Moving off on a Hill.
Moving off on a Hill.
Use of the handbrake will make your life 10 times easier.
With the introduction of electronic parking brakes / auto-hold and Hill assist, dealing with Hill has become less stressful for learners.
However, they need to understand fully how all of them work, and from brand to brand these can vary slightly.
Some may automatically release as you find the biting point, others may still need to be released as you would with a manual hand brake. Although the struggle for some drivers to lift the lever, press the release button in and lower the manual handbrake can be a real struggle, So just pressing down and electronic switch is substantially easier.
Hill assist also has mixed results from brand to brand. So may hold the car for a couple of seconds whereas other brands may hold for up to 4 seconds.
Some vehicles may have an electronic parking brake but do not have auto-hold. Auto-hold normal sets the parking brake when additional pressure is applied to the footbrake when the car has stopped. There will usually be a symbol on the dashboard showing that the auto-hold is active.
If you only teach in vehicle that have auto-hold or electronic parking brake, and there is the facility to switch it off, it is good practice to get your pupil used to driving the car with it switched off, especially if the have never driven a vehicle with a manual parking brake, so that they have an idea of how to use it in a manual manner. Although they won't have a long parking brake lever to pull up and down like the traditional parking brake, they will have to manually set it and release it which will build their understanding should they pass their driving test and can only afford an older car with a manual parking brake.
When dealing with Hill Starts, we always tend to consider going up hill as the bigger concern.
Do you teach your pupils about the benefit of moving off downhill?
Do they understand that dependant on the gradient of the hill, they do not need to move off in first gear?
The Hill will create momentum for the car, which means they could use 2nd or 3rd gear possibly depending on that gradient.
Select the gear, carry out observations, release the parking brake and as the car gains momentum, gently raise the clutch.
It a good eco way of driving, plus it save multiple gear changes in quick succession.
When parking a car facing uphill or downhill, it is worth considering factors that we take for granted that could fail at any time.
How good is the parking brake?
Therefore, it is recommended that when parking a vehicle facing uphill the wheels should be turned so that they are turned facing away from the kerb. It is also recommend that a forward gear is selected.
When parking a car facing downhill it is recommended that the wheel should point towards the kerb and reverse gear should be selected.
This is just to ensure that should the parking brake fail, there are precautions in place that should stop your vehicle from moving.
