Hi I've recently picked up a brand new Fiat 500, Lounge 1.2 with Dualogic and Hill Holder.

Now my salesman is new to Fiat (so his knowledge is flaky) and says that the car has hill holder as it was on the spec but I'm not really certain. Most of the posts that I've seen about hill holder are a few years old so I'm not sure if or what I should be looking out for.

Yes, I've tried rolling back on a hill etc but this is my first time driving a Fiat so I'm not familiar with the cars and what I should be looking for.

I will take it back to the dealer if I have no luck but so far I'm finding nothing 'solid' either way.

Has anyone got any experience based on a new Fiat 500 Lounge car purchased recently.

TIA

Drive up a hill, stop with brake and clutch down then take foot off the brake the car should sit for a second then you'll feel the brakes release and the car will start to roll back (make sure nothing behind you)

Lifting the clutch can often mean the hill hold cuts out a little earlier so if you're not used to driving with these gadgets it can be a little awkward to judge the clutch biting point sometimes, as you think you've found it but you're still sitting on the brakes/hill hold

FishGirl said:

Hi I've recently picked up a brand new Fiat 500, Lounge 1.2 with Dualogic and Hill Holder.



Now my salesman is new to Fiat (so his knowledge is flaky) and says that the car has hill holder as it was on the spec but I'm not really certain. Most of the posts that I've seen about hill holder are a few years old so I'm not sure if or what I should be looking out for.



Yes, I've tried rolling back on a hill etc but this is my first time driving a Fiat so I'm not familiar with the cars and what I should be looking for.



I will take it back to the dealer if I have no luck but so far I'm finding nothing 'solid' either way.



Has anyone got any experience based on a new Fiat 500 Lounge car purchased recently.



TIA

Click to expand...

It's a dualogic for starters. You should be able to come to a stop on a hill, hold the car with the foot brake as you would with a normal auto then move off by lifting off brake on to accelerator WITHOUT the car rolling back in the few seconds it takes to move your foot. If it does roll back then you don't have hill holder or its knackered!

This is taken from the manual:

HH (Hill Holder) SYSTEM
This is an integral part of the ESC system and
facilitates starting on slopes, activating automatically
in the following cases:
❒ uphill - car stationary on a road with a gradient
higher than 5%, engine running, brake pressed
and transmission in neutral or gear other than
reverse engaged;
❒ downhill - car stationary on a road with a
gradient higher than 5%, engine running, brake
pressed and reverse gear engaged.
When setting off, the ESC system control unit
maintains the braking pressure on the wheels until
the engine torque necessary for starting is reached,
or in any case for a maximum of 2 seconds, allowing
your right foot to be moved easily from the brake
pedal to the accelerator.
When two seconds have elapsed, without starting,
the system is automatically deactivated, gradually
releasing the braking pressure.
During this release stage it is possible to hear a
typical mechanical brake release noise, indicating the
imminent movement of the car.

Mind You, this is taken from the owners handbook for a manual 500 and not a dualogic, but Hill Holder isn't mentioned in the dualogic specific handbook.

Mercky said:

It's a dualogic for starters. You should be able to come to a stop on a hill, hold the car with the foot brake as you would with a normal auto then move off by lifting off brake on to accelerator WITHOUT the car rolling back in the few seconds it takes to move your foot. If it does roll back then you don't have hill holder or its knackered!

Click to expand...

What I'm after is something 'physical' that proves that hill holder has been enabled.

If I got to the dealer and do this test it doesn't really prove anything that they can't get round.

santa said:

This is taken from the manual:

HH (Hill Holder) SYSTEM
This is an integral part of the ESC system and
facilitates starting on slopes, activating automatically
in the following cases:
❒ uphill - car stationary on a road with a gradient
higher than 5%, engine running, brake pressed
and transmission in neutral or gear other than
reverse engaged;
❒ downhill - car stationary on a road with a
gradient higher than 5%, engine running, brake
pressed and reverse gear engaged.
When setting off, the ESC system control unit
maintains the braking pressure on the wheels until
the engine torque necessary for starting is reached,
or in any case for a maximum of 2 seconds, allowing
your right foot to be moved easily from the brake
pedal to the accelerator.
When two seconds have elapsed, without starting,
the system is automatically deactivated, gradually
releasing the braking pressure.
During this release stage it is possible to hear a
typical mechanical brake release noise, indicating the
imminent movement of the car.

Mind You, this is taken from the owners handbook for a manual 500 and not a dualogic, but Hill Holder isn't mentioned in the dualogic specific handbook.

Click to expand...

Thanks Santa I've seen this - think its enabled just looking for something that shows up in the car.

Does a dualogic even have a clutch? I would have thought not and the car is basically an automatic so no need for hill holder surely?

FishGirl said:

What I'm after is something 'physical' that proves that hill holder has been enabled.



If I got to the dealer and do this test it doesn't really prove anything that they can't get round.

Click to expand...

I would consider stopping on a hill and seeing if it works something 'physical' ! The dealer should be able to enter your VIN in to the system and confirm the spec of the car

Mercky said:

I would consider stopping on a hill and seeing if it works something 'physical' !

Click to expand...

Yes, but they can put this down to not moving mine or their foot quick enough on the accelerator.

So something on the dashboard which gets activated/not activated is what I'm looking for.

Palma500s said:

Does a dualogic even have a clutch? I would have thought not and the car is basically an automatic so no need for hill holder surely?

Click to expand...

Sure does, it's a robotised manual

I know what you mean, Fishgirl. When my mj was doing an exhaust regen, (you really don't need to know what this is) I also expected something to show on the dash by way of informing me.

But nothing.

I wonder how car companies decide which info they will share with us via the dash display, and which events will "just happen" in the background.

So, in brief, I don't think anything will show on your dash.

Sorry!

Nothing shows up on the dash.
You'll know it works, when it holds You on a hill, so the only way to check this, is finding a steep enough hill and try it out.

There is nothing physical as such but you can disconnect the reverse light switch and drive forward, it will then bring up a message saying 'hill hold inactive' or 'hill hold failed' resets to normal when you plug it back in, but I can appreciate you don't really want to be pulling the mechanicals of the car about to prove or disprove a point, essentially the hill hold is software in the abs system

I have had a 1.2 dualogic with hill hold for a month, if you have the ASR button above the start stop button then you should have hill hold. it suppose to work on a slope of more than 5% if my memory is correct. If you press the brake pedal on the hill it with hold for about a second enough time to move your foot from brake to accelerator pedal. I find it works on steep hills but slight slopes rolls back. I had the same thing on my last car and it worked pretty much the same. You can test it on a hill if you take you foot off the brake and it should hold for second or so then roll back and be ready to press the brake again.
There is no display to say it on. it only displays if you have a fault. I have a 7TFT screen but girlfriend has the normal speedo and I have not seen anything display on hers also.

:yeahthat: it won't work on minor hills, so you'll either have to be quick on moving your foot from one pedal to the other, or use the handbrake

FishGirl said:

What I'm after is something 'physical' that proves that hill holder has been enabled.

If I got to the dealer and do this test it doesn't really prove anything that they can't get round.

Click to expand...

Not rolling back is pretty physical. Having driven a 500 without hill holder in the UK and owning one in Australia that has it, there is a difference.

As others have suggested, find a hill with no one behind you and let yourself roll back. If you don't roll you have hill hold. I think the ASR button usually means hill hold as well.

When I got mine I went and played on a few hills to get a feel for when it would kick in and wouldn't and for how long.