Sounds like your tech is a moron, the CVT has no gears at all. there is no 1st, 2nd, 3rd. And when the p1859 was registered - did he recalibrate it? It takes a about 30 minutes to do all the yaw and lateral sensor calibration, fuel pressure calibration etc.
When doing the zero point calibrations the car should be a completely flat surface and not moving in any plane (no people moving in and out or mechanics working on it)
Is your car SRS lamp ON? The acceleration sensor is not in the transmission - its in the air bag sensor assembly.