Patent ID: 8224543

Claim:
A shift position detecting device for an automotive transmission having a plurality of gear trains and a gear selection mechanism for each gear train, the gear selection mechanism being shiftable to a shift gear-in establishing position of one of the plurality of gear trains by a corresponding shift actuator thereby to thereby select a corresponding gear train as a power transmission gear train, the shift position detecting device comprising: a shift position sensor configured to produce output data that represents a shift position of the gear selection mechanism; and a control unit including: a first shifting load instruction section configured to issue an instruction to control the shift actuator to shift the gear selection mechanism to the shift gear-in establishing position using a first shifting load; a second shifting load instruction section configured to, after completion of shifting of the gear selection mechanism to the shift gear-in establishing position by the first shifting load instruction section, issue an instruction to control the shift actuator to reduce the shifting load from the first shifting load to a second shifting load which is lower than the first shifting load; and a shift gear-in establishing position memory section configured to store output data issued from the shift position sensor when the shift actuator is controlled by the second shifting load instruction section, as data that represents completion of shifting of the gear selection mechanism to the shift gear-in establishing position.