Auto hold problems

[Alex.S]

32 minutes ago, Dark Andy said:

No, it's not you, the auto hold brake does indeed switch itself off randomly and needs to be switched back on sometimes.

My auto hold works 99% of the time. 
The handbrake coming on automatically when turning the engine off , like a lot of owners on here are complaining about not always working , rarely happens in my auto focus. Had the car 10 months. When parking I usually switch the handbrake on then ignition off..goes into P itself. 

Turning off the ignition first sometimes puts the handbrake on as well as putting it in P. Puts it in P every time, But it rarely does the handbrake. 
Not a problem for me but there’s big threads , even an fb group about this!  
Safety issue in the manuals apparently...

[Alex.S]

45 minutes ago, simps100 said:

Interesting - I thought the handbrake would apply automatically when putting into park and stoping the engine to park in the automatic but I’ve never actually seen it do it so I just do manually now.. be interesting if you can work it out!

It does happen ..not often 

[Dark Andy]

2 hours ago, Alex.S said:

My auto hold works 99% of the time. 
The handbrake coming on automatically when turning the engine off , like a lot of owners on here are complaining about not always working , rarely happens in my auto focus. Had the car 10 months. When parking I usually switch the handbrake on then ignition off..goes into P itself. 

Turning off the ignition first sometimes puts the handbrake on as well as putting it in P. Puts it in P every time, But it rarely does the handbrake. 
Not a problem for me but there’s big threads , even an fb group about this!  
Safety issue in the manuals apparently...

Oddly on my manual, although the auto hold switches itself off randomly, the parking brake always seems to apply itself when the ignition is switched off.

[Carlord01]

I forwarded this info onto ford  to support my complaint:

I found the following details in the manual page 196 Ford focus owners manual 2019. also found here:

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/vdirsnet/OwnerManual/Home/Content?bookCode=O142368&countryCode=USA&languageCode=en&marketCode=US&viewTech=IE&chapterTitleSelected=G1930243&subTitleSelected=G1930266&topicHRef=G1930270&div=f&variantid=7420&vFilteringEnabled=False&userMarket=GBR 

 

I have extracted some important points below:

 

"WARNING:  The system turns off if there is a malfunction or if you excessively rev the engine."

 - It states in the manual, it turns off if there is a 'malfunction' aka fault. It will randomly disable, no malfunction notice is displayed.

 

"The system is designed to apply the brakes to hold your vehicle at a standstill after you stop your vehicle and release the brake pedal. This could be beneficial in certain situations, for example when waiting on a hill or in traffic."

 - I am using it for this exact purpose, but it malfunctions and does not always apply 

 

"The system remembers the last setting when you start your vehicle."

 - Nope, it does not, not all the time

[Wino]

I've never used the Auto hold function didnt see the need with hill start assist but we park on a flat levelish road.

Always press the switch for the handbrake and wait to see the red light but also always leave the car in gear ( manual).

But.....are you all saying that the Mk4 comes with an auto handbrake when the engine is switched off ? 

 

[shawty1984]

1 hour ago, Wino said:

I've never used the Auto hold function didnt see the need with hill start assist but we park on a flat levelish road.

Always press the switch for the handbrake and wait to see the red light but also always leave the car in gear ( manual).

But.....are you all saying that the Mk4 comes with an auto handbrake when the engine is switched off ? 

 

Auto hold and hill start assist are two totally different things. 

[TomsFocus]

HSA seems a bit pointless with auto hold as well - I guess auto hold incorporates HSA now?

I've only got HSA but it doesn't always last long enough, only gives you a couple of seconds to swap from brake to throttle.  If about to set off at a steep junction and another car appears round the corner, it releases the brake while you're waiting for it to pass!  Seems like a daft idea tbh.  Auto hold presumably stays 'held' until you pull away regardless of the amount of time?

Parallel parking on a hill with HSA is a pain as well.  I drive a diesel so just lift the clutch while holding the brake until I feel it bite to creep forwards gently...but the HSA keeps it held until there's a 'strong' bite and then lurches forwards suddenly.  It also won't roll downhill to centre the car in the space unless I slip back to neutral.

Of course the question is, why don't I switch it off?  Because sometimes it does work perfectly!   Top of a steep hill with high walls each side, creep in 2nd until you can see, brake for the car(s) coming and then immediately take off with no handbrake use.  I just wish it lasted longer and didn't require such a strong bite to pull away. 

[Comares2001]

On the Mk4 Focus at least ,when in reverse gear Autohold is disabled so you still need Hill start assist enabled to hold the car, if you want to of course

[Carlord01]

3 hours ago, Wino said:

I've never used the Auto hold function didnt see the need with hill start assist but we park on a flat levelish road.

Always press the switch for the handbrake and wait to see the red light but also always leave the car in gear ( manual).

But.....are you all saying that the Mk4 comes with an auto handbrake when the engine is switched off ? 

 

youre not the only person that confused hill assist and the auto-hold. i had to explain the difference to the 'ford technical specialist' had no idea what i was talking about. Ended up sending a picture with a nice red arrow

[Alex.S]

There’s no HSA . Auto hold is similar , but it holds until you pull away. And activates in all circumstances (apart from reverse?) 

Auto handbrake is a bit of a phenomenon, it’s definitely happened a few times in my auto , I mean a few times in 10 months. 
Must be a manual only issue is my conclusion. 
Didn’t use it to begin with but Auto Hold is always on last 7 months....very good feature. 

Edited August 20, 2020 by Alex.S
There is HSA

[Comares2001]

4 hours ago, Wino said:

 

But.....are you all saying that the Mk4 comes with an auto handbrake when the engine is switched off ? 

 

If you have Autohold switched on then  Yes

[Alex.S]

My auto holds always on. 
When I press the ignition button turns off engine and puts itself in P , doesn’t turn on the handbrake (parkbrake) 

[shawty1984]

46 minutes ago, Alex.S said:

My auto holds always on. 
When I press the ignition button turns off engine and puts itself in P , doesn’t turn on the handbrake (parkbrake) 

You said it does sometimes?

[Alex.S]

1 hour ago, shawty1984 said:

You said it does sometimes?

It has happened very few times in the 10 months I’ve had the car. I can’t figure out or explain why..

Phenomenon for now..

[Wino]

5 hours ago, Carlord01 said:

youre not the only person that confused hill assist and the auto-hold. i had to explain the difference to the 'ford technical specialist' had no idea what i was talking about. Ended up sending a picture with a nice red arrow

I'm not confused and know where and what it is but have never felt the need to use it.

[shawty1984]

19 minutes ago, Wino said:

I'm not confused and know where and what it is but have never felt the need to use it.

You were comparing it to hill assist start weren't you?

[Wino]

11 hours ago, shawty1984 said:

You were comparing it to hill assist start weren't you?

No. I mentioned that I'd not found the need to use the Auto Hold function and haven't done since I've owned the car. 

Hill start assist automatically kicks in when I set off but tbh I doubt I'd need that either as ours is a diesel and the biting point is very easily found. 

I was interested to find out if the non Auto MK4 has an "Auto handbrake"  which is what I thought this topic was reffering to ?

If it turns out that the Auto hold function on a manual MK4 provides an automatic handbrake when its switched on then that is something I have learnt.

 I may switch on upon approach prior to parking up but I dont think its something I'd have on all the time as I'd find it a little annoying if sat in slow moving or stationary traffic.

[shawty1984]

8 minutes ago, Wino said:

No. I mentioned that I'd not found the need to use the Auto Hold function and haven't done since I've owned the car. 

Hill start assist automatically kicks in when I set off but tbh I doubt I'd need that either as ours is a diesel and the biting point is very easily found. 

I was interested to find out if the non Auto MK4 has an "Auto handbrake"  which is what I thought this topic was reffering to ?

If it turns out that the Auto hold function on a manual MK4 provides an automatic handbrake when its switched on then that is something I have learnt.

 I may switch on upon approach prior to parking up but I dont think its something I'd have on all the time as I'd find it a little annoying if sat in slow moving or stationary traffic.

You said you didn't feel the need to use it because of hill start assist and that you park on a level service. They are two totally different things that work differently. 

What do you mean if it turns out? It does have auto handbrake. 

Why would you switch auto hold on prior to parking if you don’t use auto hold? You may as well just park and press the handbrake instead. Especially since auto hold will then be on when you start the car back up so you would need to switch it off again. Why would it be annoying? It's just a brake. 

 

[Alex.S]

This threads getting too confusing! Auto this and that , manuals and owner manuals! 
The auto hold is a great feature...use it

Ive read manual owners say the same , no reason not to use it.

If you search Auto handbrake In the manual there’s nothing. Here’s a screenshot of search result 

How to apply the parkbrake..

[Wino]

1 hour ago, shawty1984 said:

You said you didn't feel the need to use it because of hill start assist and that you park on a level service. They are two totally different things that work differently. 

What do you mean if it turns out? It does have auto handbrake. 

Why would you switch auto hold on prior to parking if you don’t use auto hold? You may as well just park and press the handbrake instead. Especially since auto hold will then be on when you start the car back up so you would need to switch it off again. Why would it be annoying? It's just a brake. 

 

Just because I park overnight on a level surface does not mean i don't encounter uphill starts or junctions where perhaps auto hold might come into use.

As ive said before. Its something I tend not to use as I don't need to use it but was intrested with this topic as to whether if by selecting the auto hold function prior to parking up it would engage the handbrake once the car came to rest.

[Guy Heaton]

I'm not a fan of auto hold, I find it never disengages fast enough if you want to set off quick.  Don't see the point of it really, especially in the auto with creep.  The auto hill start will still give you the short brake hold on hills which is all you need really.

[shawty1984]

2 minutes ago, Wino said:

Just because I park overnight on a level surface does not mean i don't encounter uphill starts or junctions where perhaps auto hold might come into use.

As ive said before. Its something I tend not to use as I don't need to use it but was intrested with this topic as to whether if by selecting the auto hold function prior to parking up it would engage the handbrake once the car came to rest.

But what you are saying makes no logical sense to the use of the different features on offer. Are you sure you aren't getting confused on them?

You first said you didn't feel the need to use auto hold because of hill assist, but those are two very different features. What do you do when you come to a set of traffic lights? You must be either pressing the parking brake button every time or sat there with your foot on the brake? Either way, seems a bit pointless when you have a feature that does that for you and seems even more pointless if you're only going to use that feature for parking just to make the auto handbrake come on.

[shawty1984]

4 minutes ago, Guy Heaton said:

I'm not a fan of auto hold, I find it never disengages fast enough if you want to set off quick.  Don't see the point of it really, especially in the auto with creep.  The auto hill start will still give you the short brake hold on hills which is all you need really.

I have a manual ST and it comes off fine, infact it's quicker in what any other car can do it as if you had the handbreak on, you don't need to reach for it before moving off. 

[Alex.S]

4 minutes ago, Guy Heaton said:

I'm not a fan of auto hold, I find it never disengages fast enough if you want to set off quick.  Don't see the point of it really, especially in the auto with creep.  The auto hill start will still give you the short brake hold on hills which is all you need really.

I didn’t even know I had hill start assist! Even before I started using auto hold. 
 

in the auto it comes on automatically, doesn’t tell u if it’s on or not and there’s no way to turn it off! 
 

[Guy Heaton]

It's automatic, it's not intrusive I find.

It is also, like the stop/start, controllable off the brake pedal.  You might have noticed that when you press light, then more, you feel a slight step.  Press light and s/s doesn't activate, nor does ha.  This is a really good feature I think, lets you control it, which is all I ever ask of these things.