The stoplight turned green and I steadily accelerated to 2500 RPM in 1st gear, tiptronic mode. I then floored the gas to 5500 RPM (still in 1st gear) and all of a sudden my car stops accelerating. I glanced down at the instrument cluster and see that I'm in 3rd gear and the engine is racing like it's in neutral. I thought, how the heck did I get to 3rd? and quickly downshifted to 2nd and then first, but still nothing. The cars behind me are on my tail by now and I get all embarrassed. Finally I switch the tran over to auto mode and the car is moving again. A few miles later I switch back to Tip mode w/o any problems.<p>Did I experience some sort of Tip ECU glitch? My 2 month old A4 is completely stock performance-wise. This has never happed before... I'm gonna see if I can simulate this problem again before bringing it in for servicing.<p>99.5 A4 2.8

Just like you said, in 1st no probs, then I floored it. The engine starts racing and then powee! I'm in 3rd and no matter how hard I push the accelartor, nothing happens. I have a Tip chip but I don't think that was the problem. I thinkI may have gone to WO mode on the throttle and whatever upshifts I was sending were overidden. I'll try to keep my (lead)foot off the gas next time and not go WO. That should help. Yikes!

The engine has built-in protection when using Tip mode so that you don't run the RPM's up too high and blow the engine. You're attempts at a fast start probably pushed the car into it's protection mode. You should be thankful the car is looking out for its (and yours) best interest. The fact that you ended up in 3rd gear likely indicates that the car was trying to get into a more comfortable gear.

This happened one time to me shortly after buying my 99 V6 Tip Passat. I was still getting used to the tip at that time and I probably did something funky to cause it. As I recall, it was cold outside, and I directly into tip as soon as the engine fired up. Freaked out the Tip Control I guess. Hasen't happened since.

When the engine is pushed to the set limit of 6200 RPM's(?) in tip mode, the tran will automatically shift to the next gear. I can say this based on personal experience and from what the dealer has told me. Regardless, I only hit 5500 RPM at the time... not close enough to redline.