I have a 2003 A4 3.0 that's lately whenever I start it up it goes straight to 1st gear with the tiptronic view on the display (with 1 lit up) and doesn't change in tip mode or automatic, but if you wait a few minutes all the PNDR lights come on and it goes into 3rd or 4th gear.

I got a VAG-COM and did a scan and this is what I got:
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Address 02: Auto Trans
1 Fault Found:
18152 - Tiptronic Recognition Switch (F189): Short to Ground
P1744 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent
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What causes something like this? I read a little online and saw that maybe it could be the TCU is wet or something but it's been going on for weeks and still persists. Do I need to get the Tip Recognition Switch replaced? Can I just clear the code and not use the tip mode at all or will that cause other problems?