I believe manual trannys are harder to certify. The

problem is they are more prone to back-fire (albiet, a

small back-fire) if you shift and hold the gas down a

bit. This would set off a check engine light since all

back-fires are supposed to do that on newer cars. (Didn't

Accura or Honda get in trouble couple years ago because

their emission system did not always report a back-fire?)

With the auto, a programmable computer controls shifting

making it easier to predict shifts (and control emmissions)

then letting one of us darn humans do it (who tend to act

more randomly).

The auto does other clever things like raise the shift

points a bit when the engine is cold to decrease warm

up time (reducing emmisions). Another example of what

can't be done with a manual transmission.

Still, I'm sure they did not certify because they would not

have sold very many and the cost probably did not justify it.

It was cost vs. return on the investment, not a technology

issue.