Hill start delayed release - now resolved by software update

[dave355]

I have a issue with the hill start .I have a four second delay before releasing after releasing the foot brake on a hill.meaning you have to slip the clutch prior to release to pull away or count the seconds and release the clutch at the perfect time. car went to dealership and been told no difference between and other emira and no fix available.do other owners have this issue? Or is it possible to disable this hill start feature.

 

[Rollie]

I had it also, very annoying.
Dealer (Lotus Brussels)did latest software update at 1500 km maintenance and problem solved

 

[dave355]

Thank you for the reply. Will chase my dealer to get update done .surprised it’s not more common with other owners? Have to say apart from a few minor issues the car is fantastic (as I am sure any owners know)

 

[Kimmax]

Sorry, I don't quite get it - the brake doesn't release at all when using the hill assist? If that's the case it sounds like the car doesn't detect the movement and lets the hill assist timeout...
Does the parking brake auto-release when active and starting to pull away?

 

[millstonebarn]

Ah, I've had this (on two occasions) and didn't understand what was going on - the parking break wouldn't release when I tried to pull away (it normally auto-deactivates). I think I must have been on an incline both times. Good to see that it's not just me, and the there's an explanation - and an apparent fix. Thanks for sharing.

 

[dave355]

On an incline when you take foot off brake and start to release clutch and accelerate the brake holds on for four to five seconds before releasing (it should release soon as clutch starts to engage)

 

[rich64]

I picked up my Emira one week ago. Stalled my car twice on a hill start. Brake does not release. I will get them to upgrade the firmware at the 1500km check over. I am glad they have a remedy for this, thanks for sharing....

 

[CHEESE]

Can it not be disabled? I absolutely hated hill start assist in a previous car I had. It would engage when backing out of an uphill parking spot (when I wouldn't need to use the gas or clutch, so I'd just have to wait until it would disengage in order to coast backwards out of the spot, and this had to be timed with cars driving by behind me - "oh, there's a gap? Now I'll go! Nope, gotta wait 5 seconds. Dang, now there's another car coming...").

 

[millstonebarn]

Can it not be disabled? I absolutely hated hill start assist in a previous car I had. It would engage when backing out of an uphill parking spot (when I wouldn't need to use the gas or clutch, so I'd just have to wait until it would disengage in order to coast backwards out of the spot, and this had to be timed with cars driving by behind me - "oh, there's a gap? Now I'll go! Nope, gotta wait 5 seconds. Dang, now there's another car coming...").

I don't think it can be disabled, but under normal circumstances this isn't an issue. Hill start assist only engages when stationary, uphill, the brake is depressed, clutch depressed and you engage 1st gear. If in neutral it doesn't engage. (I haven't tried in reverse - needs to be tested!) It automatically disengages either when you begin to set off, or after two seconds - so no issue with HAVING to wait for several seconds before you can move into a gap. My experience is in the manual V6, so setting off for me is foot off brake, (hill start assist still holds it on), foot on accelerator and start to release the clutch.

We've been discussing a specific issue above, and I am beginning to think it's not actually hill start assist itself. My understanding is that the electronic parking brake is a separate system (with separate cailpers) and I think (at least in my case) that's what I've had an issue with (whilst on a hill, when I manually applied the parking-brake (as I am not used to hill start assist yet). So there may be some interaction between these systems, and maybe that has been the cause of some isolated incidents. I did some testing this morning but was not able to reproduce what I had experienced previously on two occasions - which was the parking-brake not releasing when attempting to move off as described above.

It might be something like ... performing all the actions to activate hill start assist (whether you knew that you were doing that or not), then manually applying the parking brake, then attempting to move off releases the "main" brakes under hill start assist control, but the system forgets that it also needs to disengage the parking brake to let you move.

I'll do some more testing this weekend when I come across a hill.

 

[Carew]

My car(1600 mls) has same issue , and still does after recent recall for brake banjo bolt check and air bag A post check plus software update. Parking brake still very slow to release both forward and reverse on inclines. If I forget to wait a few seconds it simply stalls engine with parking brake noises of complaint. Really annoying especially if Belgian owners have software fix!

 

[rich64]

I raised the issue with Lotus NZ. They were very quick to respond stating a software release is due in the next 48 hours which includes a remedy for this. My car is booked this Friday to be upgraded. I will update you next week if the issue has been resolved. In NZ the cars are serviced in the Mclaren workshop.

Snippit from email from workshop:
I would really like to load the software prior to the weekend so that you can get the best of the Emira when this “good weather” finally arrives during the week.
Great service Lotus!!!

 

[Dougal]

I raised the issue with Lotus NZ. They were very quick to respond stating a software release is due in the next 48 hours which includes a remedy for this. My car is booked this Friday to be upgraded. I will update you next week if the issue has been resolved. In NZ the cars are serviced in the Mclaren workshop.

Snippit from email from workshop:
I would really like to load the software prior to the weekend so that you can get the best of the Emira when this “good weather” finally arrives during the week.
Great service Lotus!!!

Did this get resolved with the software update ?

 

[rich64]

Update you in the next few days, car at Lotus today/tomorrow.

 

[rich64]

Collected car today, appears to be fixed with the latest code update.
Happy car drive days ahead...

 

[digilotus]

Collected car today, appears to be fixed with the latest code update.
Happy car drive days ahead...

Great news @rich64!

 

[danmessy]

Does anyone know when they do an update, are they updating the whole system across all software?. I had an update on or around 11 August (which appears similar timing to Rich64 above) for other stuff, but I swear on occasions my hill start (on particular inclines) is delayed (3+ seconds) / doesn't release in time with clutch and accelerate.

I don't feel its always delayed / slow to release, but maybe I'm not activating it every time.

 

[TomE]

Each software update is for a sub-system, so cars that haven't been to a dealer for a while could need more than one update installed. Usually the dealer will check the VIN against the info from Lotus on software updates, service bulletins and recalls then do everything that's required for that car. It's possible they could have installed some but not all updates, but that would be unusual.

Unfortunately there's no easy way for owners to check what versions of software are installed on their car or what new versions are available. But your dealer can tell you.

 

[dave355]

So just had latest updates done with wiper recall and still have hill hold issue .Dealer informs me no fix/software update available yet.Has anyone had this issue resolved and do all cars have this problem?

 

[Wonza]

So just had latest updates done with wiper recall and still have hill hold issue .Dealer informs me no fix/software update available yet.Has anyone had this issue resolved and do all cars have this problem?

Sometimes I don’t know how the software works tbh. Some Emira’s don’t have these issue such as hill hold or cold start and some do. Why???

 

[rich64]

So just had latest updates done with wiper recall and still have hill hold issue .Dealer informs me no fix/software update available yet.Has anyone had this issue resolved and do all cars have this problem?

My hill start issue has come back again. Was 2 second delay, now back to 5 seconds. I am going to leave it as it is and get it looked at on first service. By then hopefully the problem will be addressed. In the interim, finding alternative routes to try and miss the hill starts.

This is the only issue I have with the car, everything else is awesome....