Hi lads,

Can anybody explain in plain language what hill hold is. I didn't thinl that DSG boxes allowed the car to roll backwards. Is HH necessary .

Cheers

KK

DSG will allow the car to roll back (or forward down the hill) depending on which way the car is facing.  You are correct that the DSG will try to emulate a slushbox when the brake is released by starting to engage the clutches to creep forward, but this is not enough to hold the car on a significant hill.

 

Hill hold works like this:

 - If the brake pedal is depressed with the car at stop for at least 2 seconds, when the brake pedal is released the pressure is maintained for a short while and then progressively released.  If the car begins to travel in the correct direction (i.e. forwards for drive, backwards for reverse) then the brake pressure is released more quickly.  If the driver does not make an accelerator input and the normal 'creep' of the DSG does not result in motion of the car, then the car will roll back once the hill hold has released.

 

It's really just a feature to avoid the need for hand-brake hill starts.  It gives you time to release the brake and move your foot to the accelerator.  It works in both forward and reverse gears.

 

For some reason, some VAG car variants had to have the system switched on each time by pressing a button near the gear stick (Passat and Tiguan are examples).  The Superb has the feature always enabled although it can be deactivated using VAS or VCDS.

Great explanation wokwon, that has cleared up a couple of things for me as well.

 

I was noticing when stopping at roundabouts, if I took my foot off the brake immediately the car sprang forward.  Whereas if I stopped, for more than a few seconds,  the car needed much more encouragement. 

 

My drive is on a slope, so when I start up  I should make sure the brake pedal is depressed for a few secs before hill-hold kicks in. 

 

Good to know what might have been thought of as little idiosyncrasies are in fact by design.

An excellent "hill hold for dummies" explanation Wokwon.

Many thanks as believe it or not the salesman didn't know exactly what it was.

Sounds like a usefull option.

Thanks again

KK

It is very useful - I had it on the Mini that I've just replaced with a Superb estate.  My Superb doesn't have it - does anybody know if it can be retrofitted?  I don't think there's any hardware mods needed as I seem to remember it simply uses the ABS sensors.

 

Michael

There cannot be much to it if it's a £200 option

I think it's only €98