content: It is a cheap (typically stick costs less then automatic) security feature.  I went on vacation a while back and my parents picked my car up from the airport so it wouldn't sit there (easier then them taking me as they could do it at their leisure) My mom got in the car and then sat there, my dad was waiting for her to pull out and eventually went to see what the problem was. While she "can" drive stick she couldn't get it into reverse as she had never seen the ring that you pull up so people don't hit reverse by mistake.