Wife Loves the Hill Assist..

[hzl6cm]

Hill start assist doesn't cause me to drive any differently than I always have since I leaned to drive on a manual transmission equipped '69 Chevy Suburban back in 1975. I've driven all sorts of manual transmission equipped vehicles, anything from tractors to dump trucks, pickups, MGs and F-bodies, from a 455 cid, 4-speed equipped '76 Trans Am, to my current '15 Camaro LS1 and the hill start assist doesn't cause me to change my driving style at all.

[Norm Peterson]

It's not going to get in everybody's way, but it does get in the way for more than a few. "Up to two seconds" isn't going to bother nearly as many people who might have to "wait" for only half a second as having to wait out the full two seconds will. If you've ever been stuck behind somebody whose mind is on something else when the light turns green, two seconds when you should be going but can't can seem like an eternity. HSA will be like that for some people.


Norm

[Software Guy]

My wife hates it as do I. If you can't drive a stick, then get an Auto. It is the one thing I truly hate that GM did and frankly if the 6th Gen has It I'm out. It's garbage, people don't need it. Take out the skip shift as well. POS, who needs it (besides the gov and fuel econ).

[Software Guy]

Originally Posted by hzl6cm

I don't get what the big deal is with having it. My wife likes HSA and thinks that it is a great idea since she has never mastered the coordination required to release the e-brake just as the clutch is released.

Then she can't drive. It should at least be optional. All it does it keep people from learning how to handle a car, especially if you get in one that does NOT have it.

[BadAndy]

Originally Posted by Norm Peterson

It's not going to get in everybody's way, but it does get in the way for more than a few. "Up to two seconds" isn't going to bother nearly as many people who might have to "wait" for only half a second as having to wait out the full two seconds will. If you've ever been stuck behind somebody whose mind is on something else when the light turns green, two seconds when you should be going but can't can seem like an eternity. HSA will be like that for some people.


Norm

Absolutely HATED my car when HSA kicked in. Others may not notice it because of their driving style but it came close to getting me into accidents on a couple occasions, mostly while sitting in an intersection waiting for traffic to clear so I could turn. It would turn on without me noticing it and then boom, just about stall the engine and since my foot was still in the gas, the car would launch when it finally released.

Replacing the yaw sensor with one from an auto car was one of the best things I've done to mine.

[Camaro_Corvette]

Be happy there is a manual transmission option.

[snarky]

I am reminded of ONE time in history I might have needed hill start assist. Back in the day I had rented a 1985 Maxima in San Francisco ( thanks Hertz for the manual in this city... ) Naturally I got to the top of the steepest ( think straight up ) hills - right to a red light at the peak. I guess it was a local comedian who thought it funny to pull right on to my bumper. Goodbye clutch and thankfully as they say " it was a rental ".

For my 1LE I believe this is just a case of over engineering. Dumbing down the purest in all of us. Maybe I need a self driving car so I can play with my cell phone instead of actually driving. *sigh*

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by Camaro_Corvette

Be happy there is a manual transmission option.

The problem isn't that HSA exists.

For those who need it in order to be comfortable driving a MT car it really is a solution to a problem that does exist. To that extent it's probably a good thing for continued MT availability.

But for those who don't need it, it's the answer to a question that nobody in that group asked.

Maybe HSA should be incorporated on AT cars as well, just to illustrate to a much wider audience how silly/obnoxious it can be when it really isn't needed. I can hear the indignant howl already.

Don't forget that other car mfrs do provide ways to turn their HSA features off . . . and that most MT drivers in many areas of the country do get good enough to do without HSA after only a short time behind the wheel. My 17 y/o granddaughter was doing just fine with her MT car after only a couple of weeks.

Does GM really believe so strongly that nobody can learn (or in some cases remember) this skill such that a non-switchable HSA is the only possible solution?

Or is it some corporate uber-nanny opinion that we aren't even supposed to drive with acquired skills any more? [/tinfoilhat]


Norm

[hzl6cm]

I think that if you drive a stick correctly (timing your letting off the clutch and brake, and e-brake if you use it) so that you don't roll back when you start, then the system is very unobtrusive. That is why I really don't notice when I drive. In the month that I have had the car I have been stuck in stop and go traffic several times on the way home including on some long uphills and the system hardly ever comes on and when it does I am basically already starting to move so I don't even really feel it. Even the first day I had the car, I left the dealer so late that I was stuck in stop and go traffic all of the way through Kansas City and it wasn't even an issue then - in fact I didn't even realize that it was on the car then.