VEHICLE SHIFTER ASSEMBLY

摘要

A shift lever assembly may be used to shift among gears of a vehicle transmission. The shift lever assembly may be of a so-called shift-by-wire type where a shift lever is not directly mechanically coupled to the transmission but is electrically communicated with the transmission to effect transmission gear changes. A driver may move the shift lever through a shift stroke to cause a transmission gear change, and, for example, when the driver releases the shift lever, an actuator may automatically return the shift lever to a home position during a return stroke. The shift lever assembly may include feedback features that provide feedback to the driver that the shift lever is moving among various positions during the shift stroke, and the assembly may be configured so that the shift lever returns to the home position with less or no feedback features being encountered during the return stroke.

主权项

1. A vehicle shift lever assembly, comprising:
a shift lever movable to permit changing a transmission mode; a selector path including multiple stations through which the shift lever may be moved and including a home station, the stations corresponding to different transmission modes, the selector path having feedback features between adjacent stations that provide an indication that the shift lever has been moved from one station to the next as the shift lever is moved to change from one transmission mode to another; a return path separate from at least a portion of the selector path and at least some of the feedback features; a coupler associated with the shift lever and selectively associated with the selector path and the return path in response to movement of the shift lever, the coupler being positioned in one or more stations during at least some movement of the shift lever and the coupler is responsive to the feedback features during relative movement between the coupler and the stations; and an actuator that moves the shift lever to the home station when the shift lever has been moved away from the home station and in the absence of a greater counterforce on the shift lever, the coupler, selector path and return path being arranged to position the coupler within the return path when the shift lever is moved by the actuator.