Hey everyone,

I'm a complete novice and hoping to soon be a Forester X MY06 (manual 2.5L) owner but ... to get into my carport (roughly 6 times daily) I absolutely NEED to roll backwards down a 15 degree incline. I have tried this several times in a test drive vehicle and find it infuriatingly difficult to combat the Hill Holder, with frequent stalls.

 

Am I doing something wrong?

Is there an easy way to do it?

Can the bloody thing be turned off?

 

Also, what's the go with the gear shift? Does it settle in or is it always so firm ... almost lacking 'smoothness'? Or do I just need to stop being a whining wimp and get on with it.

 

Thanks in advance for any help. Just really glad y'all are out there.

 

Cheers

Well, you could try rolling backwards without the car in gear, so you do not need to depress the clutch. Or, you could just adjust the hillholder cable to either A) not work at all, or only work when clutch pedal is fully depressed.

(I am assuming that the New Gens still use a cable for the hillholder.)

Yeah, thanks for that. I'm not sure if it's still a cable or not but will check with the dealer's mechanic I guess. Since posting I've been searching the forum and seen lots of suggestions to adjust or simply remove the cable. The 'not in gear at all' idea is valid except that our carport (yeah, I know ... just move home!) needs the previously mentioned roll backwards down a hill and around a 90 degree corner and then keep reversing UP an incline. All the while making sure the neighbours (who share the driveway) aren't screaming down and catching you between gears. So it's kind of nice to already have it in Reverse with the clutch pushed to the metal. What a pain.

 

But thanks again heaps for the reply. Sounds like an adjustment to make it only cut in on real steep hills might be the go. Thing is, my partner and I both learnt how to do proper hill starts years ago and have never had a problem. The whole Hill Holder idea seems kind of like being lazy to me I guess. But I can see how it would be handy in extremes and there's plenty of extreme hills round where I live.

 

Hell, the reason we're buying a new car is 'cause the last one got totalled by a BIG tip truck rolling back into it and then driving off with the front bumper/skirt assembly. Nice! My son was in tears!

 

Thanks again.

The hillholder can't (easily) be set for degree of incline, but it can be set for how much the clutch pedal has to be depressed. It can be completely disabled if you wish (again, assuming the cable design with which I am familiar). To change the degree of incline for activation, you would need to do something such as insert a wedge under the back section of the hillholder mount, effectively tilting the hillholder valve forward.

 

By the way, let me be the first here to say that you have a screwy driveway!

Hey everyone,

I'm a complete novice and hoping to soon be a Forester X MY06 (manual 2.5L) owner but ... to get into my carport (roughly 6 times daily) I absolutely NEED to roll backwards down a 15 degree incline. I have tried this several times in a test drive vehicle and find it infuriatingly difficult to combat the Hill Holder, with frequent stalls.

 

Am I doing something wrong?

Is there an easy way to do it?

Can the bloody thing be turned off?

 

Also, what's the go with the gear shift? Does it settle in or is it always so firm ... almost lacking 'smoothness'? Or do I just need to stop being a whining wimp and get on with it.

 

Thanks in advance for any help. Just really glad y'all are out there.

 

Cheers

 

 

From what you are saying is that you have to roll the car backwards downhill into a car port? All you have to do is put the car in reverse, and start backing up. Once you hit the downhill part, put the car into neutral and let out the clutch. Just use your brakes to maintain a steady speed and let gravity do the rest. Once gravity stops working, then put the car back in gear and finish up the job. It's simple as that.

I am with rcoaster.

 

Plus, if you must have it in reverse: If you find the brakes are "dragging" just lift the clutch pedal up a smidgeon and depress it again - keeping your foot of the brake pedal.

Yeah... what they said.

I have a sloped driveway, and all I have to do to coast backward into the street is let the clutch out an inch or two to disengage the hillholder, then push it back in until I need to move under power.

Once you get used to the thing, it's no hastle at all. Don't let it scare you away from a shiny new Subaru.

Folks, dingbat said that it is a 15 degree slope... think about it for a moment! Winding... with traffic... yikes.

Folks, dingbat said that it is a 15 degree slope... think about it for a moment! Winding... with traffic... yikes.

 

I say move into a place that has a driveway that is not a deathtrap. . . ANd disable the hillholder until you do.

I never have any problem just letting the clutch out a bit to disengage the hill holder... just takes a little practice..

Thanks for all your advice people. Picked up the shiny new Forseter yesterday and had the dealer's mechanic 'minimise' the Hill Holder before handing over the big fat cheque. With that done it's like the Hill Holder didn't even exist ... works like a dream.

 

And yeah ... I know it's a crap driveway, but it's a really nice house! Honest!!

 

Thanks again.