Hill Start Assist - Improvement or a Step Back

[DagoCountyGee]

Have been driving stick for only 2 years and I'm a master at hills. I don't need this hill start thing, hell I don't even know how it works. Also i have yet to even stall my camaro In my one week of owning it.

[x3speed]

Hate it. I never stall on hills. I've stalled twice with this thing.

[ChrisBlair]

Another solution looking for a problem

Your manual trans car has an emergency brake. Set it on the hill, leave it set. Start to pull away gently, and release e-brake when the car starts to pull against it. Simple. Does not harm anything

[Mouse6.2]

I'll put my $2 in on this Hill Assist. It activated on me for the first time today on a slight incline and yes, I killed the engine. I guess it depends on the individual but for me it is an extra item that I don't need, like the Skip Shift. I'll have it turned off when I get my tune.

[PalmerGA]

God made out feet long enough to have our right heel on the brake and our right toes on the gas pedal for just such occasions. That's how we did it in "the old days". Dear Chevy - don't mess with God's plan. Drop the HSA feature.

**NOTE** No religious insults or implications either pro or con were intended by this post.

[sean69cam]

I stalled twice on the same hill. I was even thinking ahead when I came up to the hill. I never applied foot brake, just used emergency. I was expecting hill hold to be off at this time but it wasnt. I burned the clutch a little waiting on the assist to turn off for the third try. I hope I get used to this thing because right now it is frustrating.

[77rs]

Just a question pertaining to the idiots behind you, on a hill, with the assist engaged. What if the brake lights went on while you are sitting there, waiting for the hill holder to disengage and you stall out- brake lights still on so thev guy behind doesn't ram you until you re-start the car, wait for the disengagement, then go. Nearly EVERYONE thinks when your brake lights go off, you're moving forward. NOT.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by RoadieWingZ

Works fine for me during the 2 weeks I've owned mine. I actually like it; especially when the bozo behind me on the hill thinks they have to get right on my bumper cuz they're in such a hurry.....

Sorry, but the last thing I want to do would be to cater to that kind of bozo. I'm perfectly willing to let my car roll back a couple or a few inches, just enough for him to wonder if it might really be him creeping forward against his brakes. A rear-ender that comes down to "he-said - he said" rarely favors the guy behind.

I'll also drop my cars in neutral with no brake applied if the road is level enough and the red light or other traffic stop is long enough.

The times I've had a rear bumper tapped when stopped at a light or other forced reason to be stopped have been when my brake lights were in fact lit


Norm

[Nessal]

In my opinion this is a problem with more seasoned drivers because we know how to take off at the edge of stalling to save on clutch wear and gas. However, any obstruction by the means of the brake puts it over the edge and stalls it.

[mikeyg36]

GM needs put out a TSB where they update it so it shuts off when throttle is applied. Or just make it fully defeatable.

[Dupree878]

Discovered that if HSA comes on before you pull up the emergency brake, it's still on when you drop the hand brake. You have to engage the hand brake before the warning shows up on the display.
Big hills where I know I'm likely to roll some, I've always used the hand brake anyway so no prob. It's the little ones that don't look intimidating that'll get you.
I stalled in my dad's driveway on Xmas, in the Walmart parking lot and stopped at a red light in town since I last posted because of HSA

I can't get a tune while under warranty so I pray someone will sell a way to defeat it a la SkipShift

[l008com]

I have a 2013 on order and I'm getting nervous. I stalled one on a test drive many times. I thought it was just a faster clutch engagement. But then I started to think, maybe it was this "feature". I can see myself getting VERY upset about this. Here's hoping theres a hack to disable it before I get mine.

And I'm mostly posting this just so I'm subscribed to this thread, so when a solution arrives, I'll get it right away.

[2Muchmark]

Hill Assist is freakin' CRAP, at least it is on a manual camaro.

Twice 4 times now on the same small hill, this ridiculous feature kicks in, and 4 times now I've stalled it, BUT - it gets worse.

When trying to move forward the car stays completely still - it feels like I'm pressing up against a brick wall or something. Then when it finally lets go it stalls AND emits a bad burning smell. It's not an oil smell, and its definitely not something that I think was caused by friction, but who knows.

GM : HILL ASSIST IS A DUMB IDEA that should be at least be able to disable it via MyLink or some other simple way instead of having to hack it.

[2012-1822]

Originally Posted by simoneves

My current drive (2009 BMW 128i) has Hill Assist and it works seamlessly... as soon as the clutch bites, the brakes release... no need to use any more gas than you'd expect for such a hill, compared with just using the handbrake.

Given that the handbrake in a Camaro is stupidly on the passenger side of the tunnel and therefore hardly optimised for smooth hill-starts, these concerns... concern me!

I don't care how great it works, I'm so glad I got the '12 without it. I guess I like being fully in control of the vehicle, but I learned to drive on a '42 Willys surplus, offroad, hilly environment.

As fas as placement of the E brake on the Camaro, I'm great with it, it's not out of reach at all, wouldn't want in the way of the shifter anyway