Renting an unfamiliar car can be a humbling experience. You spend an extra five minutes at the gas station trying to figure out where the lever is for the gas tank, you’re fumbling with buttons, and aren’t yet used to how sensitive (or non-responsive) the gas and brake pedal are. It’s a completely new vehicle, and getting used to it takes time.
But one woman’s battle with her Hyundai rental turned a simple Whataburger run into an exercise in frustration because she couldn’t figure out how to put the car in park.
Woman Baffled by Hyundai’s Electronic Shifter
In a trending video, Jessi (@heyjessi) shares her confusion with a rented Hyundai with an unexpected gear shift design.
“Has anyone driven a brand-new Hyundai recently? I have questions. Specifically, like, what the [expletive] is this? This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen or tried to use in my life,” she says in the video.
Jessi explains she rented the car instead of putting miles on her own vehicle for a Christmas trip home. But the car’s gear shifter, which is a stick on the steering wheel, has left her completely bewildered.
“Let me tell you why this is so stupid, though. So when the car is on, right, you flip this up, and it goes into drive. Flip it down to the bottom, and it goes to reverse. When you put it back in the middle, it goes into [expletive] neutral. Not park, neutral,” she explains.
This is where her frustration reaches a boiling point.
“And then a thing on the screen comes up, and it’s like, ‘press and hold something to stay in neutral.’ No. I don’t wanna be neutral at all. I wanna be in park, so I’m not gonna press that … in hopes of it, like, registering, ‘Oh, this person’s trying to park,’” she continues.
But the car doesn’t automatically shift to park just because she wants it to.
“Nope,” she says. “The car just keeps moving if your foot comes off the brake. And it’s not until you hit the start-stop button again that it’s like, ‘Oh, entering parking mode.’ Well, no [expletive]. I hope the car is parked. It’s [expletive] off, Hyundai. I don’t—what the [expletive]?”
She ends with a plea for validation.
“I need someone to tell me if I’m an idiot or if whoever made this decision is an idiot,” she says.
In the caption, she adds context for why this mattered so much.
“I just wanted to have the car on with a/c while I ate my whataburger but I guess that was too much to ask??? Am I the problem??” she writes.
