Patent ID: 8857287

Claim:
A vehicle shifter comprising: a shifter body; a shift lever capable of being manually operated and moved with respect to the shifter body from a neutral position in opposite selecting directions; an interlocking member rotatably supported by the shifter body and interlockably coupled with the shift lever, the interlocking member having a predetermined position that is pivotally supported by the shifter body, and one end of the interlocking member that is spaced from the predetermined position being rotatable around the predetermined position during the manual operation of the shift lever in one of the selecting directions; and a biasing member including a tension coil spring having opposite first and second ends, the first end of the tension coil spring being coupled to the one end of the interlocking member, and the second end of the tension coil spring being coupled to the shifter body in a position so that the first end of the tension coil spring is between the predetermined position of the interlocking member and the second end of the tension coil spring and so that the predetermined position of the interlocking member, the one end of the interlocking member and the second end of the tension coil spring are aligned approximately in a straight line with one another with a tension force existing in the tension coil spring when the shift lever is in the neutral position, and the tension force increasing when the shift lever is moved in one of the selecting directions so that the tension coil spring biases the shift lever to return in a direction toward the neutral position.