Automatic Transmission - Subaru 2003 Impreza Owner's Manual

Starting and operating
labor.
On steep downgrades, downshift the transmission
to 4th, 3rd or 2nd gear as necessary; this helps to
maintain a safe speed and to extend brake pad life.
In this way, the engine provides a braking effect. Re-
member, if you "ride" (over use) the brakes while de-
scending a hill, they may overheat and not work
properly.
The engine may, on rare occasions, knock when the
vehicle rapidly accelerates or rapidly pulls away
from a standstill. This phenomenon does not indi-
cate a fault.
7-14

Automatic transmission

The automatic transmission is electronically con-
trolled with 4-forward speeds and 1-reverse speed.
NOTE
Immediately after a disconnected battery is re-
connected or ATF (automatic transmission fluid)
is replaced, you may feel that the automatic
transmission operation is somewhat unusual.
This results from erasure or invalidation of data
the on-board computer has collected and stored
in memory to allow the transmission to shift at
the most appropriate times for the current condi-
tion of your vehicle. Optimized shifting will be re-
stored as the vehicle continues to be driven for a
while.
WARNING
Do not shift from the "P" or "N" position into
the "D", "3", "2", "1" or "R" position while de-
pressing the accelerator pedal. This may
cause the vehicle to jump forward or back-
ward.