Safety features

The safety functions are designed to safeguard against mis-operation by the driver as well as against system malfunctions. The mis-operation system prevents reverse gear from being engaged at high forward speeds (Above 5 k/ph) and prevents manual downshifting at excessive engine speeds.

Great attention has been paid to safeguarding against, and detecting, malfunctions in the electronic control system. The design of the electrical and diagnostic system is such that system integrity is protected at all times.

The hydraulic system has "fail-safe" characteristics regarding its electrical energisation, i.e. as a result of the power supply being lost to the electro-hydraulic actuators the transmission engages a reliable emergency gear ratio to facilitate a basic limp-home mode.

Recognition of critical shift operation by monitoring the last element in the signal path, i.e. the solenoid valve, and checking by means of redundant measured variables, i.e. engine speed, input speed and output speed.

Measures are in place which guarantee a high degree of availability of safeguard functions, i.e. monitoring of safety circuits. For this purpose each time the vehicle is started there is a check on the entire safety hardware, this is during TCM initialization and the associated program parts and signal paths used during the TCM operation status. A malfunction in this part of the system, or triggering of the safety circuit, will be communicated to the driver by the instrument cluster message center.