So I hop in my car to leave work yesterday afternoon (the drive in to work was uneventful - nothing to make me suspect any issues for the drive home) and the first strange thing to happen was when I tried to start the car, it began to start then shut off. This happened so quick I thought maybe I just didn't turn the key long enough to start.

Turn the key again and it fires right up. I put it in "D" and notice it went into gear a little hard. Then I see the transmission malfunction indicator light is lit up on the dash. (the gear with an ! in the center) There is a dealer on the way home so I decided to just try and drive it there and see how it goes. The car was driveable in all gears, only the gear shifts felt like I was being rear-ended everytime. Downshifts were even worse and had me bracing myself when I anticipated one coming. On the way to the shop I pulled over and turned the car off, put it into park and waited about 10 seconds before re-starting to see if the light would correct itself (mentioned in the manual). That didn't work so I just proceeded to the dealer.

I got there in time before the service shop was closed, but the techs were gone for the day already. But after being inside talking to the service manager for a bit, the light didn't come on when he started the car and put into "D". Hopefully there is a code stored since it seemed to be ok when he started it. So I left it with them. Any guesses on what it could be?

Maybe just a software issue?
Something more serious?

I didn't think to try reverse as that seems to be the most common issue with the step trans.

Oh and the car is an '05 with 70k miles.