Hill Hold on hill starts

[[ Adam ]]

Yes - I've had it roll back several times in traffic. Once a passenger asked me if it was a manual.

The auto stop start needs to be more finely tuned to start the engine as I am releasing the brake, and long before I hit the gas - I have, on several occasions had the gas pedal floored - only to have the stop/start kick in and take off. I consider it a bit of a safety issue and will usually turn the auto stop start off. My other favorite is when it kills the engine in the middle of a multi-point turn. If the wheel is turning, the engine should be on, period.

 

[Tom D]

The stop start is a massive PITA. it always stops when you don’t want it to. I have noticed that a jerk of the steering wheel will make it start again.

 

[CRH]

Am I incorrect with my driving but I thought when stopped you should go to neutral and put the hand on?
Foot on brake can distort the discs and you shouldn't keep your brake lights on? If I don't remember to turn stop start off, it almost stops and jumps back into life as I pull the handbrake or move to neutral.

Is my driving correct or causing wear to the gearbox, I always believed it reduced stress going to neutral.
I also thought UK highway code says to not keep foot on brake in traffic.
Using handbrake in this manner also stops the problem with rolling back on hills when starting off

 

[holdmybeer]

Motorcycling habits die hard. I would never put my vehicle into neutral while briefly stopped (if other vehicles may be around) because sometimes the safest response to a situation is a quick throttle away when you’re already in gear.

 

[Tom D]

Am I incorrect with my driving but I thought when stopped you should go to neutral and put the hand on?
Foot on brake can distort the discs and you shouldn't keep your brake lights on? If I don't remember to turn stop start off, it almost stops and jumps back into life as I pull the handbrake or move to neutral.

Is my driving correct or causing wear to the gearbox, I always believed it reduced stress going to neutral.
I also thought UK highway code says to not keep foot on brake in traffic.
Using handbrake in this manner also stops the problem with rolling back on hills when starting off

You are probably right and in really bad traffic the stop start os ok, but I find that when you come to a junction it always seems to stop just as I am wanting to set off and get a gap in the traffic.
Re gearbox wear I think the box ‘knows’ when you are sitting in D with your foot on the brake, after a few seconds it seems to stop pulling..

 

[landmannnn]

Am I incorrect with my driving but I thought when stopped you should go to neutral and put the hand on?
Foot on brake can distort the discs and you shouldn't keep your brake lights on? If I don't remember to turn stop start off, it almost stops and jumps back into life as I pull the handbrake or move to neutral.

Is my driving correct or causing wear to the gearbox, I always believed it reduced stress going to neutral.
I also thought UK highway code says to not keep foot on brake in traffic.
Using handbrake in this manner also stops the problem with rolling back on hills when starting off

You are correct for several decades ago.
The handbrake is only used nowadays for parking (it's actually called a parking brake).
It is normally expected to leave an auto in drive and a foot on the brake at lights etc.

 

[Eric]

You are correct for several decades ago.
The handbrake is only used nowadays for parking (it's actually called a parking brake).
It is normally expected to leave an auto in drive and a foot on the brake at lights etc.

Leaving a foot on a very hot disc ( eg previous hard braking) will warp the disc as the heat will build up at the point of contact of the pad. Holding on a very hot disc is a definite no no.

 

[AUDIOBUS]

Yes - I've had it roll back several times in traffic. Once a passenger asked me if it was a manual.

The auto stop start needs to be more finely tuned to start the engine as I am releasing the brake, and long before I hit the gas - I have, on several occasions had the gas pedal floored - only to have the stop/start kick in and take off. I consider it a bit of a safety issue and will usually turn the auto stop start off. My other favorite is when it kills the engine in the middle of a multi-point turn. If the wheel is turning, the engine should be on, period.

I've had this hill roll back thing too, and I was very surprised. It doesn't always happen, so I'm thankful to some of these mentions of stomping on the brake. Gonna try that.

Auto Start/Stop: Somewhere there was a thread mention that the air conditioning creates enough of a drag on the engine to override the stop/start -- and that's what saved my butt a couple of times when I forgot to disable it.

 

[DaveB]

Mine works as well. You need to stamp on it first though.

In terms of autos rolling back, my 200 would roll back a bit before the hill assist kicked in, but by kick in I mean the ABS would make one hell of a grinding noise as it slowed momentum. First time it happened I’d wondered what the hel I’d broken.

Hill start assist is relatively new on mainstream vehicles. Maybe 10 years at most.
That's why handbrake hill starts were part of the driving test even on automatics.
Just put the left foot on the brake and the right on the accelerator

 

[CRH]

Leaving a foot on a very hot disc ( eg previous hard braking) will warp the disc as the heat will build up at the point of contact of the pad. Holding on a very hot disc is a definite no no.

this was my thinking too, so the second you lift hand brake and remove foot from brake, engine restarts. I was also lead to believe leaving foot on brake can dazzle drivers behind? Either way, however I drive, as taught, the stop start does not operate and therefore encourages bad driving habits.
If you sit with foot on the brake and are rear ended you are supposedly more likely to hit vehicle in front rather than using the hand brake?
I have a fairly resent highway code book, doesn't have the nonsense about letting pedestrians walk aimlessly in front of cars, etc, but I am guessing it might cover this?
Just had a good look through the highway code and it doesn't mention anything on this that I can find, it must have been the old ones or when learning to drive. It does seem a lot thinner that the older versions?

 

[BigJock2024]

Well I guess the overheating brake disc is possible, but seems unlikely. If you're going uphill, you won't have been using the brakes. If you were going downhill, holding the vehicle speed with the brake, but then the gradient changed suddenly to an uphill and you used the brake again, then possibly... but then that would apply to holding the vehicle on a DOWNHILL also...

I personally can't stand the whole engine stop thing, even in the urban environment. I don't believe it saves any significant energy or emissions given unburnt fuel, initial inefficiency for a second or so that results after multiple restarts. Add to that the additional energy which has to be generated and charged back to the battery, and I just doubt it gives any measurable net gain. I'd love to hear if anyone has recorded a consistent improvement in mpg over a few days with it on versus off.

I can see it when start/stopping in a long queue outside a school or similar, but not at any other time. On a roundabout near a motorway, I would venture it's actually potentially dangerous.

It's also easy to apply the handbrake when you come to a stop on an upward gradient, or hold the vehicle on the throttle... you shouldn't need to be holding on the footbrake.

It's called technique people!! If you can off-road or overland, you can hill-start an auto!!!

 

[Tazzieman]

It will hold you on moderate hills, but if it's steep enough, with almost 3 tonnes on there, it will roll back.
Just apply a bit of throttle, you should be doing that anyway in prep for moving off!

Agree

 

[G-Man]

I tried prodding the brake a bit harder coming up to the stop junction at my usual hill start on the way to work this morning and 'lo and behold' the hill hold thing noticeably kicked in for the first time ever! So it appears that I must have been coasting up to the junction and letting the hill do most of the braking for me, so that just a light brake pressure was all it needed to stop the vehicle. So that's probably the issue resolved - the brake pedal needs a definite squeeze to activate the hill hold feature.

 

[Eric]

I tried prodding the brake a bit harder coming up to the stop junction at my usual hill start on the way to work this morning and 'lo and behold' the hill hold thing noticeably kicked in for the first time ever! So it appears that I must have been coasting up to the junction and letting the hill do most of the braking for me, so that just a light brake pressure was all it needed to stop the vehicle. So that's probably the issue resolved - the brake pedal needs a definite squeeze to activate the hill hold feature.

So now I have a choice
a) brake hard and I have hill start - but then the wife shouts at me for braking hard in a non emergency situation and gives me a lecture about her shoulder being sore, or
b) carry on without the benefit of the hill start assist, hmm.. very difficult decision

 

[Tom D]

This sounds like a calibration issue. I don't have to brake hard on mine. Do your brake lights come on with light pedal pressure?

 

[G-Man]

So now I have a choice
a) brake hard and I have hill start - but then the wife shouts at me for braking hard in a non emergency situation and gives me a lecture about her shoulder being sore, or
b) carry on without the benefit of the hill start assist, hmm.. very difficult decision

Perhaps it's Scottish hills that are the problem, in which case c) Move south of the border

 

[G-Man]

This sounds like a calibration issue. I don't have to brake hard on mine. Do your brake lights come on with light pedal pressure?

I wasn't even sure if the Hill Hold was a standard feature. I'm just happy it's there and I know how to activate it.

I'll check my brake lights though, seems like a logical check

 

[G-Man]

If you can off-road or overland, you can hill-start an auto!!!

I know, right! One of the world's most capable 4x4's and we're discussing sloppy hill starts

 

[Stu_Barnes]

So I've noticed during a few steep hill starts at road junctions that the Gren is inclined to roll backwards. I'm pretty quick between brake and accelerator pedals but I expect any driver that pulled up behind me has thought perhaps they should've left more room!

Does anyone else see this characteristic on their vehicle? I've read elsewhere on the forum that the Gren is supposed to have 'Hill Assist', but if it does it doesn't seem to work for me during normal road driving. Is it just an offroad feature or is it supposed to be similar to 'Hill Hold' which you get on every modern car with an auto box?

I have the same, sometimes. Regardless of if the auto start/stop is activated or not. It’s caused a few wide eyes in city traffic.

My turns that’s it’s a calibration issue. But who knows. I’ll ask Rusnak when I take it in for a fettle for some other things and query why they haven’t still contacted me about installing my hitch. Hopefully I’ll get an answer. If not I’ll start moving south

 

[Zimm]

Treat it like you're technical offroading an automatic and control the car with two feet on a steep hill. If you don't do it for technical driving sections, you should start.