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STARTING AND DRIVING
* Option/accessory, for more information, see Introduction.
398
Brake – B
B can be selected at any time during a drive. In
this mode, the engine braking function is acti- vated when the accelerator pedal is released,which helps charge the hybrid battery. Thismeans that the hybrid battery is charged even ifthe brake pedal is not depressed.
B mode in the instrument panel
With B selected, manual shifting to lower gears
is possible. The gear indicator in the instrument panel shows the gear currently being used (1–8). Each time the gear selector is pulled rearward, the transmission will shift down one gear. In order to manually shift to higher gears, the vehicle must be equipped with steering wheel paddles *.
• Press the gear selector forward to return to D
mode. For smooth shifting and engine performance, the transmission will shift down automatically if thevehicle's speed becomes too low for the selectedgear.
Safety functionTo help avoid excessive rpm that might causeengine damage, the transmission control modulehas a down-shift protection feature that in somesituations may prevent a down-shift or kickdown. During kickdown, the transmission may shift down one or more gears, depending on theengine's rpm and will shift up again when max.rpm is reached for a specific gear.
Related information
•
Steering wheel paddles
* (p. 398)
• Shiftlock (p. 396)
• Gear shift indicator (p. 396)
Steering wheel paddles
*
In addition to the manual gearshift function using the gear selector, the paddles make it possibleto manually shift gears from the steering wheel.
Activating the paddlesIn order to shift gears with the paddles, they have to first be activated. To do so:
–Pull either paddle toward the steering wheel and release it; the D in the instrument panel
will change to M and the number of the gear
currently being used will be displayed.
Manually shifting gears
In shift mode M, the paddles are automatically
activated.
ShiftingTo shift one gear:
