I have noticed that in older vehicles with automatic transmissions, if you were sitting facing up hill, and you took your foot off the brake, the vehicle would sit in position. However I have now noticed in a lot of newer vehicles the automatic transmission no longer holds the vehicle in position and tends to roll backwards when stopped at a red light if you take your foot off the brake. I have driven 3 European vehicles since 2012: 2013 VW Jetta TDI(DSG), 2011 VW Touareg TDI(Slush Box) and now 2014 Mercedes ML 350 Bluetec(Slush Box). All 3 were automatic transmissions with some form of brake holding feature.
Never really took notice of it much in the Jetta TDI. With the Touareg TDI I could set it for no hold, or automatic hold. I actually preferred the automatic hold in the VW Touareg as it allowed me to take my foot off the brake at a red light without fear of the vehicle rolling forward!!!! The Mercedes is automatic hold only if I pressed hard on the brake while stopped.
In all 3 cases because the vehicles are diesels with loads of torque, they all tend to roll forward on the flat as soon as you took your foot off the brake, so I consider the brake hold feature a nice safety item given that most drivers today are now so distracted that drivers tend to not notice their vehicle is moving forward or backward because their foot is not on the brake.
Never really took notice of it much in the Jetta TDI. With the Touareg TDI I could set it for no hold, or automatic hold. I actually preferred the automatic hold in the VW Touareg as it allowed me to take my foot off the brake at a red light without fear of the vehicle rolling forward!!!! The Mercedes is automatic hold only if I pressed hard on the brake while stopped.
In all 3 cases because the vehicles are diesels with loads of torque, they all tend to roll forward on the flat as soon as you took your foot off the brake, so I consider the brake hold feature a nice safety item given that most drivers today are now so distracted that drivers tend to not notice their vehicle is moving forward or backward because their foot is not on the brake.
