This Stellantis idea is brilliant and also necessary, why didn't anyone think of it before?

A recently registered patent by Stellantis promises to revolutionize the last bastion of analog driving: the manual shift. The brand has designed a system that prevents engaging the wrong gear, a help as simple as it is ingenious that could prolong engine life, save fuel, and facilitate learning for less skilled drivers.

A shield against the dreaded money shift

The document, registered in Germany, describes a manual gearbox monitored by the car's electronics. Speed sensors, accelerator position, and engaged gear feed into software that, in real-time, blocks those gear ratios that could damage or stall the engine.

This system maintains the clutch, the lever, and the pleasure of intervention, but with an invisible network that prevents the most costly mistakes.

Are you going too fast to downshift to third? The lever will resist. Do you intend to exit a roundabout in fifth or sixth gear while only going 30 km/h? It won't let you either. It could even take into account if the vehicle is taking a turn to avoid load imbalances.

Advantages for engine, consumption, and wallet

One might think that having a guided manual shift makes no sense if automatic transmission already exists. However, Stellantis's solution aims to find an alternative route without 'stealing' all the protagonism from the driver.

The most obvious benefit is mechanical: goodbye to breakages and wear from a coordination error. A bad shift can spike the RPMs to the dreaded injection cut and shorten the engine's lifespan.

Similarly, the driver can cause the opposite, as regularly driving at a low RPM does not stall and reduces the engine's response when acceleration is needed (exiting a roundabout, overtaking, climbing, etc).

Although that is not the worst, it also promotes the accumulation of the dreaded carbon buildup that causes so many failures in modern vehicles. Public enemy number 1 of the EGR valve, the mass airflow sensor, the particulate filter, and many other elements designed to reduce emissions, but that suffer the consequences of poor combustion due to certain driving habits.

Regarding consumption, by preventing the engine from working at an inefficient RPM, consumption would also be kept in check, but without harming the engine's long-term reliability.

Finally, there is the educational issue. Nowadays, a large majority of drivers do not correctly understand how to use the shift and what gear is appropriate for each situation. A transmission like Stellantis's, if well configured, would also serve an educational purpose.

A manual with the soul of an automatic?

Here arises the philosophical question: if the electronics decide for you which gears are available, is it still a 'pure' manual shift? Advocates of the clutch pedal love having absolute control, just what an automatic shift cedes to comfort and speed.

This Stellantis system sits in an intermediate position: it maintains the clutch, the lever, and the pleasure of intervention, but with an invisible network that prevents the most costly mistakes.

In a market where automatics reign for their smoothness and efficiency, this patent does not aim to compete with them, but to protect the die-hard manual enthusiasts. A kind of 'mechanical airbag' that could convince those who fear that a lapse in attention could ruin the engine.

And, by the way, it reminds us that technology is not always there to take the flavor out of driving: sometimes, it just makes that flavor safer and more enduring.

Fuente: Carbuzz.com