Hill start assist not available

[kirsty04green]

Apologies in advance if this has already been raised but had a quick look and couldn’t see anything.

i bought a brand new Ford Fiesta Zetec at the beginning of February.  My mum also purchased one and she got her new car about 10 days before me.

Just after I got mine my mum complained every time she was coming to stop at a junction the car would beep and the display would say hill start assist not available. At the time I said mine isn’t doing it however mine followed the same pattern and about 10 days in I started getting the message. It doesn’t happen every time I drive the car but it’s getting more and more frequent and it’s nearly every time.

my Mum was back at the garage who sold us the car who weren’t particularly helpful and said they had switched it on and off and it should be fine. It hasn’t been!!

This is my third fiesta and I’ve had this function on the last one and had no issues. I’ve insisted the garage look into this and will be taking the car back in shortly but just wondering if anyone else has had this issue as I’m being told it’s very unusual this is happening and they have no knowledge of it.

ive managed to catch a video of my car doing it one day when I went back to start it again and have sent that video to the garage.

any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Jeroel]

I'm following the thread. My car (Vignale ecoboost 100hp) doesn't show any error message, I simply activate the HSA checking the relative box, it works, but after a while, at random, I find it stopped working, I look at the option and it's unchecked!

I brought the car to the dealer, Ford suggested an abs software update, they made it (there was nothing to update, by the way, no errors too) but the issue is still there. 

Anyway, the error message you get isn't new to Ford, I found it mentioned in more than one forum, some are quite old too...maybe you should go to another authorized workshop, your dealer doesn't seem very professional to me...

 

[kirsty04green]

Thanks for the reply. You’re right I’ve seen some stuff about it in older models yet my dealer, who are a big multinational, claim they’re not aware of it and I emailed Ford as well and they claim to know nothing of it.

when mine happens I’ve checked and the option is always still ticked but if I untick and tick again the alert goes off again immediately. 

Its frustrating and it’s a function I liked having in my old vehicle and it doesn’t work when I get the alert.

[Franciscus]

I have exactly the same problem as @Jeroel

HSA gets unticked after some while. Do you already have a solution?

[isetta]

I know I will get some abuse for this but I feel that if someone can not safely drive without hill start assist then maybe they should not drive at all.

[Bobr]

1 hour ago, isetta said:

I know I will get some abuse for this but I feel that if someone can not safely drive without hill start assist then maybe they should not drive at all.

I agree.   I have a handbrake for hill starts.

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

No apparent problems with mine after 14 months but it's not something I would rely on. Like @isetta and @Bobr I would always use the handbrake on a public road.

However, the earlier posters do have a point - if it's a feature that is on the car and you have therefore paid for, it should work and should be sorted under warranty.

Posts on various topics have referred to features becoming unavailable, unticking themselves or resetting readings for no apparent reason, in situations where the battery charge has been low, usually on cars that do little mileage. Could this be a factor here?

Edit -ps: Just to stray off topic a bit (as I often do😀) mechanical handbrakes are getting increasingly rare now, so I guess we'll all have to bite the bullet eventually and live with the electronic versions!

 

[Got problem.com]

Hi 

Just wondering if anyone has a solution for this? I have also had the same problem and having trouble getting anywhere with it!

 

Thanks

[kirsty04green]

I still don’t have a solution to this issue. Was told it’s linked to a fault with the software and the brake sensor but Car has been in for a software update and it hasn’t worked.

my point isn’t that I NEED the function to drive, more that I’m supposed to have the function and I’m constantly getting a warning signal making a loud noise telling me it’s not working but Ford can’t seem to tell my why it’s doing it and what’s causing it which is quite concerning incase there is a bigger issue.

[kirsty04green]

And just to add mine isn’t unticking itself, it’s always ticked and I’ve checked immediately after getting the warning and it’s still ticked on.

[kirsty04green]

10 minutes ago, Got problem.com said:

Hi 

Just wondering if anyone has a solution for this? I have also had the same problem and having trouble getting anywhere with it!

 

Thanks

Out of interest, is it the same issue I initially posted about that you’re having? I bought my car in Macklin Motors Hamilton and am really not happy with the sale and after care.

[David73]

On 4/23/2019 at 2:24 PM, isetta said:

I know I will get some abuse for this but I feel that if someone can not safely drive without hill start assist then maybe they should not drive at all.

First off, I don't have HSA although one vehicle I use does have torque converter transmission. I hope my comments are not considered to be abuse.

Once upon a time drivers had to set the ignition advance and the arrival of automatic advance upset some people. So the story of people worrying about their balls being cut off goes back a long way. 

A driver should concentrate on and respond to what's happening outside the car. The car should go, stop and turn as the driver commands without the driver having to worry about the way it operates. 

[popin]

Quote

Has anyone found to a solution to this

 

[GAOV]

I' m portuguese and my english is reasonable.

I had all these behaviors described. The hill start assist was disabled even after two checks by Ford mechanics.

Sometimes the "unavailable HSA" message appeared when I brake down in a street. Very strange!!!

I made the diagnosis and in my opinion it is a brake imbalance that leads to missing messages on the ABS sensors.

I solved the problem after checking the tires pressure. The tires had very different and very high pressures (front: 3.1 bar in both tires; rear: 3.1in left tire and 3.4 bar in rigth tire)
I applied 2.9 to all and the problem was solved.

If this procedure in your vehicles not resolve, please also check that if the shock absorbers have the same load/charge.

 

[DanielB2023]

As I was doing some research, I tried this solution, and it worked. The tyres were inflated at different levels, and, arguably, all overinflated (39/38.5/34.5/34.5 PSI). I reduced the pressure in all tyres at 29.5PSI, and the error disappeared after starting the car a couple of times. I read this on another forum, so kudos to the person who shared this info.

[deandeandean]

It's all down to the state of charge of the battery, when it's low it gets shut down.

[robert12345]

Reference.     Deandeandean. Said That the HSA may not work when the battery is low.  My car has a problem with the HSA. It's a driving school vehicle and is used daily.  The Stop /start system sometimes doesn't operate and the drivers information says. Stop /star inactive due to vehicle charging, however the HSA was saying it was unavailable but the car was going into Stop/start so the battery is unlikely to be low.   

[unofix]

2 hours ago, robert12345 said:

so the battery is unlikely to be low.   

....and you have proof of that ?

Is the car still using the original factory fitted battery ? If so it will have reached the end of it's life especially on a driving school car.

The SOC is very likely below 60% and that will be on a good day.