Hill Assist / maneuvre braking standard on polo se?

[SCGB]

Hi all,

Got a 2018 Polo SE - haven't had a chance to test this but thought I'd ask..

Does hill assist come standard ? In my manual it sounds like it does but I've also read something about a green indicator on the dash when it's active, which I haven't seen.

Also manouvre braking - how do I know if my polo has this? I've got the parking sensors and they turn red when I'm close to something - but I haven't got the balls to see if it works

Cheers

[Andy Beats]

Hill hold doesn't have any visual indication it's working.
On any car I've had it fitted to.

[SCGB]

Nice one, I'm going off this:

https://youtu.be/uVAAtveZcDQ?t=44

Just going to assume I have it - hard to put faith in it when traffics behind me lol

[Leif]

Dunno, I just sit on the foot brake when stopped on a hill and throw on the hand brake if stationary for more than a second or two. Seems to work just like my previous and basic VW Up.

[Andy Beats]

Dunno, I just sit on the foot brake when stopped on a hill and throw on the hand brake if stationary for more than a second or two. Seems to work just like my previous and basic VW Up.

When you've got hill start, the handbrake effectively just becomes a parking brake and there's no need to use it during driving.
Just sit on the pedal until you're ready to go, then you've two seconds of the car sitting still to pull off again.
I've given up worrying about having the brake lights shining in the face of the person behind.
No-one else cares, so why should I.....
Really, the way you're driving your car makes hill start irrelevant.

[RUM4MO]

Hill hold doesn't have any visual indication it's working.
On any car I've had it fitted to.

Any/All cars with electric handbrakes have the green symbol to show that the hill hold is active - remember Polo and lots of other cars only have Hill Hold Lite, ie not a long term holding the car, only a few seconds either 3 or 5 seconds I think. Cars with Hill Hold as opposed to Hill Hold Lite hold the car on its own hydraulic brakes indefinately and only disable it as the clutch pedal (car in gear as well) or equivalent with DSG is sensed to be requesting that the car is about to move - or the driver's seatbelt is removed and/or the driver's door opened, under these last two conditions, the electric handbrake gets applied and Hill Hold disabled.

Now why VW Group and probably others, only keep Hill Hold on for a few seconds, I can't say, if it is a safety issue - ie because the car has a manual handbrake and so the car can not save the driver by auto applying the handbrake like it can do on a car with an electric handbrake, if he removes his seatbelt and/or opens the driver's door - does that really matter - or maybe it does in the eyes of safety legislators, I'd always take the line that if someone is prone to getting out of the driving seat of a car without first making sure the parking brake is on, then they will always be a danger to others regardless if a car has Hill Hold or not.

[Andy Beats]

Any/All cars with electric handbrakes have the green symbol to show that the hill hold is active - remember Polo and lots of other cars only have Hill Hold Lite, ie not a long term holding the car, only a few seconds either 3 or 5 seconds I think. Cars with Hill Hold as opposed to Hill Hold Lite hold the car on its own hydraulic brakes indefinately and only disable it as the clutch pedal (car in gear as well) or equivalent with DSG is sensed to be requesting that the car is about to move - or the driver's seatbelt is removed and/or the driver's door opened, under these last two conditions, the electric handbrake gets applied and Hill Hold disabled.

Now why VW Group and probably others, only keep Hill Hold on for a few seconds, I can't say, if it is a safety issue - ie because the car has a manual handbrake and so the car can not save the driver by auto applying the handbrake like it can do on a car with an electric handbrake, if he removes his seatbelt and/or opens the driver's door - does that really matter - or maybe it does in the eyes of safety legislators, I'd always take the line that if someone is prone to getting out of the driving seat of a car without first making sure the parking brake is on, then they will always be a danger to others regardless if a car has Hill Hold or not.

Thankfully never had a car with an electronic handbrake, so wouldn't know.
Only ever had cars with what you term hill-hold light.
A feature I love, renders the handbrake completely unnecessary apart from parking.

[Leif]

I must give this a go next time I go to Waitrose. The things you learn on this forum.

[RUM4MO]

With my wife's Polo I don't have the choice of if I want to use the Hill Hold, so I became happy to use it, not sure that I know exactly what angle forces it into action and or if it needs a gear to be selected in a manual box'd car. Maybe curiously, some owners/drivers of cars with electric handbrakes have suggested that the plan should be to use the Hill Hold as much as possible over using the electric handbrake - to save on wear and tear and so extend the service life of the motors, nice! After reading that I started switching on the Hill Hold on my Audi S4 as it is set up to only operate if enabled.

Parking sensors, you really do need to test them and be confident in them, as my wife's Polo came with front and back and so OPS, as the Audi S4 only came with rear parking sensors I added front sensors and now rely on them on both cars - judging by the time some people take to carry out a 6 point turn on a busy main road, quite a lot of people still have not checked that their parking sensors work safely.

[monkeyhanger]

The electric handbrake on my Golf is great. I never need to touch it. The Hillhold with no time limit holds the car while out, anywhere, and when you turn the ignition off, the motors wind the pads on. Inconvenient for self replacement of brake pads/disks as you need OBD11/VCDS to disable the wind-on motors, but otherwise technology that is effortless to use, and you can rely on your car not budging when the motors wind on.

[Andy Beats]

Nissan summed up electronic handbrakes when they updated the Leaf from Mark 1 to Mark 2.
First version had an e-handbrake, they reverted to a manual one in the Mark 2 (albeit foot-operated like a Mercedes).
Nice to see a manufacturer admit something is a bad idea and stop flogging a dead horse, like 3D TV.

[Ping]

I also notice my maual Polo AW seems to have some kind of hill hold while driving in slope during rush hours. Weird that VW havent mentioned this in ther their brochure.
Gotta read through the car manual more extensiv some day.

[SRGTD]

I also notice my maual Polo AW seems to have some kind of hill hold while driving in slope during rush hours. Weird that VW havent mentioned this in ther their brochure.
Gotta read through the car manual more extensiv some day.

Hill hold is a standard feature on all Polo AW models in the UK. It is mentioned in the UK brochure.

[lancslad1985]

I also notice my maual Polo AW seems to have some kind of hill hold while driving in slope during rush hours. Weird that VW havent mentioned this in ther their brochure.
Gotta read through the car manual more extensiv some day.

Hill hold is a standard feature on all Polo AW models in the UK. It is mentioned in the UK brochure.

I was going to say my gti definitely has it. I miss the system on my golf and troc with the electric handbrake. Never had any issues with those cars, but people seem to dislike electric handbrakes. I also find that, with earlier polos having issues with the handbrake (my wife’s was one of them), I don’t trust this manual one quite the same.

[Andy Beats]

I've changed my stance on e-handbrakes after extended use of one in the wife's Evoque.
I like the hold feature that doesn't have any time limit to it.
Still miss a manual handbrake when it's snowy and you want to have the back end sliding all over the place for fun though.