Patent ID: 7784375

Claim:
An electrical shifting device for a vehicle, the shifting device comprising: a shift lever rotatable about two mutually perpendicular axes to be able to deflect from a neutral position in any one of a plurality of different deflection directions, wherein the shift lever includes a projection which extends along a first one of the deflection directions; a slider linearly displaceable along a slider direction perpendicular to the first deflection direction, wherein the slider has stages each engageable one at a time with the projection of the shift lever to limit the deflection of the shift lever in the first deflection direction, wherein each stage has a different configuration such that the deflection of the shift lever in the first deflection direction is limited to a different extent as a function of which stage engages the projection of the shift lever; and an actuator operable to position the slider along the slider direction such that a selected one of the stages of the slider engages the projection of the shift lever thereby allowing the deflection of the shift lever in the first deflection direction to be limited to different extent; wherein the actuator is a solenoid having a spring-loaded reset device, wherein the spring-loaded reset device is operable to cause the slider to move along the slider direction to a center neutral position upon power failure to the solenoid.