shift knob, there really wasn't a need to rest the hand on the shift lever.

But, then, that's just me...
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#4 ·
There was a TSB referring to a dealer reflash of software for a problem with late 2014 and early 2015 Patriots but this is not your problem. You must move the gear shift to the right until D shows up on the dash and then keep your hand off the shift lever.
 
#5 ·
When we first got ours I was accidentally engaging auto stick. Pull it straight down and it won't engage. Hold to the right for 2 seconds goes back to D. You may not want to disable the feature because there are times when it is useful such as really slick roads it lets you start out in second. Sometimes it just makes driving a little more fun to drive.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Guys, I get how it works. I simply have no need of it for 99% of my driving and if there is a way to disable would love to know how. Until then, figuring out a way to physically block the level from moving side to side will have to be a band aid.
 
#8 ·
One thing lots of people do is to rest your hand on the shifter as you drive. You can't do that in these things. A bump and a nudge is all it takes. So the only way to disengage this feature is to trade it for a standard transmission Patriot, or keep your mitts off the shifter. I still haven't learn that lesson BTW.:wink2:
 
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#10 ·
The gear shift is not meant to be an armrest. It's that simple. There is no need to touch it unless you intend to shift gears. This is a poor habit which now you have an incentive to break. No reputable instructor would teach such a practice.
 
#11 ·
rcoapman said:
Guys, I get how it works. I simply have no need of it for 99% of my driving and if there is a way to disable would love to know how. Until then, figuring out a way to physically block the level from moving side to side will have to be a band aid.
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Quit turning it on 99% of the time. I drive with my hand on the shifter and have yet to "accidentaly" turn it on. Learn to better control your hands, then maybe you can better control the vehical. This seems like a pretty petty gripe about an othwise pretty great feature.

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
5speed said:
The gear shift is not meant to be an armrest. It's that simple. There is no need to touch it unless you intend to shift gears. This is a poor habit which now you have an incentive to break. No reputable instructor would teach such a practice.
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^This, resting your hand on the shifter of a manual is actually an extremely bad practice as the pressure from your hand will cause additional wear on the shift forks (and possibly synchros if you press really hard) and shorten their life significantly.
 
#13 ·
This may be a little bit backward to the OP's problem, but when I use autostick I intentionally keep my hand on the shift lever to remind me that I'm using it. Otherwise I'm driving along for miles in 4 or 5 and sucking up gas. The reach over to the shift lever is just a tad uncomfortable for me so its just awkward enough to serve its purpose of reminding me.

My stupid problem is when I use autostick to descend a hill at the end of my road. First there's a curve on a downgrade so my hand comes off the lever to help steer, then I come to a stop sign at the bottom where I have to turn one way or the other so I use both hands to steer onto the highway . . . and then I'm turning 4000 RPMs! :doh:
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
Poor habit? Extremely bad practice? ROFL! Thanks for those entirely unhelpful responses but if I wanted to be judged I'd go out and find myself a wife. I'm very sure I'm in a large group of people that keep their hand on the shift lever, maybe you should start a rally or something.

I'm not going to stop because Jeep was too lazy to design this system properly.

Clearly there doesn't seem to be a way to disable this thing so maybe I'll sort out a way to do it on my own and post it later. Until then, it's still a ****ty design that is too easy to engage accidentally and does not have any way to lock out at all which can be dangerous to the driver and the life of the vehicle.
 
#15 ·
I actually had my Girlfriend accidently activate my auto stick once by bumping it with her knee from the passenger seat. I could hear the high RPMs and checked my tach before I figured out what it was. Not a big deal though if you keep an eye on your tach. The RPM limiter will keep it from doing any damage.
 
#16 ·
Sdsjeep2008 said:
I actually had my Girlfriend accidently activate my auto stick once by bumping it with her knee from the passenger seat. I could hear the high RPMs and checked my tach before I figured out what it was. Not a big deal though if you keep an eye on your tach. The RPM limiter will keep it from doing any damage.
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Sorry, I have to ask, which knee?
 
#17 · (Edited)
rush549 said:
Sorry, I have to ask, which knee?
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It could be either. I dated a girl that used to sit sideways facing me with her right hand on the dashboard. Guess she was braced for a crash!

Uh, no, not the most romantic posture one could imagine, and the only thing that crashed was the romance.

Come to think of it, the same sort of thing could happen with a standard or conventional automatic tranny too, couldn't it? If you're in contact with the lever, leaning hard enough to engage autostick, you could be nudging it out of gear.
 
#19 ·
Ignatz said:
It could be either. I dated a girl that used to sit sideways facing me with her right hand on the dashboard. Guess she was braced for a crash!

Uh, no, not the most romantic posture one could imagine, and the only thing that crashed was the romance.

Come to think of it, the same sort of thing could happen with a standard or conventional automatic tranny too, couldn't it? If you're in contact with the lever, leaning hard enough to engage autostick, you could be nudging it out of gear.
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I read long ago that resting your hand on the shifter (I believe it was standard shift) could result in carpo tunnel over a period of time.
 
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