What does Hill start not available mean? This is a feature that helps avert a rolling back when driving on a hill or an inclined road. There are also chances that your car rolls over when you are driving on a decline which is also another feature that helps your car maintain its stability regardless of the gradient or slopping of the road. The technology entails the use of sensors that can detect changes in the road sloping, for instance, a decline or an incline. The hill start assist helps maintain the brake pressure until when you slowly let go of the clutch. Read on to determine its essence and learn the premeditated solutions to hill start not available ford f150 solutions.
What Does Hill Start Assist Do In Vehicles?
The very first reason why your car’s hill start system is vital is to make movement easier for you along different terrains. There is absolutely no reason to stop at any point of the journey along the road due to the inability to maintain the steep nature of the road.
Thanks to this hill assist feature, drivers can enjoy driving safely and efficiently across different types of traverse slopes. To engage this feature the driver should be on an inclination and press the brakes. This is what makes some vehicles safer to drive down traverse slopes.
Hill assist for your vehicle also prevents the car from rolling over backward or forwards by allowing the automatic application of brakes, thanks to the sensors attached to it. Once the sensors get the exact data on how steep the slope is, you can count on the pressure applied on brakes to help you maintain stability.
Lastly, your car benefits from hill launch assist because of the pressure that it applies on the brakes once the car sensors detect the degree of the slope. The pressure applied on it is sufficient enough to allow you time to accelerate and move again. This prevents you from having to work on the throttle and brakes simultaneously which if not tough may be impossible for some drivers.
Why Is Hill Start Assist Not Available For My Car?
Have you seen the Hills Start Assist OFF warning light on your Ford? The hill start assist feature has proven to be instrumental in the different pointers above. You will need an OBD-II scanner to help you determine where the problem may be for most Ford brands. Should it be off, there are several possible concerns you should be checking as part of your diagnosis as discussed below.
Having An OBD Port
Check your ford car for OBD port. If any exists then it could easily be among the causes for the hill start assist feature’s inability to commence and function efficiently. There is, however, a number of solutions on how to deal with the problem that is discussed later on in this guide that you can use.
ESC And TC Turned Off
If your traction control is turned off then the hill assist feature may also be unavailable for use. Electronic Stability Control and traction control play a pivotal role in maintaining the car’s stability. Restarting your vehicle is the ideal solution because it resets both settings to the default options.
Broken Brake Light Fuse
Have you checked whether the lighting for your car functions well? One of the many problems that affect the hill start assist feature is a busted brake light fuse. This is because the brake lights are part of the cycle which means the whole system becomes nonfunctional when it is not properly working.
Software Issue
The Hill Start Assist feature can be unavailable due to a problem with the car software. You will be surprised that most electric component problems are often related to software problems when it comes to automobiles.
Random Error
Holding the start button for way too long has also been known to trigger the hill assist control off. There are also other random error messages that you can get on your dashboard indicating that the hill feature is missing.
Bad ABS Sensor
Is your Anti-lock Braking System sensor functioning well? When it gets burnt or fried, it can also become a problem for cars with hill assist that rely on the car sensors to be turned on and off. The best way out would be to change the sensors in your car to resolve the issue permanently. The case is also the same if you develop a problem with your braking light due to the regular application of force on the car’s brakes.
How Do I Fix Hill Start Not Available Feature?
Now that you know how to hill start assists not being available problem can be caused, you ought to find out the different ways it can be solved. Discussed in this guide are some informal solutions to the problem that you can resort to for better efficiency.
Restart The Vehicle
This is the first solution you should attempt after your diagnosis is complete. You should turn off the car engine and that should be able to help rest your hill start not available Ford to rid it of all major and minor challenges. There are better chances that the car will continue on successfully after the restart, check out the next option if it does persist.
Reboot The System
This is the stage where you take your car to a service center where it can further be scrutinized to identify the problem with it. What the mechanic does is restart the whole system to rid of the problem or alternatively choose to reformat the ECU. The ECU is located just below the steering wheel and reformatting does help resolve the hill start assist feature not available problem for you.
Turn off hill start assist
If the above two approaches bear no fruit, try to switch off the hill assist feature. It is never the recommended solution because you need the feature, especially when driving up or down the hill. When you turn off the hill hold control and try to turn it on, the hack might rest the system restoring the functionality and efficiency of your vehicle.
FAQs
Q) Does the Hill Start Assist aid the movement on every incline, regardless of the terrain and inclination angle?
No. The Hill Start Assist starts functioning after the sensors detect the inclination of a certain angle. Below that angle, the Hill Start Assist does not engage.
The Hill Start Assist may not be able to perform its best functions on slippery terrains like icy or snowy roads.
Q) Do all new cars have a Hill Start Assist feature?
Almost all cars manufactured nowadays come with the Hill Start Assist feature. Some cars that have this feature are:- Kia Seltos, Skoda Kodiaq, Tata Nexon, Mahindra Thar, and Volkswagen Taigun.
Q) How long does the Hill Start Assist hold the brake pedal?
The Hill Start Assist gives the driver a window of 3 seconds to shift their foot from the brakes to the accelerator. After 3 seconds, the car starts to descend on its own.
