Patent ID: 7601094

Claim:
A method of improving shift quality and fuel economy in a vehicle having an engine and an automatic transmission including a lock-up clutch and one or more shift clutches which are provided with an initial amount of engaging pressure, comprising the steps of: implementing a fuel cut control function in operation of the vehicle engine; determining deceleration of the vehicle; when in a first range of vehicle deceleration, applying a first amount of additional engaging pressure to the lock-up clutch and a second amount of additional engaging pressure to the at least one of the shift clutches if not already applied; when in a second range of vehicle deceleration, wherein deceleration is less than in said first range, canceling any of said first amount of additional pressure applied to the lock-up clutch and canceling any of said second amount of additional pressure applied to the shift clutches; when in a third range of vehicle deceleration, wherein deceleration is greater than in said first and second ranges, canceling any of said second amount of additional pressure applied to the shift clutches; repeating the steps of determining vehicle deceleration, and changing either the shift and/or lock-up clutch pressure(s) based on the determined decelerationas required, and at some time during the cycle of determining deceleration and changing clutch pressure(s) as required, causing the vehicle to downshift.