From D to 'S' always goes to 4th

Wondering now if anyone else noticed this on their truck.

In the auto transmission when I move from drive into 'S' (the "manual" option) it always starts in 4th gear. This means if I'm on the highway it will instantly downshift from 6th to 4th and rev high until I shift up "manually", and if I'm on a back street it will gear up and lugg the engine until I can downshift "manually".

I've had this feature on another automatic transmission vehicle but when I switched on that vehicle the 'S' gear matched whatever it had been while in drive, not just go to an arbitrary gear like 4th.

Anyone else experiencing this, or am I finally special?

 

its a safe gear to pick. my 4runner picks 4th and it only has 5 gears. if it picked 6th all the time that would be super annoying having to down shift 3-4 gears.

 

Fair enough, but it really should just stay in the same gear as it was while in Drive. That's what my other vehicle did.

Not really a big deal as I'll use this function all of about 3 times in the life of the truck...

 

normal. S mode is just a gear limiter. It doesn't really allow you to pick a gear. Just lets you pick the highest gear trans can go into

 

This is common on Toyota/Lexus vehicles.

 

depends on manufacturer. on my Subaru legacy, when going to manual mode, it would pick the gear it already was in. but when it hit the rev limit, it would still auto upshift regardless of "D" or manual. also it would reset back to 1st when you come to a complete stop.

I prefer the way Toyota implements manual mode on this automatics. it wont actually upshift when I hit the rev limit in any gear. on the 4runner I put it into manual mode, it shifts to 4th and take the torque converter out of the equation (this is the best part so you don't burn it up towing) which will help when pulling on the Tacoma also.

 

think of it as a tool for passing. Then when you need to limit the top gear you need to use the selector to pick the gear you want to limit the trans to.

On my BMW, if you put it in 'S' mode, the trans goes into a more aggressive shift pattern, similar to ECT. Once in 'S', you can select the gear you want manually, only difference is the bmw will hold its gear until you engage the passing button. That characteristic I think would be nice on this truck.

 

95% of my driving is around town. i put it in shift mode the minute i start the truck and it stays there. i then shift as needed.

 

As others have said, the S mode is basically a gear limiter. So S6 would be the same as D.

From my understanding, if you are using S mode, it should be used when driving in town, not on the highway. By doing this, it prevents the transmission from constantly switching gears around town.

Now if you were on the highway, it would be better to keep it in S5 or D, depending on how fast you are going. Hope that helps.

 

Mine also goes from auto 6 in drive and immediately into 4th gear when switching to the sport mode.

I thought if I ever need more power I will just shift it over to R - for Racing mode .... LOL ... Just Kidding ... but would be interested to see what would happen.

 

Yes, it is the same on our Venza. You will get used to it. The best way is to always leave it in S mode then just go up and down as needed. It is just a limiter so it is still auto matic regardless of what the top gear is.

 

Thanks for a the feedback guys, I hadn't thought of 's' acting as a limiter. In the other vehicle I had it was more like a manual shifting automatic, not a limiter.

Makes sense now!

 

Mine too. It would appear the truck is designed that way.

 

You will learn quickly that you get best performance by keeping it in S then selecting the highest gear for the situation. Around town below 40 mph, the wife uses s-4. Up to 50, s-5 and 55 or above , S-6. Doing this, it hunts much less, has better response and we notice no difference in economy.

 

Try it then let us know. I know when driving my 2004 4Runner at about 20 mph, I inadvertently moved it into R and the truck just shut off the motor and I braked to a stop. I put it In P when stopped, started the car and drove on.

 

Wow ... I am glad you did that and everything was okay ... if "R" is for Racing then I guess the "P" is for Passing!

 

I did my part and tested R. Now it's your turn to try out P. Go for it.

 

In the old days if you worked for a transmission shop , it was common to move the shifter to park at highway speeds . This nifty trick got the governor valve unstuck by ratcheting the parking pawl . Worked like a charm every time .
There is no possible way the parking pawl would actually select park at highway speeds .
I don't recommend trying this with your truck mind you

 

Move left and forward and it will shift to 5 instead of 4 when you go to S

Nothing with happen if you shift to R at highway speed. You need your foot on the brake anyway, and if you can push hard enough you will brake the lock under the shifter and it will continue moving forward without shifting the transmission into reverse. These things are smart. It won't shift into reverse at high forward speed