Company removing manual gear selection override on automatic trucks?

Now they can't pretend they're driving a manual trans.

 

Wonder if he knows he can log only 2 hours on line 1 in the right seat, then it is line 4...

 

Last year Schneider re-enabled the manual on their autos.

 

Removing the manual option on autos is another example of desk jockeys thinking they know best. And I don't care if they used to be drivers blah blah blah.

A buddy who is one of the best drivers I know has a shaker with an auto. He said the manual mode does help in snow. His experience and instinct can foresee potential danger spots before the computer can.

He also said when you're passing on hills, he can keep the rpms in the proper range with the manual mode. This may burn a little more fuel but it's overall safer because you can pass more efficiently.

I recently spoke to a guy at Quality Logistics out of Denver. They disabled the manual option in their volvos. His argument was 'having a manual mode defeats the purpose of having an automatic.'

Right there, I thanked him for his time and ended the call. If this moron expects me to haul freight up and down I-70 in the winter, I sure as hell don't want to relinquish control to a computer. Anyone who has had a browser or laptop suddenly crash on them knows when software screws up, it often does so without warning.

 

Iv been been driving that automatic truck for 7 months and I l like it. It's quite,good jakes, good breaks, and overall very smooth truck to use.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think automatics are the future. But the manual over ride should still be an option for drivers for certain situations. This is one of my demands when talking with recruiters and head hunters.

Human experience, instinct, and overall feel for the road can't be programmed yet into any software.

 

But, but all the automatic apologists have been insisting that you will always have manual mode. How could all these driving experts have ever been wrong.

Apparently, the desk jockey's haven't been seeing the fuel milage results that the salesman promised. They just must eliminate the monkey behind the wheel any way they can because you know, only they know best.

 

i run mine in Manual mode most of the time. It still will going into Ecoast, just doesn't display it onthe dash screen. I can tell because the torque slacks off and the speed slacks off.

Nothing worse than trying to pass someone and it decides to go into Ecoast halfway through the pass and you nearly drift into the truck you're trying to pass as the torque slacks off and now your speed is falling behind and you look like an idiot who has to now touch the brakes and tuck back behind the slower truck.

 

That guy sure can ramble on.
And on, and on and on.

In all the trucks I've had, never once has the engine brake failed.
They have had it happen several times?
Bad luck I guess.

And I really love my auto going down hills.
I set the cruise control to the speed I want, minus 4-5 mph going down hill, and the auto and computer do the rest to maintain that speed.
It will do things that I would never do, like go down 2 gears and push the engine to around 2300 RPM - all the while adjusting the engine braking level to remain optimum for the set speed.
It is, simply, great.
If I try to do those same RPM's in manual mode going down hill I get warnings all over the place.

I seldom go into manual mode because I can usually control it well enough with my foot.