Tim - you should be putting her in neutral at lights, not leaving her in gear - you're wearing down the clutch. That's why the computer is kicking her into neutral after a minute - its a safeguard and it's trying to save clutch life.
not true, no reason to put into neutral, in fact, you could argue against it for safety reasons.
1. The CC system disengages the clutch when you reach the point where you would stall. At a stop, the clutch isn't wearing at all, it's disengaged. The biggest causes of wearing out your clutch
-"soft" PIS point
-driving in auto mode (always drive in Sport mode too)
-driving in reverse (it never fully engages in reverse)
-driving in slow traffic in first (where it wouldn't be fully engaged)
-lifting when you shift (shift under full throttle)
2. If you don't downshift, you'll notice that when you come to a complete stop, the CC system will automatically put you into 1st, yet the system doesn't downshift for you any other time (unless of course you're in AUTO mode), and it doesn't put you into neutral This is a safety feature. Let's say you're driving along at 50 MPH and a deer runs out in the road. You slam on the brakes, come to a complete stop. In your panic you're concentrating on reacting (braking as hard as you can, turning the wheel to avoid the deer). If you had a clutch pedal, your instinct would have been to push in the clutch pedal as well. If the system didn't downshift once you came to a complete stop, you'd now be in the middle of traffic/intersection at a dead stop in 5th gear and unable to make a quick return to traffic and would be in risk of getting hit by another vehicle around you. Pulling the left paddle quickly 4 times doesn't put you into 1st, there's some delay in the system.
It's only after sitting for a period of time (I believe it's different on 02-04 and 05-06 models which have the hill hold feature) in first that it goes into neutral. I believe this is also for safety since you could forget your foot on the brake and slowly let up pressure or move it off and the car would then engage and move forward. I've sat in ALOT of traffic and I've never had it happen to me while on the road or at a light, only when sitting for an extended period of time idling and parked.
Although I'm not a factory trained tech, I've spent more hours in my dealers garage than the average owner spends in their car and have discussed the clutch issues in GREAT length with multiple techs and MNA representatives (had a pending law suite regarding clutch life, readings, and costs so I had plenty of research and expert testimony).
In summary: Shifting into neutral at a light doesn't effect your clutch life and isn't necessary. There is no difference in clutch life if you manually downshift as you come to a stop or let the system do it for you.
