Thanks for the replies.
The symptoms are rare enough that after hours of internet searching, this one thread is the only mention of the same problem. I found threads on tribeca trannys (same trans I believe, the 5EAT) having hard shifts and bad torque converters. But my search kung fu could be weak.:-\
Just as Nipper said, the trans does not seem to even know it has higher gears. When this problem occurs, and we then put it into sportmode, there is not the customary gear indicator display. Is is just blank until you use sportmode to force an upshift. It will not upshift at redline unless you use sportmode to manually upshift.
When we get time to take it to another dealer (75 minutes away) I will ask about the inhibitor switch and cables. Although I would have figured there were no cables to adjust like on older trannys. I just figured it was all electrical inputs on this tranny but I don't know diddly about auto trannys.
Thanks again, any info helps!