Okie mentioned the the pushbutton trans. on late 50's - 60's Chryslers --- Will never forget my grandfather's '57 Mercury with push-button trans in the upper left of the dash ... So -- if Toyota can place "P" as a button, then why not convert all the gears to buttons, and drop the truly-weird shift knob ... which is probably way bigger than necessary? All buttons would be much more consistent with the general theme
Did anyone notice that there's a B option. I was driving one day and i guess i accidently had in the B position. What's the difference between D and B?
Here is a picture of the dash in our 1963 Chrysler New Yorker. We have owned this car for 34 years and it has 40k actual miles. Note that the transmission push-buttons are on the left.The lever on the left of the buttons is to engage and release park. When you move the lever down to put the car in park, it also puts the car in neutral. The buttons to the right of the steering wheel are for the heater/ac and the lever to the right of them is to set the temperature. With 413 cubic inches, it is a blast to drive!!!!
"B" means "Bad mpg unless you are driving down a very steep mountain"... It's a way to use engine braking (like jake brakes on a semi) on very long downhill runs, rather than riding your regular brakes. Like "Granny gear" on older vehicles, it's something you'll rarely use in normal life.
Maybe the designers are Apple/Steve Jobs fans and hate buttons! Maybe the goal was to use a few as they could! lol.
1st 'car' I drove a lot was chevy p/u w/ 3 on the tree. 1st 'car' I drove was a 40-something p/u with 4 on the floor and a starter pedal instead of solid state ignition. Of course all the cars had the dimmer switch on the floor. The feet were more involved back then. Manual chokes, AM radio (after market)... We could tell the cargo limit of those p/u's by whether the front wheels had enough weight to turn the vehicle or just scooted along. Ah, the good ol' days.
In reply to the parking button and shifter worries: I've made the mistake of being clumsy and have managed to get the transmission to switch while moving. If you are between approximately 1-3 mph the computer might not be getting enough movement signal to failsafe the shifter. I've hit park at 3mph and slammed to a screeching halt by mistake. I have however gone from drive to reverse (and back again) at about 3-5 mph and that has worked smoothly. (Not recommending it, just information)
