The 'Death Of The Stick Shift' Is Almost Here For Americans

Heat84 · 2026-07-25T00:54:59+00:00

https://m.slashdot.org/story/456332 I’ve never driven stick myself. I’ve never needed one. I’m neither a race car driver nor a trucker and I live in South Florida. The only hills here are overpasses. Does a stick get better MPG’s? My sister is one of the weirdo Americans who prefers a stick. Although she hasn’t driven one in 10 or 15 years. I didn’t realize Mustangs were only stick. I don’t understand how there are automatic semi tractors. In some of the situations I’ve seen them in, I don’t know how you can use an automatic transmission. Maybe it’s only for local hauling? Are truckers ashamed to drive a tractor with an automatic transmission? Is it like a male biker riding in the bitch seat? Here’s a comment from the article. Is that how the automatic transmission in a tractor works that enables it to work as good as a stick?: It’s more than that. Modern automatics are equivalent. You can use the controls to switch into manual mode and then push the knob up and down to manually shift. All that we lost is having to use a clutch. I’m been driving manuals for 40 years. I’ve tried the modern automatic’s manual mode. I find it to be functionally equivalent, it solves the same problem, it allows me to fine tune things. This personal appraisal was immediately apparent from the first couple rentals or loaners that had automatics with a manual mode. Do you Canadians say manual transmission instead of stick?

danf

ugly95

I don’t know about that - the manual knobs and controls generally use one of the networks in the car that controls the actual device. Only two wires for the network are needed, and they don’t run directly to the device that’s being controlled.

Somewhat-Reticent

danf Direct‑control & feedback loop hijack by design = flaw.

robxr4ti

ugly95 touchscreens require that you take your eyes off the road for an extended period of time to interpret the stupid icons. It is distracted driving - no different than cell phone usage.

robxr4ti

ugly95 I dare say the wiring is even more complex with touch screens. The now run four to five networks in the average car, all requiring a bus consisting of lots of wires.

egeezer

robxr4ti . The now run four to five networks in the average car, all requiring a bus consisting of lots of wires.

Not to mention the cost of replacing failed control components.

And, I’d rather reach and feel for a knob to adjust the Heat/AC temperature, vent control and fan speed than looking down to be sure I’m touching the right area of a screen with no tactile feel or response.

Somewhat-Reticent

egeezer no tactile feel or response

AKA poor UI design.

Sparkchaser

Somewhat-Reticent poor UI design.

I know when I drive our car I wonder if anyone on the design team ever tried it.

ugly95

robxr4ti touchscreens require that you take your eyes off the road for an extended period of time to interpret the stupid icons. It is distracted driving - no different than cell phone usage.

The issue isn’t that touchscreens are not distracting. I agree that they are worse than physical buttons. But, even adjusting your car stereo with physical buttons is distracting and can require you to take your eyes of the road, or just split your focus.

But the key distinction is that touchscreens still serve a purpose for operating the car. A cellphone does not.

robxr4ti I dare say the wiring is even more complex with touch screens. The now run four to five networks in the average car, all requiring a bus consisting of lots of wires.

I don’t want to speak too confidently on this, and hopefully someone knows more. But I’m pretty sure that there is a moderatly intricate wiring harness that needs to be designed and installed to provide the connection to each physical knob/button. And that’s where the cost-cutting comes in.

As for screens, if you look at how much prices on all products has increased, LCD screens and TVs are one of the few products that have actually gone done a lot in price.

And, I would assume it’s a lot easier to sell add-on subscription features with a touchscreen.

takeahike

Sparkchaser I know when I drive our car I wonder if anyone on the design team ever tried it.

They never seem to–they just do things and let the public be the beta tester. It seems that the way it is with all modern technology is to put together stuff that might work and just see what happens and maybe fix it down the road if there are enough complaints. Usually when I’m so often struggling trying to get something to work it occurs to me that when they advertised for engineers to develop this stuff they must have put in the ad sadistic personality required.

InternetJeff

Although the main topic is “stick shifts”, regarding the distraction discussed about screens in cars, I’ll just leave it here that more and more the control of functions can be accomplished by voice recognition. Your model of car may vary.

egeezer

InternetJeff more and more the control of functions can be accomplished by voice recognition.

I would find it useful to be able to control other people’s cars by voice:

Hey dummy!!! Stay in your own @#$)ing lane!!!

taraf

takeahike They never seem to–they just do things and let the public be the beta tester.

Regulators to the rescue, I guess.
Page 6: https://cdn.euroncap.com/cars/assets/Euro_NCAP_At_a_Glance_2026_e39e820cf3.pdf

If manufacturers want a 5-star NCAP rating, then they need to have physical buttons.

edit: searching for a reference, but China’s actually moving towards making it a legal requirement, along with requirements on where the physical controls have to be located. so it won’t just be a guideline for “here’s how you get a good rating”, it’ll be an actual legal requirement. and you can bet that manufacturers who sell cars outside of North America are paying attention.

robxr4ti

ugly95 Anyone who thinks touchscreens are not distracting hasn’t gotten it stock on Google maps and then needs to get back to change the radio station. You have to take a hard look it to get where you want to go since there are zero buttons. Distracted driving is distracted driving period. Operating a car should never require a stare. And as far as physical buttons go, it’s usually a couple of wires per. Computerized “features” always have to connect to one of the busses. As for cost of car touchscreens, have you looked into replacing one? You’ll die of shock.

robxr4ti

Somewhat-Reticent touchscreens are the very definition of poor design.

robxr4ti

InternetJeff if your car operates correctly with Carplay and Android auto. On Toyota products it gets confused with navigation and keeps thinking you’re trying to use the car vs the application.

urbanriot

robxr4ti Anyone who thinks touchscreens are not distracting hasn’t gotten it stock on Google maps and then needs to get back to change the radio station.

There have been studies that show interaction between human and touchscreen automotive interfaces are far more distracting than tactile interactions with knobs, dials, and buttons. Unfortunately automotive manufacturers can save money because they can send a signal from one interface rather than receiving analog data from knobs, dials, and buttons despite the latter being far more reliable.

dave

urbanriot

I don’t think analogue signal versus digital signal is the issue. The physical rotary controls on my car radio are almost certainly digital. They work just fine. You can regard the encoder as doing an A->D translation if you like.

(You can tell they’re not just plain old potentiometers because they can be rotated indefinitely, and rotating them when powered off has no effect on the setting)

urbanriot

dave I don’t think analogue signal versus digital signal is the issue. The physical rotary controls on my car radio are almost certainly digital.

That may be depending on the year. Older cars would best be described as mechanical and analog while going through the years we moved towards mechanical and digital, or at least a physical tactile interface for electronics. At the end of the day, the traditional physical knobs, dials, and switches were demonstrably less distracting for drivers than singular touchscreen control mechanisms since you have to go by look rather than feel.

dave

urbanriot

Sure - I have physical rotating knobs. They’re just not sending analogue signals.

2010 BMW. No screens.

Frosty

Guess I’ll add to this. My everyday car used to be a ’99 Accord 5 speed. Thoroughly enjoyed driving it every single day. It currently has 273k miles. Last year developed a progressive oil leak at 272k. Main engine seal between engine and transmission. Can’t bring myself to pay for fixing it due to mileage. Can’t bring myself to selling or donating it because it’s a stick shift. I so wanted this car to make it to 300k miles. Maybe one day I’ll fix it myself with a little help from my friends. If the car was an automatic transmission, I would have already donated it to the auto repair trade school.

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