[krish3]

Originally Posted by samaspire

Well, that's a lie. The Toyota Fortuner already has this as an option in its manual variant.

That's interesting. Is it a proper clutchless shift or is it only for rev matching purposes? I guess the Innova TRD has a rev matching feature inbuilt, saw in the ad and a salesman also mentioned it.

[SansGT]

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

This aftermarket system had a sensor on the gear knob which when covered would engage the clutch.

There are many people who have an inherent habit of putting their left hand on the gear knob while driving. This technology may be a dangerous proposition for them.

[sgm]

Originally Posted by self_driven

Similarly, someone used to clutchless shifts may not depress the clutch and wreck the gearbox on a manual car

Time to sort my friend list based on transmission type.

This happened to me once, after being used to driving AT for some years, I tried changing the gear in a non-automatic car without pressing the clutch. I have been extra careful since then
May be there can be a fake C pedal to create a better overall experience of a manual gearbox.

[grosserimperial]

Originally Posted by SansGT

So essentially, they are bringing in a fancy technology which Hero Honda did more than a decade back! Remember this?

Attachment 2024585

Your post has brought back to my mind very fond memories. We currenlty have this vehicle and have owned it for more than 23 years (it has stopped working though). In neutral, at standstill, put it in 3rd gear and ride it like an automatice motorcycle. How I wish for Hero to bring it back in the market.

Regarding the (iMT), hope after real world use this feature of Hyundai does not get a place in Crazy Driver's excellent thread on Hyundai's lapses in QA.

[amit73]

I currently have two cars, one automatic (CVT) and another manual. I struggle a little bit but do manage to switch. Imagine someone like me adding another car with iMT to the garage, I am sure (s)he would go nuts!!

[Storm2.0]

The positives I find in Hyundai's IMT are comfort and convenience of automatic, lesser premium to pay while purchase, lesser impact on fuel efficiency, manual control (ie no unnecessary upshifts) for enthusiasts, good engine braking especially on hills and lastly less complicated mechanicals. If this becomes a success I can see this becoming a rage in mass market cars in the future especially in the budget car segment.
Well done Hyundai. A big thumbs up to you.
And you VAG, try to innovate and come up with new tech instead of just sticking to same old DSGs.
Learn something from your competitors.

[abhi9044]

Alright seems like Hyundai is trying to innovate the Indian car scene. Thumbs up for that. But would I be buying one? NO. Reason being Hyundai's quality control has taken a hit, if something as crucial as brakes could fail on a Hyundai, this new technology can not be trusted, atleast by me. Some of my concerns are:-

1) Indian people love accessories for their cars. And if someone swaps out their gear lever knob would this still work?
2) What would happen if the iMT sensor fails? I'll be stuck in a gear and won't be able to do anything about it. Think about it when one's overtaking. You are trying to overtake a truck, you downshift to 3rd and floor the accelerator. Now when the rev limits are reached,you try to upshift and then, Hyundai has a surprise for you. As soon as you tried to shift into 5 the gear started making grinding noises. What does that mean? The iMT sensor failed. So now I'm stuck in neutral on a highway in the middle of an overtake. Can you imagine the risks involved?
3) Someone here pointed out that Indian driving their manuals like to keep their hands on the gear knob and use it as a armrest. What would happen then? Would the clutch be engaged?
4) How would it perform when the clutch wear outs?
5) What would happen if I'm out of warranty and due to a faulty sensor,the clutch is burning up? Who's to blame for that?
6) Leaving apart some of the owners who love their cars, mostly people never get their car interior's cleaned. Gunk keeps up building on the gear knob and the steering wheel. How would the sensor respond to this?
7) If the sensor fails, and you my friend have parked your car in a tight parking space with the first gear engaged, best of luck!
8) As pointed out by ChiragM, will this work during uphill reverse parking?

These are some of the points that come to mind. Also I would like to know about the sensor placed in the gear. Is it a weight sensor, a proximity sensor or a kind of fingerprint sensor which is used for detecting the hand?

[amitayu]

Apologies beforehand if I sound like a noob!

How does one avoid stalling the car in low speed or traffic crawl? Will we have to shift to neutral manually every time before it stalls by itself?

[SansGT]

Originally Posted by amitayu

Apologies beforehand if I sound like a noob!

How does one avoid stalling the car in low speed or traffic crawl? Will we have to shift to neutral manually every time before it stalls by itself?

Interesting question. I think the car will never stall as the technology will not allow that. Once it stops at a signal and you remove the hand from the lever, I believe that the clutch will gradually engage and the car will move ahead. Bringing to neutral is the only way out. Though I may be wrong, just thinking from the perspective of the technology functioning.

[nagr22]

Originally Posted by abhi9044

1) Indian people love accessories for their cars. And if someone swaps out their gear lever knob would this still work?

The sensor will most likely be placed at the base of gear lever on the shifter column.

What would happen if the iMT sensor fails? I'll be stuck in a gear and won't be able to do anything about it. Think about it when one's overtaking. You are trying to overtake a truck, you downshift to 3rd and floor the accelerator. Now when the rev limits are reached,you try to upshift and then, Hyundai has a surprise for you. As soon as you tried to shift into 5 the gear started making grinding noises. What does that mean? The iMT sensor failed. So now I'm stuck in neutral on a highway in the middle of an overtake. Can you imagine the risks involved?

Scenarios like these which can be life threatening to the passengers are given serious attention. There is a team of engineers called Reliability and Safety Engineers whose sole job is to identify such catastrophic failures and ensure that the components which can cause such failures are designed with adequate reliability. There are tools known as Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, Fault tree Analysis etc which help them in identifying such scenarios. If reliability cannot be guaranteed, they may decide to use a redundant sensor or suggest preventive maintenance of replacing that part every xxx kms based on their internal studies. For example, timing belt snapping while you are in the middle of a overtake can also cause the same catastrophic loss of life. They cant have two belts so they recommend replacing it every 40k kms because they know that the belt fails after 50k kms based on tests (kms are just for example).
In this case, if the sensor fails there probably will be a limp mode which holds first gear.

Someone here pointed out that Indian driving their manuals like to keep their hands on the gear knob and use it as a armrest. What would happen then? Would the clutch be engaged?

I think this problem is known to be there in the after market system. We don't know how Hyundai will implement this feature but I feel it's fairly simple to figure out.

4) How would it perform when the clutch wear outs?
5) What would happen if I'm out of warranty and due to a faulty sensor,the clutch is burning up? Who's to blame for that?

This is a problem seen in AMTs and DSGs as well. It is still unclear whether the manufacturers replace the clutch FOC even when the car is in warranty.

6) Leaving apart some of the owners who love their cars, mostly people never get their car interior's cleaned. Gunk keeps up building on the gear knob and the steering wheel. How would the sensor respond to this?

This is a topic which should be addressed by the manufacturer during the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis. Will most likely be wrapped by cloth/leather to prevent dust from entering.

7) If the sensor fails, and you my friend have parked your car in a tight parking space with the first gear engaged, best of luck!
8) As pointed out by ChiragM, will this work during uphill reverse parking?

Again, these are not problems specific to iMT. Every Automatic car has some form of sensor to detect gear lever and brake pedal position. Failure of them can get you stuck in any AT car.
Regarding hill climb, if it can climb in forward, why not in reverse? I understand that chances of rollover are more in AMTs or iMTs, Hill start assist will fix this.

Is it a weight sensor, a proximity sensor or a kind of fingerprint sensor which is used for detecting the hand?

Even I am curious to know this. Most foolproof way is to have a switch (like the reverse gear switch in cars having 6 gears) but that would not give a true manual gear change feeling. Let's see what Hyundai comes up with.

Originally Posted by amitayu

Apologies beforehand if I sound like a noob!

How does one avoid stalling the car in low speed or traffic crawl? Will we have to shift to neutral manually every time before it stalls by itself?

In the same way how AMTs handle crawling in traffic in D mode. It will most likely have a clutch slippage sensor and if the speed is zero without any accelerator input+ brakes are engaged, then it will shift to neutral. If brakes are released it will go to crawl mode. If on a slope, Hill start assist will kick in and hold in place until accelerator is pressed.

[kutlee]

Isn't this also called 'strain gauge' used in some race cars with sequential transmission?
Just for the uninitiated, what if the sensor fails? Engine revvs freely may be.

[vvivek85]

Maybe a stupid question, can this be done in the existing Venue? I heard many aftermarket additions, but nothing like getting it done in Hyundai which will not tamper my warranty.

[Trust_In_Thrust]

AMT used to wear out and start creating issues during repeated start and stop cycles in traffic. In iMT I believe the same issue will persist as the clutch actuators will not know what speed to engage the clutch leading to clutch slippage. For 2nd gear and up iMT looks good. I believe Tata developing DSG type gearbox with first gear as torque converter type solves nearly all problem of VW DSG iteration. This will give reliability and performance without sacrificing fuel efficiency.

[deepakc]

I haven't been able to find any videos which demonstrate the Hyundai/KIA iMT gearbox in action. Is India the first market they are launching this gearbox in?

[vw19d]

First of all, I don't understand the rationale of launching such a gearbox. Is there really any set of population that wants manual gearbox sans the clutch pedal? Similar to many others, I too remember the Hero Honda Street which was a flop.

If I'm tired of changing gears while driving in city limits, I'll opt for an automatic transmission but I doubt if I'll ever go for this kind of transmission. It'll be extremely interesting to see the benefits of this transmission. Also, it'll require a lot of change in mindset to get used to this.

The soon to be launched Kia Sonet also has the same iMT. So, I believe Hyundai must have a strong reason to go for such a radical change.