A method of splaying a shift lever position for an electronically-controlled automatic transmission system having an automatic transmission, a shift lever mechanism, a transmission controller interconnecting the automatic transmission and the shift lever mechanism, a body controller, and a communication bus interconnecting the transmission controller and a body controller, said method comprising the steps of sending a gear position indicator message from the transmission controller to the body controller, determining from the gear position indicator message whether the transmission system is in an automatic or manual mode of operation, indicating a position of the shift lever mechanism if the transmission system is in the automatic mode of operation, and indicating a gear selected of the automatic transmission if the transmission system is in a manual mode of operation.