No need to panic, but if this happens to you…

[oldbike]

While driving today, I had the transmission of my 2008 Passion in the manual mode and noticed that the gear indicator was only indicating a “1”, no matter what gear I was in.

The transmission shifted both up and down just fine in both manual and auto mode. In addition, the indicator read normal in the auto position.

When I came to a stop light, I shut off and restarted the car, after which the indicator read normally. This sort of sounds like my computer at home!

Just some quirk, I am sure.

[SuperGeek]

Could be a prelude to a bigger failure - transmission may lose its memory of what gear it's in and one day it may refuse to start as self-protective measure, showing only three horizontal bars. Once is a glitch... if it happens several times, talk to a dealer. Could be as simple as low battery voltage or loose ground, but either of those can technically damage the SAM if left untreated.

If you do get the three bar indicator and the car doesn't start, use a cell phone to call the Smart 800 # to be led through the official teach-in process. The manual hints that you only get one shot at it, and you'll want to get it right the first time.