Volvo S40 Automobile User Manual


 
06 Starting and driving
120
Automatic gearbox
06
The gearbox is mechanically blocked when P
position is engaged. Always apply the park-
ing brake when parking the car.
R – Reverse
The car must be stationary when R is select-
ed.
N – Neutral
N is the neutral position. No gear is engaged
and the engine can be started. Apply the
parking brake when the car is stationary with
the gear selector in position N.
D – Drive
D is the normal driving position. Shifting up
and down between the different gearbox ra-
tios occurs automatically based on the level
of acceleration and speed. The car should be
stationary when the gear lever is moved from
position R to position D.
Manual positions
To move from the automatic driving
position D to a manual position, move the
gear selector to position M. To go from
position M to the automatic driving
position D, move the selector to position D.
While driving
The manual gearshift mode can be selected
at any time while driving. The engaged gear
is locked until you choose another gear.
If the gear selector is moved to – (minus) the
car changes down a gear and engine brakes
at the same time as the accelerator pedal is
released. If the gear selector is moved to
+ (plus) the car changes up a gear.
The selected gear is indicated on the com-
bined instrument panel, see page 41.
Geartronic does not permit downshifting/
kick-down which would result in an engine
speed high enough to damage the engine.
Nothing happens if the driver tries to shift
down in this way. The original gear re-
mains engaged.
Geartronic automatically shifts down if the
driver allows the speed to decrease lower
than a level suitable for the selected gear,
in order to avoid jerking and stalling.
W – Winter
The W button is used to ac-
tivate and deactivate the
winter programme W. Dis-
play of the W symbol in the
combined instrument panel
indicates that the winter
programme is active.
The winter programme starts the gearbox in
a higher gear to facilitate starting off on slip-
pery surfaces. The lower gears are only acti-
vated with kick-down when the winter pro-
gramme is engaged.
The W programme can be selected regard-
less of the position of the gear selector, but is
only operational when the selector is in
position D.
To prevent overrevving, the gearbox control
program has a protective downshift inhibitor.
NOTE
Geartronic contains two safety functions: