Patent ID: 7536972

Claim:
A shift lever apparatus comprising: a shift lever adapted to be shifted in a longitudinal direction to select one of ranges in an automatic mode and to be inclined in a lateral direction to select a range in a manual mode; a frame member including a guide groove, and a set of range indicating portions indicating positions of the ranges along the guide groove; a longitudinal slide plate mounted on the frame member and arranged to slide in the longitudinal direction together with the shift lever; and a lateral slide plate mounted on the longitudinal slide plate and arranged to slide in the lateral direction relative to the longitudinal slide plate in accordance with a shift operation of the shift lever, the lateral slide plate including: a current shift position indicator arranged to slide in the guide groove of the frame member and to indicate a current shift position of the shift lever, and a buffer portion to mitigate impact at an end of a stroke of the lateral slide plate in the lateral direction; wherein the buffer portion of the lateral slide plate is formed in the current shift position indicator.