My car will not engage in the sports mode, when it's in S mode, it just drives as if it's in the D mode. Anyone has this experience and how did you resolve it? I'm hoping for a simple fix cause Honda wants $210 to diagnos.

 

Do the paddles work in D mode?

 

Whenever the shifter is in S the Fit will still automatically up/down shift for you, just at much higher points (it won't shift into 4th until around 70-75 MPH for example). Are you sure that you are clicking the paddles hard enough? That is the only time mine wouldn't shift for me.

Post up a video of what is going on so we can help you as best as possible.

 

Hmm yes post a video i still am not sure how to use these things all that great yet. How do u go back to AT once u hit the paddle shifter

 

If in D, just wait a moment and it'll resume full auto. If in S, you'll have to shift back into D (and back into S if you still want the higher shifts).

 

No, I mean the paddles do not work. In D mode nothing happens when I press the paddles. When in S mode, it's like it's in D mode, the dashboard does not show it being in S mode. It's like it doesn't engage S mode.

Same thing for cruise control, it doesn;t engage when i press the button. Not blown fuse either, I've checked that already.
Someone mentioned a drive reel issue or some kind of loose pin issue?

 

Same thing happened to me today! I was driving along in D mode when my car suddenly jerked like crazy. I thought someone had hit me but no one was directly behind me. I then hit the + paddle to shift to a higher gear and nothing happened. I switched to S mode and the "M#" display did not show at all. I hit + and nothing. I even tried downshifting, nothing, no display. This has never happened before and got off the freeway, shut off the engine, started her up again, and it was back to normal.

 

Can you further explain this jerking you are talking about? Like, was it similar to dropping a gear or two? Also, what year is your Fit and how many miles does it have?

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

Yes, it felt like I down shifted. I was in stop-and-go traffic at about 10 mph and traffic started moving again. I slowly stepped on the gas like I always do (no lead foot here) and it felt like I down shifted.

I also forgot to mention that during this time when the paddles weren't working, my tach showed 3500 rpm the whole time I was on the freeway (about 20 miles, even on level roads).

I have an 09 AT Sport. It has 14,000 miles on it.

 

No prob.

Well one thing that I've noticed in my GD is that the transmission will stick with either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gear when driving under 20 MPH; this is also relevant for the current GE chassis. My GD will downshift itself from 4th to 3rd at 20MPH and then downshift from 3rd straight to 1st once it hits 6 or less MPH.

The GE does this at similar speeds as well and I would assume that this is what had happened to you; however, your gear indicator did not acknowledge your paddle input so that could be because of one of two things. Either there is/was a fault in paddle's system or you did not pull the paddle hard enough.

If you turned the car off then back on and it performed as if nothing happened it is pretty likely that you did not hit the paddle hard enough, I've done it before a few times personally. But if this happens later on down the road, you may have an intermittent problem on your hands.

Now, if you want to remedy/reduce that jerking motion in traffic try to stay in 2nd gear (when driving below 10-15 MPH) or when stopping downshift into 2nd gear (between 10-20 MPH)

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks Hootie, very helpful.

Only thing that worries me is that my first thought was that I may not have hit the paddles hard enough. I use them 90% of the time (although I would prefer a MT but I had the hardest time finding one so I finally gave in to the AT)... So not only am I used to the paddles, I even exaggerated and pulled on both the "+" and "-" very hard with no results. In S mode, it should have at least displayed what gear I was in, and the display showed nothing. It was very disconcerting but thankfully everything is back to normal and I am hoping it does not happen again. I thought I'd share here in case anyone else experiences similar issues. Thanks for your help! I'll stay in 2nd gear during that pesky L.A. traffic.

 

No problem, always willing to help a fellow Fit freak out.

2nd gear does pretty well in stop and go conditions because you can start off in it from a stand still and if you are in S while using the paddles, the car will not downshift back into 1st unless you exceed 6 MPH.

Also, one thing I have noticed for the GEs, their paddles have a much longer stroke than the GDs. The GD's paddle doesn't take much of a pull, I'm guessing ~1/16 of an inch and it acknowledges; you can literally flick it by accident and it shifts. The GE is like a 1/2-3/4 inch pull if I recall correctly.

Anywho, I hope that quirk you were experiencing doesn't show its head again and enjoy your stay here at Fit Freak.

 

This exact thing happened to me 2 days ago. I pulled up and stopped at a light before getting onto the highway and when stopped the car gave a small lunge/jerk forward like someone rearended me. The guy behind was far enough away I knew that wasn't the case. The car idled and seemed normal. When the light turned green we started rolling like normal and then the 1-2 shift was a hard bucking jerk. I hopped on the highway and the car would not shift into 5th while going 70. I tried the shifters in D with no luck of getting it into 5th. I then tried S mode and couldnt get it to shift up or down, nor would it tell me what gear I was in. I turned around and took it home. On the way home it automatically shifted fine in every gear except 1-2 and never would get into 5th. I was on my way to the beach when this happened so I didnt get to look or mess with it until yesterday afternoon.

So, yesterday I hopped in it and tried to reproduce the problem without any luck (didnt try real hard since I didnt want to get stranded way down the road). I am going to go ahead and change the tranny fluid tonight and then put the car back into its normal DD use.

Car is a 2007 Sport automatic w/ 81k miles on it.

Edit: Changed the fluid and drove the car around for an hour or so last night without any issues. I will keep this post updated if anything changes.

 

Still can't figure out the problem with the paddle shifter. I guess that something might be loose. Hooking it up for diagnostic still did not give a result. They need to take things apart and do a more thorough investigation

 

Have the dealer (if still under warranty) check them or swap in new ones. If you are not under warranty, remove the + paddle and check its resistance with a voltmeter.

I personally would prefer to have a certified tech do this because of the Safety Restraint System, but that should tell you either there is a complete circuit flowing through the paddle's circuity and there is an issue somewhere else or something in the circuitry of the paddle has failed and the paddle needs to be replaced.

 

So this also happened to my wife and I today. We were driving around normally, coming to a stop and bang. I thought I lost a motor mount. I started driving again and bang into what I assume was second but I cant confidently say it was or not. It really shifted hard. It kept on doing this for a few miles until I pulled over and turned the car off. Started the car back up and no problems. Has anyone had this happen more than once and has it been fixed by the dealer.

07 Fit Sport 58K

 

This happened to my 09 ge today , jerking , would not shift into 5th and paddles would not work either. happened @ 59023 miles. i shut the car off and started ,everything back to normal. atf fluid changed @ 31000 will be changing again asap

 

Got carried away with life (kids) for a while. Decided to check back and saw that for most people restarting the car would help. My Fit is still the same. When I shift to S nothing happens and acts like it's in Auto mode. My cruise control is not working either. Paid honda for a diag but they asked for more since they have to take things apart and so it costs more.

I rarely used the sports feature and the cruise control but it may devalue my car if i decide to sell next year. I'll be interested to know if anyone also have this problem but is permanent and how you went about resolving it.

A friend said it could be a switch or relay problem. But according to the initial diagnosis.. it doesn't sound like it's a simple switch problem and they they would have to dig deeper..

 

Ever solve this issue? I have the same problem

 

I have same problem as well. I've searched hard and can find nobody that has had this problem.

2008 Honda Fit, paddle shifters will not work in D or in S mode. Buddy I bought the car from said he used to use them all the time. Just quit working one day. I got them to work one time in D mode while going about 20mph.