Method for controlling an automatic transmission

According to the preamble of claim , the invention relates to a method for control of an automatic transmission. A method for controlling an automatic transmission having several gears in which a downshift to a lower gear is triggered when, during an actuation of the acceleration pedal toward an increase of the load input, a shifting characteristic line is exceeded. It is proposed to compare an accelerator pedal gradient signal (DKIG) with a presettable threshold value (DKIG_Limit) and to trigger a downshift already before the shifting characteristic line is exceeded when the actual value of the accelerator pedal gradient signal is great than the threshold value. This significantly reduces the reaction time of the transmission.