Jamming Protection Apparatus of Shift Lever For Vehicle

A method of operating a vehicle, the method comprising:

• detecting a position of a shift lever;
• determining whether the position of the shift lever is in a normal state or an abnormal state;
• when the position of the shift lever is in the normal state, causing a detent portion to move relative to a contact portion provided in the shift lever in accordance with the determined position;
• and
• when the position of the shift lever is in the abnormal state, causing the detent portion to move relative to the contact portion in accordance with pre-stored position data.

An apparatus for use in a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

• a housing with a receiving depression;
• a shift lever rotatably provided in the housing, the shift lever having a guide hole and a biasing portion;
• a sensor configured to detect a position of the shift lever;
• a contact portion provided in the shift lever, the contact portion provided with an elastically behaving bullet that is inserted in the guide hole to be moveable in a longitudinal direction of the guide hole, wherein the biasing portion is located between the guide hole and the bullet so as to elastically bias the bullet;
• a detent portion seated in the receiving depression of the housing and disposed such that the bullet of the contact portion is brought in contact with the detent portion in the housing, the detent portion being moveably seated in the housing and provided with a grooved bottom configured such that the bullet moves over the grooved bottom when the shift lever is rotated;
• a behavior generator connected to the detent portion, the behavior generator configured such that the detent portion is moved by an operation of the behavior generator;
• and
• a controller configured to receive position information of the shift lever from the sensor and to cause the behavior generator to move the detent portion in accordance with the position information.