I just recently got a 2004 honda civic hybrid manual transmission and I just recently took it in to the dealer to get a few things fixed and I asked them to look at the downshift indicator and I told them I had not once seen the light come on other than when I turned the engine on. They told me that it was hard, but they were able to get the light to come on. I sort of don't really believe them because I've tried all sorts of crazy things to get the ****ed light to come on. I've even tried putting it in fifth gear going up a slight incline and flooring it at 10 MPH. The engine made a scary noise (as expected), but the downshift light never came on. I know some of you think that you should only shift on feel, and this is the first car I've had that has shift indicators, so I've driven many years in my old pickup without shift indicators. I'd really like to know when the computer thinks I should downshift. It may even help my fuel economy if it did it properly. Personally, I consider it broken since it's not once come on (other than turning the engine on).

For those of you who have working downshift indicators, when can I reasonably expect the light to come on? Do I have to be going up hill? Do I need to floor it? Do I need to enable cruise control?

Yes I know... little things like this drive my crazy, but I just got the car 2 weeks ago, so I want everything to be working perfectly.