Hill Hold?

[Carew]

Can someone explain to me how hill hold works? I havent owned a stick in over a decade and certainly never one w hill hold.
TY!

My car had it's 1st service mid April 2024 and I hoped the hill start issue would be fixed. But I now have retested on a hill a number of times and it still has a few seconds delay. This causes a stall obviously. Very annoying and potentially dangerous if the car behind expects a Lotus to move off without delay! Will contact the dealer again!

 

[Aero]

For those with an error...Does the light go off indicating hill hold is off and the brake just won't release?
Or
The light and brake just stay on for longer than 2 secs?

Youd think they could just disable the feature completely in software. What i would want.

 

[Kimmax]

For those with an error...Does the light go off indicating hill hold is off and the brake just won't release?
Or
The light and brake just stay on for longer than 2 secs?

 

[Aero]

I might have had a brain fart. Now dont think I have a light either in Emira. Might be thinking of ever other car I have with hill hold. There's a light to indicate when its on and holding , then flashing when its going off.
Of course lotus wouldnt include such a helpful indication.

 

[ManOfSteel]

I asked about hill assist during delivery. My sales guy said the car doesn't have hill assist. I asked how do you take off from a stop on a hill with out a handbrake? He said (paraphrasing) "use your skills!".

 

[ak3888]

I have the I4 DCT. Contrary to hill hold not releasing, my doesn't seem to activate, rolls backward every time I stop at an incline when the brake is released. Anyone else with the same problem?

 

[912Matt]

My car had it's 1st service mid April 2024 and I hoped the hill start issue would be fixed. But I now have retested on a hill a number of times and it still has a few seconds delay. This causes a stall obviously. Very annoying and potentially dangerous if the car behind expects a Lotus to move off without delay! Will contact the dealer again!

Same for me, been to Central Lotus twice with this issue, but still not working. Contacted Lotus direct, and they said there is a fix, and I needed to speak to the dealer 🤷‍♂️ Bit concerned what impact this is having on my clutch tbh 🙄

 

[Raspuk]

Mine had service last week plus all updates and its also still not working
i have nightmares about been in a traffic jam on a steep hill😱
doh!engine light now on since service too

 

[@Life411]

I might have had a brain fart. Now dont think I have a light either in Emira. Might be thinking of ever other car I have with hill hold. There's a light to indicate when its on and holding , then flashing when its going off.
Of course lotus wouldnt include such a helpful indication.

I had hill assist on my Alfa Romeo 4C and there was no indicator. Super glad the Emira comes with it...waiting at a light on a hill in the Elise is nerve wracking! Oh, as someone else mentioned, the 4C had a sensor to only engage hill assist if the hill was steep enough to justify it. Awesome feature!

 

[Blackthought_]

Just wanted to put my 2 cents here as I tested this on my Emira. Hill hold for me engages for me on a steeper hill (as it should. Does not work on very slight hills). Car has to be in gear and It holds for about 3 seconds before starting to roll back. As soon as I give it gas it releases and off I go. No hill hold light to be seen. For me this feature is working as it should

 

[NoelT]

I've had a few issues with hill start. It works every time it is supposed to, but a number of times when the car was new it has not released when I'm pulling off with the clutch. Needed to give a lot of throttle and then it releases with a brake screech and a bit of a bang. Not great when there are eyes on you (there are always eyes on the Emira). Hasn't happened for a while, so maybe the brakes have worn in! I haven't had any updates done yet, the car is six months old.

 

[rs200evo]

Mine still has the issue. Has its first service in a couple of weeks so it's down to be looked at again. The more annoying things is you are meant to be able to switch off hill assist in the options, which I have, but it still engages.....

 

[Raspuk]

Mine still has the issue. Has its first service in a couple of weeks so it's down to be looked at again. The more annoying things is you are meant to be able to switch off hill assist in the options, which I have, but it still engages.....

I don’t think you can turn it off,think that’s the auto handbrake which comes on when you turn car off.

 

[Steve24]

I don’t think you can turn it off,think that’s the auto handbrake which comes on when you turn car off.

You can definitely turn that off.
In fact, that’s the first thing I’d suggest for those struggling with the hill start issue.
Honestly I think the car would be better without this feature at all.
If you’re going to drive a manual car, learn how to take off when you’re on a hill.
It’s not that hard.

 

[Raspuk]

You can definitely turn that off.
In fact, that’s the first thing I’d suggest for those struggling with the hill start issue.
Honestly I think the car would be better without this feature at all.
If you’re going to drive a manual car, learn how to take off when you’re on a hill.
It’s not that hard.

No I was right you definitely cant turn off hill hold
what you can turn off is parking brake assist .
Iam curious how you hold on a hill ,you know what hill hold is ?

 

[Steve24]

No I was right you definitely cant turn off hill hold
what you can turn off is parking brake assist .
Iam curious how you hold on a hill ,you know what hill hold is ?

Agreed. I thought you meant you can’t turn off parking brake assist.

You hold on a hill by knowing how to drive a manual car.
Anyone who can’t move off from a standing start on a hill without rolling back into the car behind them should stick to an auto.

 

[scc.131.fe]

Agreed. I thought you meant you can’t turn off parking brake assist.

You hold on a hill by knowing how to drive a manual car.
Anyone who can’t move off from a standing start on a hill without rolling back into the car behind them should stick to an auto.

Yes, but in fairness, many were taught how to use the handbrake to eliminate roll back during hill start. A properly working hill hold system (absent handbrake) will probably reduce clutch wear over time even with experienced drivers. Let's just see if Lotus can get it working on everyone's car.

 

[Kimmax]

use the handbrake to eliminate roll back during hill start

Who is stopping you from doing this in the Emira? With auto-handbrake enabled it'll even disengage automatically when you start to go, just like hill hold.

 

[scc.131.fe]

Who is stopping you from doing this in the Emira? With auto-handbrake enabled it'll even disengage automatically when you start to go, just like hill hold.

only Lotus' buggy implementation of the auto-hold is stopping me from treating it like a handbrake, because I can't turn it off with the brake switch while it's automatically holding. but I can wait the full two seconds and have it release.

the issue isn't a lack of user options to avoid rollback; I'm very confident that I won't roll back. the issue is that their imperfect implementation can cause sudden confusion and concern to a new owner while in traffic.

I still haven't been back to the dealer for a software update, but the car now seems like it might be 'learning' a bit and I have felt the hold releasing before the two seconds as I start to let out the clutch. so maybe there was a bad initialized value or two in the program that took a few driving events to wash out?

 

[Kimmax]

only Lotus' buggy implementation of the auto-hold is stopping me from treating it like a handbrake, because I can't turn it off with the brake switch while it's automatically holding. but I can wait the full two seconds and have it release.

the issue isn't a lack of user options to avoid rollback; I'm very confident that I won't roll back. the issue is that their imperfect implementation can cause sudden confusion and concern to a new owner while in traffic.

I still haven't been back to the dealer for a software update, but the car now seems like it might be 'learning' a bit and I have felt the hold releasing before the two seconds as I start to let out the clutch. so maybe there was a bad initialized value or two in the program that took a few driving events to wash out?

Oh sure, hill hold should definitely be switchable. I was going on the misconception of not being able to use the electric handbrake for this.

Might this be a work around actually?
- Come to a stop on a hill
- Engage and immediately disengage e-brake while staying on the footbrake
- Hill-Hold cancelled?

Would surprise me if engaging the e-brake wouldn’t cancel hill-hold.

If it does indeed cancel the hill hold you can just engage the e-brake after coming to a stop and then just start to pull of. It should disengage automatically. Voila - hill hold "desperate Lotus owner" edition.