What does the plus and minus sign above the D in an automatic transmission mean?
1 Answers
The plus and minus signs on an automatic transmission represent the manual mode. In manual mode, the driver can manually shift up or down, similar to driving a manual transmission car. The car will not automatically shift gears. Generally, only automatic transmissions with manual mode (often referred to as "tiptronic" or "manumatic") will have these symbols. Most often, there is also an "M" letter between the plus and minus signs. Above and below the "M" letter, there are usually two dot symbols. Pushing the gear lever toward the "-" direction will downshift by one gear, while pushing it toward the "+" direction will upshift by one gear. Switching to manual mode is also very simple: if the plus and minus signs are on the left side of the "D" position, move the gear lever to the left; if they are on the right side, move it to the right. The car can be switched to manual mode at any time, without restrictions on timing, RPM, etc. The transmission will automatically match the appropriate gear based on the real-time speed of the vehicle.