I've just got a new car with an electric handbrake that I've never had before, the moment you lift the clutch the auto handbrake comes off before the bite point, so now I'm forced to learn this new way to pull off after years of doing handbrakes starts, very glad this video exists.
I’ve been driving for 50 years and just took delivery of my first car with Hill start assist. It seemed to work ok for me, but until I saw this video, I didn’t understand HOW it was working, which was rather disconcerting and inefficient since I was still using the handbrake. This video has been a tremendous help, a clear description of how the system works and how to make the best of it. Thank you very much. I will now watch the rest of your videos and find out what else I didn’t know that I didn’t know.
I can't believe I never realised that it was the hill start assist that would delay me moving off by two seconds on hills! When I got my first car after passing this would confuse me and make me think I did not have the biting point so I would lift the clutch higher and stall continuously! The creaking noise too; I never knew why it happened. Another helpful video as usual!
Thanks for all the insights into hill starts. I travel often to San Francisco and i recently bought a manual. The city is a nightmare and has streets where your hood literally faces the sky at the stop sign.
I own a car that releases the brake when the bite point is reached. It’s a 2017 VW golf. Very useful mechanic for hill starts and just really handy as you don’t need to worry about keeping your foot on the break
I would really like to say thank you😘😘😘 for improving my driving skills. I’ve been watching your video before and after I got my driving license. You’re tremendous help to me🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I've been watching your videos for so long and I finally passed last Wednesday with 2 minors! Also I'm happy that I didn't get a hill start on the test.
It took me about a year because of backlogs and weather 🙄 but I finally passed, can’t thank you enough for the videos, along with my instructor they have really helped. Make sure to keep them coming for future drivers!
Thank you for this video ! I got my licence 5 years ago and i always used the clutch before the gas on hills as my instructor taught me. Had an humiliating moment today on my new car but now i understand why i stalled 3 times in a row 😂
Just passed my driving test today with 1 fault (rolling back a bit from the start on a slope), though I am not from the UK the teachings have been really useful in understanding how to control a manual transmission car ,the car I used had no hill start assist and handbrake starts ain't allowed.....then the car has a very low and sensitive biting point and barely moves without adding gas(petrol car) ,hill starts are a nightmare .....This is the best driving channel ,thanks😊
I have a license since 2018 and I still often use the parking brake method, especially in the traffic or on uphill stopping lights when someone is close behind me or on steeper hills, so I dont risk rolling back too much or into somebody, but like you mentioned, the parking brake is not as strong as the footbrake. My pakring brake is sometimes too weak to hold me on steep hills, so I at least use it to slow my car down and prevent it from rolling back fast like a boulder untill I get to the bite point. Hill hold assist is pretty useful, I sometimes wish my car had it too :D Thanks for the vid!
I really needed this! I passed in May and just bought a new car that has hill assist. I’ve been stalling like crazy and I didn’t know why. I never stalled that much in my instructor car so it’s been giving me a lot of anxiety
Woww thank you so much for this explanation i was stressing, I'm driving a suzuki baleno, recently gave me a warning light that ESP service system(Hill hold disabled) i noticed that this happens when ever i drive in a traffic jam, then disappears when i switch off and on the car. Now that you've explained this hill assist i think i know the reason for the hill hold to be disabled.
It's a coincidence that i thought about my car having Hill Start Assist like a day before you uploaded this video. I flicked through the settings and saw the HSA was already activated in my car though i've never noticed it, maybe i'm too nervous so i just use the handbrake. Will try it out sometime.
Good video. My 2013 Audi saloon has a hold assist that will keep the brakes on indefinitely until there is both gas and bite (although bite alone can trigger it sometimes) - the system detects when you've got enough power going to the wheels to move off with minimal rolling
My 2020 Toyota Corolla hatchback also has what's called a "brake hold" feature (I'm in the US, I don't know if the 12th generation Corollas in the UK have it). My car also has hill hold assist as described in this video, which can't be turned off. Anyway, brake hold is optional, and is activated by pressing a button on the center console. Like hill hold assist, brake hold uses the ABS to hold the brakes until there is enough power to move off. I'd love to learn how to do a real hill start, but I'm so scared of rolling back into someone and causing an accident. So, I've become completely dependent on the brake hold. Which I suppose doesn't really matter, because most cars in the US are automatics anyway, and the chance of me ever driving a manual car other than my own is likely zero. But hill starts is skill I'd like to learn. Maybe one day, I'll be brave and practice proper hill starts, without relying on the brake hold.
I've found HSA can't be activated if you press the brakes firmly (as in push the peddle further down). You can actually feel the peddle nudge when the system releases the brakes. Problem with this is the HSA can activate even when you're on flat, but if you pull away with gas it doesn't tend to be a problem (unless you're less experienced perhaps). Good video Richard 👍
Some cars have a hold function if you press the brake pedal firmly. Most don't have this system in my experience. A Mercedes A class is the only car I've driven with it.
I actually ended up disabling hill hold when I was learning too because I found it harder when enabled (don't have an actual handbrake neither), never used it again 😅 great vid
Ive recently gone from an old 2007 Peugeot 207 that ive had for 2 years to a newer model 2019 208 with hill assist, everything was going great untill i suddenly started doing hill starts like i did in the 207 and getting the juddering. Thank you for clearing up my confusion and now i dont think my car is broke, its just me 😂
TLDR: Richard, the car you're looking for is the Golf MK7. I got one and it will hold the car indefinitely, and releases the brakes the moment you get to the clutch's biting point, not input from the gas pedal! I learnt to drive in a polo with the exact same system and hated it, I couldn't understand why there was a time limit in the first place if it can detect to disengage. It turns out it doesn't have to be that way. my golf mk7 has exactly what you're looking for, it will hold the car for you indefinitely, and will only release when it detects the clutch at the biting point. it is such a better system that it makes me feel like a lazy driver lol luckily I still remember how to move a car without it 😂😂 if you ever get the chance, check out the golf mk7 and mk8, the auto hold on that car is perfect. It's an actual cheatcode for doing hill starts, as the car will always automatically add enough gas when you get to the clutch biting point in order for you get going, regardless of how steep the hill is! It also wont let you coast down a hill in neutral, but if you ever want do that for whatever reason, you can push the electric handbrake button downwards instead of upwards which disengages the system until the next time you come to a stop.
My dad's Dacia duster has a hill start assist system and it actually makes taking off harder because it takes too long to disengage as well activating alot of the time when I'm holding the brake at a junction
Thanks so much for your content, they are really helpful. I have a full licence for 2years now but I have been driving an automatic vehicle since until recently having to drive a manual replacement car. In the last few days, I have stalled a couple of times especially on hills as I kept using the handbrakes which made everything cumbersome, trusting the car to do the hill assist as you explained did the trick.
My instructor's car is a vauxhall corsa 2015 reg. It has Hill start assist. It is incredibly annoying. It does not release when you press the gas. You count zero, one, two and it releases. This feels too long for me. It appears to last longer than your car, perhaps a second longer. My instructor taught me both methods (handbrake and footbrake) when teaching me Hill starts in maybe my second lesson (now on 24hrs). I found I have a preference for the footbrake method you describe at 5:15 simply because I initially found it more challenging and practised it with her over the handbrake method, and of course it's useful in all traffic conditions, not just on hills. In fact, only today have I started to use the handbrake much because my right foot is getting fatigued from floating it on the brake and gas etc. Anyway, for a long time I thought that the car wasn't moving, therefore I mustn't have the clutch high enough and therefore I needed to lift it higher. This invariably lead to a stall. Even today, potential serious fault if I were on a test as I gave way going uphill to a driver coming downhill, cars on the left, driver coming downhill passed, driver coming downhill flashed me and stopped clearly giving way, so I went to move and was stuck for a whole 2 seconds. Right as I started moving, he did too, clearly having decided I wasn't going to take that priority due to my apparent inaction. He recognised it quickly and stopped again, but it felt hairy. I would far rather disable it. I can get to the accelerator fine. I have the clutch just dipped below the bite point so rolling back is not an issue. It actively makes me feel like I have less control of the car.
Same problem I'm facing!!! Those seconds you have to wait for the hill assist to disengage is annoying, makes me think I don't have the clutch at the biting point so I lift it higher, then I stall. I drive a Opel Adam and unfortunately I can't switch it off so I'm going to have to use the handbrake method
Hi Richard, passed my driving test third time lucky at Speke today, third hardest in the country as you said 😂. Your videos have really helped and I’ll keep on watching!
My previous instructor's car had hill assist and it really helped me a lot in hill starts without handbrake but once I jump in my family member's car I stall quite a lot with some rollback. I believe the car does not have hill assist so I was encouraged to use handbrake to reduce those problems but it is so slow for me, it tends to make me hesitate and miss opportunities at hill junctions. Cars behind me aren't really that patient, sometimes i end up over reving by accident or not completely releasing the handbrake lol. I tried the handbrake technique quite a bit but quickly went back to do the bite to hold and then gas. I like that technique a lot and it gets me to actually find the biting point which I normally don't do but I guess it would not work on steeper hills like the one in Bristol, that one looks like I need a hand brake and more gas.
My parents' VW T-Cross releases the hill assist brakes when the clutch is at the bite point, independently of the accelerator pedal position (or when a couple seconds have passed). I think my Megane does the same thing but I can't say for sure.
Get video with a full explanation, now I immediately want to see what hill start assist is like on the steepest road in England! We have a very steep hill where we live, and I was terrible doing hill start assist there, as I wasn't quick enough to take off, then slammed on the breaks so I didn't roll down.
In my Puma, if you take your foot off the brake and press the gas whilst the clutch is still fully depressed, it holds the car car for 5 seconds, allowing the clutch to be slowly raised. I'm also an ADI
Passed about 7 months ago with no minors. Your videos helped me a lot on all the subjects. I own a car with electric hand brake hill starts seems to be a pain. Any advice? Cheers
Your videos continue to be helpful even a year after getting my license - thank you! A quick question - have you found any difference in doing handbrake starts with an electronic handbrake vs a traditional one?
Having passed my test back in the last decade of the last century, I've always used the "set the gas, find the biting point, release the handbrake" method. I've had one modern manual, which must have had hill hold assist, and on hill starts it was always upset with me not releasing the handbrake the second I touched the gas, and would beep to tell me off. 😅 The new method of not setting the gas to pull away just feels all kinds of wrong. Even the diesel 205 I passed my test in would not let me get away with that, and that was a difficult to stall car at the time. I suspect a recently qualified driver would really struggle with an older car if they were taught that way.
You know what's awesome? That I can buy a new car, come to your videos and you've already made one about issues I have :D I kept stalling it and didn't manage to quite understand what I was doing wrong. You explained it so clearly, thank you. I believe now I'll be able to enjoy hill assist, I was close to shutting it down because of how much anxiety it induced me in just few rides. BTW if you want to try interesting car - toyota GR 86 :D Now we have both mazda mx5 nc and gr 86, fun fun :D Especially on hilly roads - toyota is definitely a beast - you feel it accelerating even when it's in fourth gear and road is uphill and reacts to small amounts of gas already, whereas mazda would need 3rd gear, pedal to the metal and you count to 3-4 until you feel it gets the power. I heard that your mx5, so nd has similar feeling like toyota / because it's more powerful than nc, maybe that's more torque that makes the difference in feeling. Anyhow, just wanted to share another toy, if you can put your hands on it for test drive at least, seize the opportunity :D And thanks for having so many covered topics! Now to binge watching what I've missed in last year while I was playing around with mazda :D
I think the best help on hill starts is anticipating when the traffic will begin to move so you're not rushing. Rushing is when you will rocket the clutch up and stall. I seem to have nailed holding the car with the brakes, finding just enough bite to keep it there and then going to gas and lifting the clutch a tiny bit more. Don't know if my 2011 fiesta is helping me and that would quickly fail in many other cars.
'Not rushing' is one of the best bits of advice I gave my pupils. That was best achieved by releasing the hand brake very slowly. If holding on the foot brake works for you, then fine. But I wouldn't recommend teaching that method as the foot brake is much more powerful than the hand brake so it's much harder to feel when you have the required control with the clutch. Plus of course you often need power from the accelerator pedal as well as the clutch, which is impossible to do if your foot is using the brake. That then requires a quick skip from brake to gas and is one of the causes of rushing, which, as you correctly say, is best avoided. Well done for not rushing, but try using the hand brake. Especially if you're supervising family or friends in the future.
@@chriscurtain1816 If you know the car you are driving very well then the right amount of bite point should be enough to hold the car on the hill, this will stop the car from rolling backwards and that gives you just about enough time to release the brakes and put your right foot on the gas pedal.
@@maiden5427 I know. Hence my third sentence above. But it won't work in every situation given the wrong combination of car (power), load / number of passengers and gradient. Any difficulty usually gets exposed on the first change of car, especially if that's to a significantly less powerful car than the one used for lessons.
Fiat Panda III does have Hill Hold Assist, but the issue you described about the car fighting with the brakes does arise there. I can physically feel the brakes disengaging and me shooting off, the car doesn't let go when I press the gas pedal. It's cheap to just insert a rudimentary type of HSA into a car's computer, I feel
When I first had a car with HSA, I didn't know that cars had it or what it was, and I thought my brakes were sticking / locking! I did learn something knew though in this video; I didn't realise the foot brake operated the back brakes, I thought the back brakes only activated / work the hand brake and worked on a drum system. I thought that's why when you brake hard, the car front dips into the road a little, but I guess that must just be the G force 🤔
I have a seat Ibiza 2017 which needs gas. My instructor never taught me to give it gas because the engine was strong enough to set off using the bite point. I really struggled when I got the car and even stalled on very slight inclines which was very stressful!
Hill hold assist drives me insane sometimes, I've stalled repeatedly in that past because I wasn't giving enough gas for it release the brakes, so I was effectively trying to pull away in "tick over". In my instructor's Kia, it seems to come on when it feels like it. Got used to it eventually where I just needed to give that extra gas, much like a regular hill start, for it to release the brakes.
I dont' find hill start assist to be reliable. Unless I'm not doing it right, I find it sometimes works, and sometimes I expect to work but it doesn't (so i roll slightly). I engage the "brake hold" button (not the parking brake button) in the Civic Type R so that acts as my "hand brake" now for more consistency. I believe brake hold is more for applying the brakes for you when you are at a light/stop so you don't have to use the brake pedal.
Good afternoon Richard, I wanted to say thank you for the videos that you make. Between my lessons with my brilliant driving instructor and watching your videos, I passed my driving test yesterday with six minors which I'm very happy about so thank you! Do you have a website you would recommend for tips and things to look out for / avoid when buying a car?
Something I wanted to point out is that some cars have handbrakes that engage all four wheels. In my car, it actually pulls the brake pedal down when you pull the handbrake. That being said, the handbrake is definitely less powerful. I've rolled backwards on hills because I hadn't pulled the handbrake hard enough.
My 06 manual forester has this but there no time limit you can just keep ur foot on the clutch for however long you want and It won’t roll. I’ve driven a few manual Suzuki’s Hyundai and Volkswagen’s from the 2010s and non of them have had this
It’s actually a very interesting system compared to this. It actually works quite different it will engage when you come to a complete stop with the brakes and the clutch fully depressed. You can then completely come off the brake and just hold the clutch all the way down and it won’t roll back. It’s completely separate to the accelerator it actually releases when the clutch is even slightly brought up from full depressed position
Personally, I always use the handbrake method for hill starts. My car is diesel anyway so you could never hold the car using "no gas" - the car will barely move on the level without almost stalling, if you I don't rev the engine. Even when I drove a petrol, I still used the handbrake method. The handbrake should easily hold the weight of the car and if it doesn't, it should be fixed.
hi, this is off topic but 44% of drivers fail at luton, i’ve been driving around there recently but some of the places on the routes are confusing. would you do a video covering tricky luton roundabouts and junctions? edit: my test is monday
I learned to drive privately before taking lessons so picked up some odd things. I legitimately find a handbrake start significantly more stressfull regardless of gradiant.. but I've never tried not having hill start assist or a vehicle that requires gas before the clutch I guess.
@@lukesalvidge118 apparently most learners prefer the handbrake. For me it just feels like a slower start (time pressure) and more things to do (multi tasking stress). Footbrake feels incredibly natural to me..until im stuck in traffic on a hill for 4mins at which point I might give in and use handbrake haha
@@tomedinburgh4490 I used to use handbrake all the time but now I don't. I don't have hill start assist, but I just use foot brake unless I'm stuck in traffic for ages
I wish there is a light or something showing that the hill assist system is active. Sometimes I need to guess whether or not the car will hold the brake for me😅.
Question: In cars with the new electric handbreak, is htere another way to do a hill start without doing the lifting of the clutch to the middle and pressing gas?
I just passed my test and my new car I'm picking up next week (VW Golf) has auto brake hold aswell as an electric parking brake which I've never used before. How would you do hill starts as a new driver with an electric parking brake? Or would you use the auto hold brake?
I did all my lessons without these assists so I can't really criticise 'hill start assist' if I've never used it. But I would have thought a better design / system would be to have the relevant wheels / axil physically unable to turn backwards unless the driver selects reverse gear. So there would never be any risk of roll back (unless intended by the driver), and every hill start would then simply be a matter of establishing the appropriate control / power with the clutch and gas pedals.
Yes, this makes sense. If you're in a forward gear the system should stop you rolling back and not just for two seconds. Off the top of my head I can't think of any disadvantages to such a system.
@@birkhatt8969 Indeedy. 'Hill start assist' sounds good, but after the arbitrary two seconds, if you haven't established the required control you will then get a nasty shock when the system suddenly decides to release the brake anyway. Isn't it sensible for the driver to decide when, and how slowly, to release the parking brake? Then again we're both agreed a non rolling back axil would work even better.
Thank you for your suggestion. This link may help you: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/driving-tests-improving-availability-and-processes/outcome/improving-driving-test-availability-and-processes-consultation-outcome
Could you do a vid on Clutch braking? Essentially it's engine braking with clutch inputs to control the speed without accelerator input. It's very useful in extreme downhills in stick shifts. I wonder if it causes more clutch wear, since there is no accelerator input.
These videos may help: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LeG1JTpl6pc.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nhS_lfQ8PFM.html
*try it like this - pull the handbrake - press the clutch - press the handbrake button and hold it. don't put down - press the foot brake until you hear a click - release the handbrake - the car will stay until you leave*
What about just balancing the clutch? I find doing that way easier than using a handbrake hillstart. In fact, I still haven’t gotten the hang of handbrake hillstarts bc I’ve just gotten used to balancing the clutch.
I have the opposite problem with the hill hold assist on my WRX. It only holds me in place for like half a second and then I start rolling back, so I've learned to just give the right amount of clutch and bite point to accelerate myself just enough to stop from falling back, give the right amount of revs and then come off the clutch when I'm ready. I'm probably burning my clutch a bit by doing that but I'd rather do that than not fall back into someone's front bumper.
What’s your recommendations for when deciding when to go on a multi-lane roundabout but when your view is restricted by a car on the right lane, should you trust their decision and go with them or stop until you can see and make your own decision?
I recommend making your own decision because they could start going and suddenly stop. It's a problem, usually I wait for the car next to me to move then decide or try to see through their windows if possible.
When I was learning in my father's car, it had an electronic handbrake. All I had to do, was bring the clutch up to the bite point, then I'd press the accelerator, after which; it would automatically release the handbrake. Of course, before I found that out, I had to press the footbrake to release the handbrake, which would then apply the hill start assist.
Not having a new car this is news to me. I have never heard of this. I have heard of cars without handbrakes which sound like a nightmare. I assume that the hill start assist can be turned on and off.
Mine too (2016 Hyundai i30). Confused the hell out of me for a while as I park on a very steep hill at home facing down. Normally do a reverse parallel park, and then let the car roll forward on just the clutch into its final position. So would reverse up, leave it in reverse with foot on clutch, take brake off to let car roll forward and... nothing. Until two seconds later the brakes suddenly release and the car goes flying down the hill.
What do I do if my automatic car doesn't have Hill Start Assist? A few days back I tried to go uphill and had to stop midway. When I tried going up again I let go the brake and went for the gas, but the car started rolling, I tried also holding the brake with my left foot and press the gas with my right as soon as I let go off the brakes. And yet I rolled back again! Is there something I'm missing or doing wrong altogether? In the end I had to roll back all the way down the hill and grab some speed to take it in one go without stopping. This was seriously scary for me as this is a new (used) car so it hadn't ever happened to me before! Thanks in advance if you read this comment
I recommend a handbrake start. Press the gas with the handbrake on then release the handbrake immediately. This video may help: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-O3cTlwMytfU.html
I never used the handbrake method and I always used brake-clutch method(with or without hill assist), I found that the handbrake usage takes too long and I only used it for parking or waiting to long in a stand still traffic + it wears out in time
Citröen C3 has HSA. It's awful in it. Can't be turned off, and it'll only release after 2secs, so it can actually kill itself because of it (you can stall the car because it'll forcebly hold the brakes even with gas and clutch). Only way around it is the handbrake, but I'm quick enough to start without it, so it's just a nuisance that keeps me from taking smaller safe gaps or even makes them unsage because it'll only move off 2secs after. 0/10
Hi Richard! My 2020 Toyota Corolla hatchback comes with a brake hold feature, which is activated by pressing a button on the center console. It holds the brakes indefinitely using ABS, and automatically releases once you give enough bite point and gas to move off. After three years of manual driving, I've yet to learn how to do a real hill start. I've tried practicing in a parking lot that has a slope, but I can't get the car to not roll backwards, in spite of my car having hill hold assist as described in this video. So, I'm too scared to practice hill starts in traffic, because I know I'll roll backwards into another car. I've become completely dependent on the brake hold feature. I know, a bad habit, but this is America, where 95 percent of cars are automatics. Brake hold of course activates every time you press firmly on the brake, even on flat terrain. Is there a chance that brake hold causes more wear to the clutch? If brake hold causes slightly more clutch wear, is it something I should worry about? I mostly use my Corolla for long highway driving on weekends, and I use my automatic Yaris for city driving.
@@ConquerDriving Hi Richard, thanks for your reply! The brake hold instantly disengages when I'm trying to move. So, sounds like I'll be fine if I continue to use brake hold. Although I realize that, ideally, I should learn to do a proper hill start. Hopefully, I'll find someone someday who can sit in my car with me and advise me on what I'm doing wrong.
Hill start assist in my hybrid auto car holds also 2 seconds. Have to trigger (enable) it by floor my brake pedal to the metal after my car has stopped still and I'm still holding on my brake pedal. But when I cancel it by hitting my gas pedal, there is an odd sound like "gwat-gwat", which sounds like strenuously pulling a stubborn suction cup out from a metal disc. 🤔 That sounds a little strange and creepy. I have no idea if that's absolutely normal, or something malfunction inside, or it's seriously wearing my brakes or clutch... That doesn't make me feel anyway good.
@@ConquerDriving That sounds like and feels like there is a stiff suction cup being pulled off hard from a metal disc. I wonder why I don't feel or hear that when I come off my foot brake... 🤔 Interesting... I'm afraid if it will damage my brake bit by bit or quicken its wear...
I can’t stand my hill assist on my 2016 KIA Soul. It isn’t predictable when it’s going to engage, and I stalled out multiple times learning how to use that darned feature. Sadly, mechanics say it can’t be disabled.
Emmm all cars got mechanical HIll Start assist . 1. You pull handbrake and hold 2. Press handbrake button, and hold handbrake in same position 3. Press footbrake till clicks (you will hear CLICK) 4. Release handbrake (put it in normal position) 5. Release footbrake ... wala .. works lika a charm.. Im using that last 25 years
