I have the automatic 2006 TSX with 7,300 miles on it:

So i'm driving in rural pennsylvania this weekend, and when i'm going down a hill and step on the break (or possibly anytime i step on the break), i feel the engine downshift at an innapropriate time. i don't know how to explain this well, but that's the best way i could word it. Doesn't happen everytime, but it definitely feels inappropriate. I hadn't noticed this before because i did mostly highway driving or city traffic.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

The transmission is trying to utilize engine braking. It should be normal.

 

Yeah It happens to me all the time -___-;;

It feels awkwards at times. But I think It's normal.

 

the AT will intentionally downshift when going up or down a steep hill. That's what the "grade logic control" advertised in the brochure you got is. (It's also the correct thing to do.)

 

it may be correct sometimes, but as a formal manual driver, it definitely isn't appropriate i would say approx 50% of the time, and it is extremely noticeable to me.

it's good to hear that it's considered "normal" but i definitely don't think it feels normal. thanks for the input guys!

 

It's very annoying to me, too. I go up and down quite a few hills around here so I feel it pretty often.

 

it's extremely depressing to me to find out that this is normal. This could mean it's my first and only TSX. I honestly can't stand it at all, maybe i'm overly sensitive to the feel of it, as my fiance just doesn't notice is hardly at all.

 

why is annoying? The car is just trying to save your brakes. I thought this was a great feature to have. I do this in my manual truck most of the time, when I actually find a hill in Florida.

 

I suppose the only solution to this would be to get a manual 6spd. I've noticed the downshifting as well. I have driven a stick all my life and cant get used to the delay and lack of control on any automatic even with the sport shift. The car is a joy to drive but coming from a manual it's tough to adjust. I wish I could've waited for a manual but three weeks without a car was impossible. I might in the future consider trading in or selling this one and looking for a manual used or new. You should see me drive the sport shift. My left foot is always looking for the clutch when shifting. It's hard to disconnect that action in my brain.

 

Why are you holding this against the TSX? All good automatic trannies should do this, not just the ones in the TSX.

If you really dislike it so much, then just pop it into sport shift and hold the higher gear. That's why the SS option is there for you, after all.

 

Personally, I would love for my automatic cars to have that feature. I purposely downshift going up or down hills if it's steep enough.

 

I agree. I downshift to help break in my MT a lot of the time during my daily driving. When Moda_Way does it in his car, with his comptech exhaust, it should bad ass

 

It does it less often if you hold your foot on the gas just a touch more. I do this sometimes when it's not that big of a hill and don't need/want it to downshift. I've gotten used to it a bit more, it's not as annoying as it once was.

 

The easy solution for any potential future TSX's you might get is just to get it equipped with the MT.

 

If you didn't like this, which is probably found within most AT Transmissions, should've bought a MT in the first place.

 

^^ Yep, AT transmissions have been doing this for quite a while. This is NOT isolated to the TSX. If this really bothers you, you should have written: "This could mean it's my first and only Automatic Transmission."

 

I just put it in SS mode.

 

i'm saying that it's inappropriate at some times. like a car in front of me brakes then accelerates, etc, and my car didnt need to down shift because i only broke for a second.

 

i feel your pain. i do the same things!

 

i never experienced this is any of my parent's cars that were auto's, and i don't associate it with a bad transmission. maybe it's just a newer feature in cars, and i haven't seen it. I've driven my dad's es330, and i don't notice it in that, but i'll look out for it next time.

also my fiance's dad has a mercedes, and that doesn't do it, as he thought it was odd also. (actually, he said the mercedes had different modes, summer and winter, on the shifter, and it had something to do with this, but nothing that was significantly noticeable).

my point is, coming from a manual, it seems to happen at inappropriate times.

 

you seem to be one of the only who agrees it just seems inappropriate at times. glad i'm not the only one.

thanks for the tip!

 

gotcha, it doesn't happen that quickly for me however. There are only a couple of hills where the tranni downshifts. Guess I should take notice next time I head north.

 

while you guys each have valid points, convincing the fiance to learn manual has been extremely difficult, so i cant say "This could mean it's my first and only Automatic Transmission." as she is the primary driver.

if she drove manual, we'd have a manual, i assure you of that. so it's not the "easy solution" as i don't like it, and in the future, will probably have another automatic.

if all cars do this, then it's not a disadvantage of the TSX, but in my experience, it's the first time i felt this in an automatic.

auto's i've driven:

corolla
camry
mercedes (dont remember the model, but a 2003 c230 maybe?)
4runner
bonneville
Blazer
Cherokee
Grand Cherokee
malibu
and a few others.

granted, most of these were older, so maybe it just wasn't in the cars at that point.

 

i also find SS unfullfilling, though i use it from time to time.

 

Sure. It just takes some getting used to and adjusting, that's all. It's the first car I've driven that has this feature, so I thought something was wrong, too. Then I figured out it would stop if I stayed on the gas going downhill .

 

what if you can't stay on the gas (i.e. someone in front of you taps their breaks?)

any remedy there?

Don't get me wrong people, i love this car. it's just the first major thing i dislike about it.

Since this forum is a useful tool to propesctive buyers, i'm giving some objective criticism. let's face it, the car isn't perfect (though pretty close!).

 

That doesn't happen too often to me, but leaving extra space in between so you can put just a touch of pressure on the gas can help, as well as going on the brakes to slow down a little, then it tends to stop the downshifting. You'll have to play with it a little bit and see exactly what you need to do. There's a small learning curve to know just what it needs to get it to do what you want.

Almost forgot....if it's not a real big hill, let off the gas sooner (up at the top of the hill), rather than while you are going down. It tends to downshift less often if you can do that. It's all about finding the right spot to let off the gas.

 

true.

thanks

 

Brady, the bottom line is, it's not your car, right? So, while the TSX with AT may have these issues, you don't have to deal with it on a daily basis. At least you didn't buy the car for yourself, and now have to live with it. If your woman is happy with it, that's the most important thing, 'cause it's her car. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

well, that's all relative. the reality is, she drives it primarily for work, i dont drive for work, so i dont need it. though the car is hers, technically, who do you think drives it anytime we go someplace together? it's more "our" car than hers, as that's the type of situation. even if i had my own car, out of default, since she cant drive a stick, it'd probably be an auto also, just in case she needed it.

the challenge is, i need to get her driving a stick!

 

then teach her already!

 

FWIW brady my dad's 1996 Accord did this as well.

If you're a tripedalist at heart, you should almost always think the automatic is doing it wrong as the rules for shifting are simply different with ATs than they are in manuals: the presence of a torque converter for instance means that gear ratios can be much lower, and a slushbox will tend to shift earlier than even the most boring stick driver. Moreover any automatic, no matter how complicated its control logic, will make more wrong decisions than a manual, because a manual has access to an incredibly sophisticated road and traffic prediction technology commonly known as "eyes."

 

A surefire if suboptimal way to do this is to damage your transmission, then idly mention that the repair would cost less than half as much on a manual... better yet, let the car get stuck in the sand on the beach and then talk up how much easier it is to get un-stuck when you have a clutch.

 

Two points that need to be added to the conversation.

First, the brains of the car are always adjusting to the driving "style" of the driver. Adjusting many variables including shift points and driver tendencies..

Second, when you have two or more people driving a car like the TSX, the "set points" from the previous driver are first present and then will change when the new driver takes control. Add in the fact that one driver is an "auto" person and the other a "MT" (and I'm assuming a more aggressive driving style) and... Well you get the picture. The solution could be ala the seat memory option, a multiple driver profile option for the car management systems.

I might add that brakes are cheaper than a new tranny and as I've found out learning how to properly control my TSX, there are a lot of variables that can be brought into play here in order to get the most performance out of the car not to mention DBW input rather than direct linkage. This is the main reason why I upgraded the whole braking system giving me more feel & control over how to brake first and accelerate into & out of turns, etc. For extra control I will then go over to SS mode.

 

convincing her to even attempt has been a challenge, trust me, i'm trying.

 

i've actually demonstrated how easy it is to get out of snow, ice, mud...with a stick. i'll opt out on the damaging my tranny idea. thanks

 

points taken, but our driving styles arent that drastically different where the computer would be going mad.

 

The reason the Mercedes wasn't doing it was probably because it has a big engine. Cars with bigger engines need to downshift less often to achieve the same results (but you pay in fuel).

That doesn't explain the Corolla though. We had a rental Corolla for 3 weeks and it did this all the time.

 

my dad's lexus es300 (2004) appears to do it also, but less noticeable. guess it's normal.

 

This thread is up my alley. I just got my 05 a month ago, and I am convinced this car is downshift-happy. At any speed above 30 mph, I find it difficult to keep it from downshifting when I attempt anything more than a granny-like acceleration. And that is on FLAT GROUND.

These downshifts are not smooth and predictable, they're on the jerky side. As a result, I frequently find myself sliding over to SS to hold a gear - something I would rather not do.

And like the original author, I've driven several ATs before (both v6 and v4), and the problem wasn't nearly as pronounced.

Is this a defect in my car? Has anyone experienced this? Or is the car still adjusting to me?

Don't get me wrong, I really do love my TSX, this the one major hangup I have. Any ideas?