[Wheat]

My first post!

I have been lurking in the background prior and after purchasing a Niro EV. Thank you all for the great discussions I’ve read over and insights I’ve learned from this forum.

I have been curious about paddle shift extensions on the steering wheel. Most of the time my hands are not at “3+9” on the wheel and I am fairly active in adjusting the regenerative breaking during the course of a drive.

Has anyone else put these on the car and are they happy with them? If so, what model of extender did you use that fits the Niro as I have not had much luck in finding ones that say they fit.

Thanks!

 

[vangone]

Just out of curiosit, what are your typical hand position on the steering wheel?

 

[Wheat]

Usually the left will be more 10-11 and the right will be about 5, moving up to hit the turn signal when needed.

 

[vangone]

Way back before cars had antilock brakes, even before cell phones and the internet, drivers were taught to drive with hands at 10 and 2 o’clock since it was deemed the safest. With the advent of airbags and the explosive up and out pattern of deployment either 9 and 3 or 8 and 4 o’clock positions are now recommended.

I try to do the 8-4 or 9-3 arrangement when driving. If I can’t reach the paddles when at 8-4 while regenerative braking I will move both hands closer to 9 and 3, then when at a complete stop or when engine braking is no longer needed move my hands back.

I like to have left and right hands mirror each other so my initial emergency maneuver can result in the same amount of steering wheel movement in either direction.

I wonder If you moved your hands to 10 and 4 you could engage the paddles with your right ring or little finger and the right with your index. I think extensions to the paddles will likely fail due to either mechanical fatigue of the extension material or of the adhesive used due to repeated torque exerted by the extension.

 

[Wheat]

Thankfully, I have not had the experience of a deployed airbag.

I feel, as you mentioned, that an adhesive based extender may fail over time. Looking at the Niro paddles a bit closer, the physical replacement appears to be a bit more involved compared to the simple pin extraction and replacement of some shifters, such as VW.

Will probably just need to retrain my driving posture and enjoy the ride.