Actor Anton Yelchin died

[Solmyr]

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/star-trek-actor-anton-yelchin-dies-car-crash-175216196.html

So terrible. Besides Star Trek, I remember him from Terminator Salvation.

[Caliga]

 

[Habbaku]

I really liked him in Green Room.   

[The Brain]

[celedhring]

What a weird way to die. Poor lad, I liked him as an actor.

[Jaron]

[Grallon]

So cute - so dead - so early.



G.

[CountDeMoney]

Poor bastard was doomed the moment they put him in a red shirt.

[dps]

What a weird way to die. Poor lad, I liked him as an actor.

I was going to ask what's so weird about dying in an automobile accident, but after checking out the link--yeah, that's a pretty unusual auto accident.

[Berkut]

That is pretty fucked up.

[Tonitrus]

Indeed.  Probably a sad, tragic case of a crappily designed transmission system (there is an internets story about that out there), and the bad old human instinct of "I can stop my multi-ton vehicle from rolling!", when one should just let it crash.

Прощай.

[CountDeMoney]

Or just forgetting to put it in "Park".

[DGuller]

Or just forgetting to put it in "Park".

That seems to be by far the most likely explanation in general, but you'd think it would be pretty obvious on the scene which gear the car was in.  Unless a family member saw the body, saw the car, and decided to shift it in P to cash in on the lawsuit before calling 911.

[Malthus]

Or just forgetting to put it in "Park".

That seems to be by far the most likely explanation in general, but you'd think it would be pretty obvious on the scene which gear the car was in.  Unless a family member saw the body, saw the car, and decided to shift it in P to cash in on the lawsuit before calling 911.

Apparently, the vehicle in question was under recall because its gearshift system was dangerously confusing, leading to numerous reported incidents. Allegedly, you had to do some very specific actions to put it into "park", and it was easy to get it wrong.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/anton-yelchin-death-accident-1.3643587

The 2015 model-year Grand Cherokees were part of a global recall of 1.1 million vehicles announced by automaker Fiat Chrysler in April, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records show.

The agency urged the recall because of complaints from drivers who had trouble telling if they had put the automatic transmissions in park. If they were not in park and a driver left the vehicle, it could roll away.

Fiat Chrysler expected to send recall notification letters to owners on May 16, according to a memo to dealers, but it's not known whether Yelchin received or saw his letter. The company was working on a fix and expected to have a final remedy in October or later, the letter said.

Investigators were looking into the position of Yelchin's gear shift at the time of the accident, Officer Jane Kim said. The actor had gotten out of the vehicle momentarily, but police didn't say why he was behind it when it started rolling.

Fiat investigating incident

Fiat Chrysler said in a statement Monday that it was investigating and it was premature to speculate on the cause of the crash. It offered sympathies to Yelchin's friends and family.

The highway safety agency received 121 reports of crashes related to the gear shift problem, records show. Fiat Chrysler said in April that it's aware of 41 potentially related injuries.

The recalled vehicles, including nearly 812,000 in the U.S., have an electronic shift lever that toggles forward or backward to let the driver select the gear instead of moving along a track like a conventional shifter. A light shows which gear is selected, but to get from drive to park, drivers must push the lever forward three times.

The recalled vehicles sound a chime and issue a dashboard warning if the driver's door is opened while they are not in park. But the push-button ignition won't shut off the engine if not in park, increasing the risk of the vehicles rolling away after drivers have gotten out.

The Grand Cherokee gear shifters were changed in the 2016 model year so that it works like those in older cars.

It looks like a lawsuit or a hefty settlement is likely, on these facts. The estate will say that the defect was proven, and the facts point to the death being the result of the defect. The carmaker may say that there was no reason for him to be behind the vehicle, but it will be very risky for them. 

[MadBurgerMaker]

This is apparently the shifter.  It doesn't seem to be particularly confusing.     If the P is lit, it's in park......right?