 Fiat Chrysler is accelerating the recall of 1.1 million Jeep and Dodge vehicles with a really confusing electronic shifter. The 2014 and 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and other cars had an electronic shifter that's so confusing to use, it's actually implicated in the death of Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin. Now, as it happens, I own a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and I have this shifter. And it is really confusing. It's a weird mix of software and hardware that doesn't quite work the way you'd expect. So here's the shifter in the 2014 and 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's called the monostable shifter. And it's because when you pull it back, it returns to that center position. This is the big problem. It doesn't give you feedback about what gear you're in, because it always comes back to that center position. There's little clicks. They are very, very subtle. You can't see them, but when you're shifting the car, you can feel them. So to pull back in a drive, I feel one, two, three of those clicks, and then I feel the other one. So I can feel one, two, three of those clicks. To put it back in a park, I can feel one, two, three of those clicks. That last one between reverse and park is really hard to feel. So here's the problem. When you've got it in drive, if you don't get it right, you'll just end up in reverse. If you've got it in drive and you just hit it, you end up in neutral. All of those motions are the same motion as to get it in a park, and there's no feedback about being all the way in the front, like with a regular car. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tested in February of this year said that operation of the monostable shifter is not intuitive and provides poor tactile and visual feedback to the driver, increasing the potential for unintended gear selection. The agency found 306 incidents of vehicle rollaway following intended shifts to park that resulted in 117 alleged crashes. 28 of those crashes actually caused injuries. And now there's an investigation into Yelchin's death. So because this is really a software problem, the recall doesn't involve changing any parts. It's a 3 and 1 half hour software upgrade where a Jeep dealer will plug into your engine computer and change the software so that if you open the door while you're in neutral, the car will automatically apply the parking brake. That's it. It's just a software fix, and it's taken months to roll out. But now Jeep has released it. They've accelerated the schedule. And if you have a 2014, 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee or another FCA vehicle that's affected by the recall, you should take it in immediately.
 Fiat Chrysler is accelerating the recall of 1.1 million Jeep
 and Dodge vehicles with a really confusing electronic
 shifter.
 The 2014 and 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and other cars had an
 electronic shifter that's so confusing to use, it's actually
 implicated in the death of Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin.
 Now, as it happens, I own a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and I
 have this shifter.
 And it is really confusing.
 It's a weird mix of software and hardware that doesn't quite
 work the way you'd expect.
 So here's the shifter in the 2014 and 2015 Jeep Grand
 Cherokee.
 It's called the monostable shifter.
 And it's because when you pull it back, it returns to that
 center position.
 This is the big problem.
 It doesn't give you feedback about what gear you're in,
 because it always comes back to that center position.
 There's little clicks.
 They are very, very subtle.
 You can't see them, but when you're shifting the car, you
 can feel them.
 So to pull back in a drive, I feel one, two, three of those
 clicks, and then I feel the other one.
 So I can feel one, two, three of those clicks.
 To put it back in a park, I can feel one, two,
 three of those clicks.
 That last one between reverse and park is
 really hard to feel.
 So here's the problem.
 When you've got it in drive, if you don't get it right,
 you'll just end up in reverse.
 If you've got it in drive and you just hit it, you end up in
 neutral.
 All of those motions are the same motion as to get it in a
 park, and there's no feedback about being all the way in the
 front, like with a regular car.
 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tested
 in February of this year said that operation of the
 monostable shifter is not intuitive and provides poor
 tactile and visual feedback to the driver, increasing the
 potential for unintended gear selection.
 The agency found 306 incidents of vehicle rollaway following
 intended shifts to park that resulted in 117 alleged
 crashes.
 28 of those crashes actually caused injuries.
 And now there's an investigation into
 Yelchin's death.
 So because this is really a software problem, the recall
 doesn't involve changing any parts.
 It's a 3 and 1 half hour software upgrade where a Jeep
 dealer will plug into your engine computer and change the
 software so that if you open the door while you're in
 neutral, the car will automatically apply the parking
 brake.
 That's it.
 It's just a software fix, and it's taken months to roll out.
 But now Jeep has released it.
 They've accelerated the schedule.
 And if you have a 2014, 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee or another
 FCA vehicle that's affected by the recall, you should take it
 in immediately.