Patent ID: 7900532

Claim:
An electric shifting device for a vehicle, the shifting device comprising: a shift lever; a shift-limiting gate having a gate channel extending along a first axis; wherein the shift lever extends through the gate channel such that a lower end of the shift lever is beneath the shift-limiting gate, wherein the shift lever is movable along the first axis such that the shift lever can move within the gate channel; a detent device beneath the shift-limiting gate, the detent device having a spring-loaded detent pin and a detent contour cooperating with the detent pin, wherein the detent contour includes first and second detent paths extending parallel to the first axis and includes a connection path extending along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis between the first and second detent paths; wherein the detent contour is movable relative to the shift-limiting gate in a direction parallel to the second axis between a first position in which the first detent path is aligned with the gate channel and a second position in which the second detent path is aligned with the gate channel; wherein the lower end of the shift lever is connected to the detent pin such that the shift lever is movable within the gate channel along the first detent path when the detent contour is in the first position and is movable within the gate channel along the second detent path when the detent contour is in the second position and such that the shift lever is movable along the connection path between the first and second detent paths when the detent contour moves relative to the shift-limiting gate between the first and second positions.