diff --git a/src/traces/parcats/calc.js b/src/traces/parcats/calc.js
index d2f47c1be74..d52bbc4fca7 100644
--- a/src/traces/parcats/calc.js
+++ b/src/traces/parcats/calc.js
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 var wrap = require('../../lib/gup').wrap;
 var hasColorscale = require('../../components/colorscale/has_colorscale');
 var colorscaleCalc = require('../../components/colorscale/calc');
-var parcatConstants = require('./constants');
 var filterUnique = require('../../lib/filter_unique.js');
 var Drawing = require('../../components/drawing');
 var Lib = require('../../lib');
@@ -101,9 +100,7 @@ module.exports = function calc(gd, trace) {
     // Build color generation function
     function getMarkerColorInfo(index) {
         var value;
-        if(!line) {
-            value = parcatConstants.defaultColor;
-        } else if(Lib.isArrayOrTypedArray(line.color)) {
+        if(Lib.isArrayOrTypedArray(line.color)) {
             value = line.color[index % line.color.length];
         } else {
             value = line.color;
diff --git a/src/traces/parcats/constants.js b/src/traces/parcats/constants.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 96d9ff68520..00000000000
--- a/src/traces/parcats/constants.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-/**
-* Copyright 2012-2018, Plotly, Inc.
-* All rights reserved.
-*
-* This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
-* LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
-*/
-
-'use strict';
-
-
-module.exports = {
-    defaultColor: 'lightgray',
-    cn: {
-        className: 'parcats'
-    }
-};
diff --git a/src/traces/parcats/defaults.js b/src/traces/parcats/defaults.js
index 86e288099c7..87986b84404 100644
--- a/src/traces/parcats/defaults.js
+++ b/src/traces/parcats/defaults.js
@@ -19,10 +19,7 @@ var mergeLength = require('../parcoords/merge_length');
 
 function handleLineDefaults(traceIn, traceOut, defaultColor, layout, coerce) {
 
-    if(traceIn.line) {
-        coerce('line.shape');
-    }
-
+    coerce('line.shape');
     var lineColor = coerce('line.color', defaultColor);
     if(hasColorscale(traceIn, 'line') && Lib.isArrayOrTypedArray(lineColor)) {
         if(lineColor.length) {
diff --git a/src/traces/parcats/parcats.js b/src/traces/parcats/parcats.js
index 98aec2119e7..41b49adba10 100644
--- a/src/traces/parcats/parcats.js
+++ b/src/traces/parcats/parcats.js
@@ -1465,12 +1465,7 @@ function createParcatsViewModel(graphDiv, layout, wrappedParcatsModel) {
 
     // Handle path shape
     // -----------------
-    var pathShape;
-    if(trace.line && trace.line.shape) {
-        pathShape = trace.line.shape;
-    } else {
-        pathShape = 'linear';
-    }
+    var pathShape = trace.line.shape;
 
     // Handle hover info
     // -----------------