# ECO button



## str8edg golfin (Oct 8, 2001)

The past week or so, our ECO button has been coming on by itself... any ideas? In the past when the van starts it's off and around town I leave it off, because it shifts hard in the low gears, but when i'm on the highway I turn it on with the button.
TIA


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## Chedman13 (May 30, 2012)

I stopped using it.

After 50k miles using it, the transmission failed and was changed under warranty.

I suspect the hard shifts had something to do with it.



str8edg golfin said:


> The past week or so, our ECO button has been coming on by itself... any ideas? In the past when the van starts it's off and around town I leave it off, because it shifts hard in the low gears, but when i'm on the highway I turn it on with the button.
> TIA


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## CDJackson (Feb 28, 2013)

Are you sure you didn't leave it on the last time you used it? In my experience, the button doesn't "reset" when you turn the van off--it stays in ECO mode until you hit the button again. I recommend you just turn it off and leave it off. I seriously doubt the ECO mode is doing anything for you at highway speeds. When cruising on the highway, you're already in 6th gear and thus traveling as efficiently as possible. All it will do is delay downshifts when passing or going uphill, which is likely to have a negligible effect on fuel economy. I found that when I used it (which I never do anymore) I simply compensated for the sluggish transmission responses by pressing down farther on the gas pedal to trigger a downshift, thus negating whatever marginal benefit in fuel economy the mode offered.

I seriously think that button is mostly a gimmick. I never noticed any difference in real-world mileage when I had the button on versus when I had it off. All it seems to do is mess around with the shift points and exacerbate the occasional hard shifts the transmission serves up. Whether using the mode will actually cause damage to the transmission, I don't know, but I see no reason to risk it when the benefits are mostly non-existent.


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