I ask because I recently had to replace a kickdown cable and I'm not sure if it's because of the way in which I use this little goodie. I live in Vermont - hills every which way. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't use it. But is it a good idea to take the car out of overdrive at 50/60 mph at the top/bottom of a long hill. I mean, that would create a fairly substantial jerk on the tranny. Going up hills I usually just wait until 3rd gear kicks in automatically and then lock it in. Going down long grades I like the way 3rd gear holds the car without having to do a lot of braking. I'm guessing a safe speed to engage it is somewhere near the same speed that it would ordinarilly kick in by itself when it's shifting up, and I realize that's going to vary with different accelleration speeds. So...

How and when do you use yours?
Can using the button at too high a speed stress the kickdown cable?