Woman Drives New GMC. Then She Sees The New Gearshift: ‘This Is So Much Worse'

A woman driving a GMC Acadia was caught off guard by a gear selector that looked nothing like the shifter she was used to.

TikTok user @datweebangel recorded herself discovering that the Acadia uses buttons and switches on the dashboard to shift between park, reverse, neutral, and drive.

“I thought a knobby PRINDL was the worst thing I had ever witnessed, but whatever this is is so much worse,” she says, describing the gear selector as “pushy.”

Instead of moving a traditional lever, the driver presses or pulls individual controls to select a gear. But @datweebangel says she was not impressed.

“What is this? Why are we like this?” she asks.

Her reaction continued in the caption. “I was actually so unaware a pushy PRNDL existed. I need to have such a serious conversation with whoever suggest[ed] this feature,” she wrote.

As of this writing, her video has more than 283,100 views.

Gallery: 2024 GMC Acadia

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Source: GMC

What Is A ‘Pushy’ PRNDL? 

What @datweebangel stumbled across is GMC’s Electronic Precision Shift system.

Instead of a traditional mechanical gear lever, the system uses electronic controls to tell the transmission which gear to select. On vehicles with the push-button version, some gears are selected by pressing a button, while others require pulling a switch toward you. GMC says the setup can appear on the center console or near the infotainment screen, depending on the vehicle model.

On at least some Acadia models, including the 2022 version, that means park and neutral are selected by pressing their respective buttons, while reverse and drive use pull switches. The selected gear then lights up in red on the control.

It is not quite as free-form as the layout may make it look.

GMC suggests the system has built-in safeguards. Drivers have to hold the brake when shifting out of park, and the vehicle will block an attempt to shift into park while it is moving. If a driver shuts the vehicle off while stopped in drive or reverse, Electronic Precision Shift can also automatically put the vehicle into park.

That does not necessarily make this feature intuitive the first time someone encounters it.

A traditional shifter gives drivers one physical control to move through park, reverse, neutral, and drive. GMC’s system divides those functions among several individual controls, so anyone climbing into the SUV for the first time may have to stop and look before shifting.

And the design has already changed again on newer Acadias. According to GMC, current models use a column-mounted version of Electronic Precision Shift rather than the dashboard-style buttons found on some earlier versions.

‘We Tried To Tell Them It Was A Bad Idea’

@datweebangel was far from the only person confused by newer electronic shifters.

“My sister has a bop-it prdnl, like pull it for drive, twist it for reverse [and] neutral, bop it for park,” one commenter wrote.

Others joked about how close the gear controls can feel to buttons drivers routinely reach for.

“Gonna throw my car into reverse at 80 on the highway trying to turn the AC on,” one person wrote.

Another made a similar joke: “Go to roll down the windows and suddenly [you’re] reversing down the interstate.”

One commenter who works at a rental agency said unfamiliar shifter placement can be especially jarring when moving between different vehicles.

“Have you seen the new Chevy ones where the wipers should be? Just terrible, especially since I’m used to Chevy wipers being there. Scared I’m going to put the car in N (I work at a rental agency),” they wrote.

Another viewer summed up the reaction plainly: “This would piss me off so bad.”

@datweebangel agreed.

“It’s not even mine, and it stress[es] me outttttt,” she replied.

Motor1 contacted @datweebangel via TikTok direct message. We’ll be sure to update this if she responds.