[Sandeep M]

I fully agree with you! Auto-Hold is something which I really use it nowadays. I always miss it whenever I drive a AT vehicle without one.

But there are some people who can't stand the Auto-Hold function, like my brother for example, main reason being he always expects the car to crawl when he takes the foot of the brake and auto hold hinders that function. He never uses it and likes to either keep his foot on the brakes or just put the car in Neutral and enable the Electronic Parking Brake.

[jomson13]

Interesting viewpoints being made here, I was not aware of this feature but it sounds pretty nice.
I've been driving automatics (AMT & CVT) since 2016 and have gradually trained myself to use the left foot for breaking.
Reflexes and force is almost at par with the right foot now but I use it only for slow speed city driving; on the highway its back to the trusted right foot.

The celerio AMT has a nice function wherein the clutch would disengage if you came to a stop and pulled the handbrake.
To get going again you need to either press and let go the brake pedal or press the accelerator pedal.

The BRV CVT, unfortunately, does not have such a feature hence I always need to shift to N and pull the handbrake while stopping at signals - The auto hold would be much appreciated in this case.

[Dead_Pedal]

Brake hold is an amazing feature to have in bumper to bumper traffic no doubt about it. My Civic has it and how I wish my primary city car, the Jazz had it as well. It's such a stress reliever. Some cars with the electric park brake have this feature missing.(Old X1, current Q3, C5 aircross to name a few.

Also, I remember reading on some BMW X1 foeum(the car doesn't come with brake hold worldwide) and here's what I read.

"There is a semi auto hold function...of sorts. If you're stopped in traffic, apply the park brake, lift your foot from the brake and the car will hold. Traffic starts moving, so press the accelerator and the park brake automatically releases.".

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by GTO

That's hill-hold, buddy. Not auto-hold.

Is auto-hold just hill-hold but for unlimited time? Or are there more subtle differences?

[Abi5hek]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Is auto-hold just hill-hold but for unlimited time? Or are there more subtle differences?

Hill hold is activated only when there's a gradient of sorts and has a time limit of 3-5 secs . Auto hold is more like applying the brake (electronically ) once the vehicle comes to a complete stop. It gets deactivated only when you press the A- pedal.

[ferrarirules]

Auto hold feature is great addon in the car. And i just went from an automatic car not having auto hold to an automatic car having it.

In my Rapid DSG, there was no autohold but there was creep function. Now the car used to move ahead whenever i left brake (after 2-3 seconds). I had to keep my foot on the brake if there was bit longer halt in the traffic or I had to move the gear lever to 'N'.

In my Nexon EV Max, there is autohold + creep function. Autohold switches on when you hold the brakes for a few seconds after coming to standstill and the car moves when you press accelerator. If you don't hold the brakes for long (a few seconds) and you come to standstill, autohold won't engage and you will get the creep function.

[Amukherjea]

I drive a Tiguan 2017. Which came with Autohold function. Also EPB.

Before that my major experience on auto gearboxes was on Discovery LR4.

I find it a boon. And it is left on full time.

Previously I had twice crawled into preceeding car in a traffic jam as attention was diverted by some ongoing fracas and beggers banging on window for alms.

Firstly once you see the green light auto hold engaged you don't have to be consciously engaging the brake pedal to hold still. Works on slopes also. If you go to N then in non autohold cars you have to be pressing the brake all the time.

Secondly if you want to crawl then don't press too much brake. The auto hold does not engage.

There is distinct level of braking required with car fully stopped for auto hold to engage.

Thirdly if you press on the the accelerator pedal gently then it releases without any jerks.

I have stopped moving the lever to N or P at stops. The DSG box automatically declutches at auto hold engagement.

Little off the topic during driving this car actually goes into neutral once you take your foot off the accelerator pedal. Not on sports mode of course.

This is good for fuel consumption. Also if you come to full stop the car stays in neutral. But it was unnerving in the beginning. Then I read the book and understood that if you just tap gently the brake or accelerator pedal the gear reengages like thru a downhill road.
In all really well designed car.

NOTE FROM T-BHP SUPPORT: Please proof-read your posts before submitting / publishing them. SMS language / abbreviations are not entertained on the forum.

[holdoyn]

Thank you @marinerandy for this thread.
Just yesterday I was arguing about this feature with my friend.

I bought a Creta Diesel AT a few months back.

As soon as I learned about the AH feature, I started using it extensively to the extent that I was afraid that I was abusing it, kind of. I turn on AH every time.

Back to my friend's argument, he argued that I was "misusing" the feature as it was supposed to be used as on an inclined surface.

I showed him how convenient it was in heavy traffic, still could not convince him.

[GeeTee TSI]

Originally Posted by Amukherjea

There is distinct level of braking reqd with car fully stopped for auto hold to engage.

This is an important bit to note, especially if someone is experiencing auto hold for the first time.

You can press the brakes to such an extent that the vehicle is almost at a halt but not exactly, however auto hold does not engage here, causing some hair raising jerks. The vehicle has to come to a 100% halt and the reassuring icon also appears on the dashboard. One can experience auto hold the way the car comes to a complete halt (as opposed to manually bringing it to a complete halt) atleast I am able to gauge it in my Octavia.

For super tight manouvers requiring precision and slow movements after a halt (tight parking), it is easier with auto hold disengaged as a dab of the accelerator might not be feasible in such situations.

[vivekkp]

Hello guys, Auto hold functionality is also available in Manual transmission. It is not limited to only AT. I drive a VW Touran MT car in germany and that car has the auto hold feature which is coupled with the Electronic Park Brake. In my early days i never activated this feature, but once i got to know about the way the system is designed, i have never turned it off. It is like a god send feature which helps reduce driving fatigue.

The good thing is that in VW the way they have implemented this system such that the auto hold feature is coupled along with hill hold and EPB. When you are crawling, the auto hold never engages. Once the vehicle comes to a complete standtill with Gear in Neutral, the autohold is immediately engaged and you need not press the brake anymore. To drive away, just put the gear in 1st gear and tap on the accelerator and the auto hold immediately releases the brake and there is no jerk. When you reach your destination and switch off the car, here again the auto hold activates automatically ensuring the EPB is activated.

Similarly when you are say for example waiting at a traffic signal which is in a inclination, with the auto hold activated, when the signal turns green and you press the accelerator the auto hold (hill hold) keeps the brake engaged with just enough time to allow you to shift the gear and press the accelerator pedal there by preventing the vehicle to roll back. Hence driving with half clutch is not required with this feature. It would be great if these features can also make it into vehicles sold at our country as the advanatges are far too many.

[rahul1407]

I have been using Auto-hold on our recent cars which comes with Electronic Parking Brake and Auto-Hold.

Other than what folks have specified above, I mostly switch between auto-hold enabled and disabled depending on the situation I am in, i.e. when I am parking my car in a tight spot and I don't want the car to surge instantly, I disable auto-hold and let the car creep, same also hold true when there is a constant stop and go with a very slow moving traffic.

However, in scenarios which require longer breaks say > 10 seconds, I turn this feature back on and enjoy the comfort. I must say this is really helpful and reduces travel fatigue significantly.

Recently I was in Mumbai and was using my Father-in-law's Seltos Automatic which doesn't have Auto-hold, and I had to constantly switch between D/N with Handbrake which reduces the comfort one expects from a modern-day automatic (Or at least I do).

[dakshin.bhasker]

Originally Posted by GTE

In my opinion Mercedes has the worst type of Auto hold operation. The BMW and Audi seem to be much better. The MG ZS is not too bad. The Comet doesn't have one which is okay because there is no creep when the accelerator is not pressed, something that I prefer.

Oh really? I was just about to type that Mercedes has one of the better implemented systems. The feature activates only when the car is standing still and I pump the brakes fully, after which a "HOLD" indication lights up in my MID. The Tiguan also has Auto-Hold but implemented such that it activates every time the car comes to a standstill. This, I feel, makes it jerky like GTO has mentioned. I'm not sure what the implementation of BMW is.

Am I wrong to assume that Audi has the same implementation as the VW Tiguan?

[GTE]

Personally I don't like the Mercedes system because of the double pump, also it is a hit or miss thing. Bmw & Audi are better because they are seamless in operation.

[rapid_fire]

I am also a big fan of autohold and I agree with the OP, that its one of the most underrated feature in present cars. It is very helpful in b2b traffic in Kochi. I use it extensively in both my current cars (Hyundai Alcazer and Nexon ev max). In fact it was one of the primary factor in choosing Nexon EV max over prime, even though its only used for daily commute in city.

The best thing I like about Autohold is it does not eliminate creep functionality totally. If you want to engage complete hold, press break hard. If you want creep function in a slow moving traffic, press break light to just attain complete stop, the vehicle will stop without activating autohold and then release the brake it will start to crawl. With modulation of break pressure we can achieve hold or creep according to the requirement.

[Doc_nerd]

I use the auto hold function in city traffic religiously. It takes out a lot of stress from driving. But, you have to get used to it and always keep an eye on the vehicles behind you so as not to get rear ended (there is a slight lag when you want to move quickly) This situation happened to me courtesy of a very rash driving tata magic guy.