Vauxhall Insignia - how do you do a hill start?

vikingaero

vaio wrote: »

Pretty sure the system on the Audi TT uses the ABS system to hydraulically brake all four wheels if you are travelling above a certain speed (20 mph?) and changes to the electro-mechanical bit on the rear wheels only if the speed is lower.

I've read since that on Audis with electronic handbrakes the button can be used in an emergency.

Insignia handbrakes on hills are absolutely no problem in the dozen or so that I've driven. Now the Mercedes footbrake in a manual Merc is another kettle of fish!

LincolnshireYokel

The fallacy of relying on entirely fly-by-wire systems has been amply demonstrated in various air crashes. Im a firm believer that certain systems in both airplanes and cars need to be mechanical, and in a car, the hand brake is one of them.

skivenov

vikingaero wrote: »

I've read since that on Audis with electronic handbrakes the button can be used in an emergency.

Insignia handbrakes on hills are absolutely no problem in the dozen or so that I've driven. Now the Mercedes footbrake in a manual Merc is another kettle of fish!

123burt

I have just been issued this car as a courtesy for an accident. Having trying to work out the hand brake for a week it finally fell into place.

To release the handbrake press the clutch. The trick is to put some revs on and that releases the brake. If the revs go over about 1200 rpm with the clutch in either in gear or not the brake releases.

I hope this helps anyone :-)

Graham_Devon

kittykarate wrote: »

Sounds sensible, definitely not what I experienced at some lights last night, had the "oooh heck rolling back" moment, had to jump back on the footbrake *cue embarassment and a near rear ending by the bloke behind me*

You're not alone. Had a car as a hire car with one of these electronic handbrakes, and it's a complete nightmare.

Seems to be the new thing though and quite a few manufacturers are starting to take it up. Reading Honest John, it's also showing a lot of problems across all marques, at a high cost of repair each time.

I also question how it would work if your brakes failed. At least with a manual handbrake you could use it as assistance slowly to help you slow down. I'm not sure what an electronic one would od in such a situation.....and yes, I've been in that situation and the manual handbrake helped me stop.

Arfa__

Not used one of these push button hand brakes. But from what it seems, they are very expensive, at least to fix/replace, they're a bit of a pain to use and require a certain amount of faith if you need to stop in an emergency with no normal brakes.

So what are the pros? What advantages do they give us over a manual hand brake? When a designer at car manufacturer X stood up in a design meeting and said, "we should use a more expensive electric switch system instead of a hand brake handle and wire, it'll be better because..." - what was put forward?!

shortdog

Arfa__ wrote: »

When a designer at car manufacturer X stood up in a design meeting and said, "we should use a more expensive electric switch system instead of a hand brake handle and wire, it'll be better because..." - what was put forward?!

When it breaks, we'll get more money for parts! And a bonus is that we'll be able to sell many more bumpers and lights and other parts when it fails and the car rolls into another!

kevin0410

so how then, when it snows and the roads/local carparks are icy, are you supposed to execute a handbrake turn with an electronic handbrake?

andrew-the-cat

I've driven a few automatic cars with electric handbrakes and in most you simply just try to pull away and it disengages automatically.

The Seat Leon I had was manual and had a normal handbrake but featured hill brake assist, if you were in gear and facing up hill, when you released the foot brake it would keep all 4 brakes on for 2 seconds OR until you apply enough power to move you forwards. Made it extremely easy to pull away on even the steepest hill without rolling back at all and without having to use the handbrake.

My work vans are all automatic and have the same hill hold feature with a conventional handbrake, except in these it is impossible to roll back down a hill while you are in drive as it will not release the brakes until you apply power.

tiggerbodhi

Really only have one question, I drive a 1964 Land Rover, What is this handbrake thing you talk of