[voldemort]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Since each manufacturer might not use the same ESP module, the features they offer as well as their behavior in the car will differ. Hence, we cannot directly compare this behavior between a Mercedes and a VW, or sometimes even a VW Polo and a Passat.

Thanks again. I do understand different cars have different implementations. This is what I like about tbhp -- you learn something new everyday.

If they give 100% braking force, you will experience insane braking which a driver would have very rarely used.

Actually, I have. At the risk of going off-topic again (mods: delete if inappropriate), here's the story: I was doing about 80 km/h at night on the highway, and there was a Polo (IIRC) a good distance in front of me. All of a sudden he swerved away, and the next thing I know, there's an old man right in front of me slowly crossing the road!

I slammed the brake -- automatically, I must add; I didn't consciously think about slamming the brakes -- and the car stopped instantaneously! In a straight line, without any screech from the brakes. Like, it was surreal!

Thankfully, everybody inside was belted, and there was no car behind us.

I now limit my speed to 70 km/h unless it's broad daylight and there's no car within 3 car lengths in front of me and I can see several hundred meters ahead. Even then, I don't take it beyond 90 km/h, which is the maximum speed limit in Kerala the last time I checked. In fact, in the nearly 3 years we've had our E, it has seen north of 100 km/h only a couple of times (from other states).

And it has seen its 7th gear even less that that

[vedirah]

Originally Posted by tilt

OK, update time; and my apologies for leaving this hanging for so long - but I had to test it a few times; and thank you all for your helpful suggestions:

It turns out that it was a user error after all, there's no problem in the car itself.

Like GoBlue and Audioholic said, it works perfectly and consistently when I press the pedal hard and then let go. I discovered that I brake as gently as I can, and that's when I can see the issue. Obviously, when I did the test with the VW folks in the car, I was pressing the pedal hard and therefore could never replicate the issue!

I feel so "duh" for having wasted all your time.

Cheers

I have been seeing the same issue in my brand new VW Polo (8.5k kms done). The hill hold function sometimes works and other times it doesn't. It is a torque converter unit and for that reason I believe it also has the hill-hold function handled by the ESP unit rather than the gearbox. I am very similar to you in braking style - I brake as gently as possible, unless there's an emergency. I will test this out today by braking hard. Many thanks for starting this thread!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by vedirah

I have been seeing the same issue in my brand new VW Polo (8.5k kms done). The hill hold function sometimes works and other times it doesn't. It is a torque converter unit and for that reason I believe it also has the hill-hold function handled by the ESP unit rather than the gearbox. I am very similar to you in braking style - I brake as gently as possible, unless there's an emergency. I will test this out today by braking hard. Many thanks for starting this thread!

Hill hold function is always handled by ESP and not by gearbox. In a TC gearbox the TC by its nature prevents roll back while in Drive. But the hill hold is handled by the ESP by engaging the brake. Newer ESP units can add pressure if the driver applied pressure isn't sufficient and hold the brakes so this could be something else. However please check if there is no driver error before troubleshooting the ESP itself.

Just to mention my Innova has hill hold along with the TC gearbox and hence the hill hold itself isn't very aggressive and works only in steep slopes that's because in gradual slopes the TC itself will prevent rollback since the creep is aggressive. But in my DSG slavia, since the car doesn't have an aggressive creep, I can feel the hill hold kicking in even on gradual inclines and it doesn't let the car roll back at all. So it depends a lot on how it has been calibrated and the use cases it is supposed to work in.

[Ravz15]

Originally Posted by vedirah

I have been seeing the same issue in my brand new VW Polo (8.5k kms done). The hill hold function sometimes works and other times it doesn't. It is a torque converter unit and for that reason I believe it also has the hill-hold function handled by the ESP unit rather than the gearbox. I am very similar to you in braking style - I brake as gently as possible, unless there's an emergency. I will test this out today by braking hard. Many thanks for starting this thread!

Hi Vedirah, were you able to test this out? Was the issue solved when you brake hard?