Shiftlight
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,966
Likes: 4
From: Made In America
St. Jude Donor '10-'11
Shiftlight
Why do people use shiftlights in automatic transmission equiped veichles that are not used for racing, auto X, or anything of the like? If the computer is designed to automatically shift it, then how is the shiftlight helping the automatic? I mean, unless your changing it manually and even if that is the case, you can still feel and hear when the gear needs to be bumped up and you can look at the tach. Thoughts?
Pro
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 706
Likes: 265
From: Jyväskylä, FINLAND
It's easier to see a illuminating light with your peripheral vision than looking at tachometer reading. You can keep your eyes on the track/road. Especially with the late models' analog tacho is waaay off... (at least that's the case with my '91 and I presume that the latter ones are also the same problem)
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,966
Likes: 4
From: Made In America
St. Jude Donor '10-'11
but how does that bring in the shiftlight regardless of the tachometer. If the car automatically shifts via PCM, then how does the shiftlight help you? You push the gas and away you go. Manual transmissions yes, they do help, but on the auto, how does it bring an advantage to the driver. 
Race Director
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 13,960
Likes: 707
From: WI
The computer doesn't always know what's best for every situation. For someone that never uses anything but OD then it's just useless bling. I've got one on my Summit wish list. Why, on a road course I stay in D and start to push the RPM up pretty high past 125 MPH. I'd like to see that light go on giving me a warning that I shouldn't go to much higher. I don't want to shift into OD for two seconds of track before braking but I don't need to twist every last R out of it either. Just one example. I'd like one for drag racing too since these stock gauges are so inaccurate. My last time out I crossed the traps showing 98 MPH. My time slip said 103!
