Nissan QashQai Forums

I think I have posted this before but here are the comments from Nissan if it helps anybody - Dave

I've read the relevant section in the manual several times - ah! I see DaveBerlin has just posted as I was typing - the manual states with slightly different wording:

The hill start assist system will operate automatically under the following conditions:
• The shift lever is shifted into a forward (vehicle facing uphill) or reverse gear (vehicle facing downhill).
• The vehicle is stopped completely on a hill by applying the foot brake.
• The slope is greater than 3 degrees.
The maximum holding time is 2 seconds. After 2 seconds the vehicle will begin to roll back and the hill start assist system will stop operating completely.
If the slope is steep enough to activate the HSA system, the green HSA indicator light in the combination meter will illuminate.
If the chassis control screen is selected, the vehicle

Now in the OP's instance I'm wondering whether the HSA system had activated initially and then on the attempted restart didn't - because it thought it had already done so?

There is also a significant warning statement prior to that which suggests Nissan knows it sometimes doesn't work!:

WARNING
• Never rely solely on the hill start assist system to prevent the vehicle from moving backward on a hill. Always drive carefully and attentively. Depress the brake pedal when the vehicle is stopped on a steep hill. Be especially careful when stopped on a hill on frozen or muddy roads. Failure to prevent the vehicle from rolling backwards may result in a loss of control of the vehicle and possible serious injury or death.
• The hill start assist system is not designed to hold the vehicle at a standstill on a hill. Depress the brake pedal when the vehicle is stopped on a steep hill. Failure to do so may cause the vehicle to roll backwards and may result in a collision or serious personal injury.
• The hill start assist system may not prevent the vehicle from rolling backwards on a hill under all load or road conditions. Always be prepared to depress the brake pedal to prevent the vehicle from rolling backwards. Failure to do so may result in a collision or serious personal injury.
The hill start assist system automatically keeps the brakes applied to help prevent the vehicle from rolling backwards in the time it takes the driver to release the brake pedal and apply the accelerator when the vehicle is stopped on a hill.

I think the warning is so detailed because people are stupid & will blame just about anyone else for their actions, especially if there is a claim to be made. (No offense intended).

It does seem a bit of a lottery as to whether the HSA activates or not. Previous Mazda's of mine were much better and you got to know what gradient was needed and it was always consistent.

I've had 2 mini's and a mini countryman. The hill start assist always operated as far as i could tell. I did a couple of tests on the slightest inclines and noticed the 2 second hold.

switchback wrote:It does seem a bit of a lottery as to whether the HSA activates or not. Previous Mazda's of mine were much better and you got to know what gradient was needed and it was always consistent.

The HSA on mine doesn't engage on small slopes and the car will roll back. It does work on 'proper' inclines though.
These days I nearly always use just the footbrake and HSA for hills. I find using the EPB on some hills needs 5000+ revs to overcome the brake and the embarrassing noises and dust cloud and smoke as the car starts to take off make it unuseable. The Nissan garage just agrees that sometimes the epb needs a lot of throttle to overcome it. Not seen as a fault.
Just like S.J.P. states in the original post really!
Now I stop, footbrake on. When I expect the lights to change I also depress clutch and put gear stick to 1st and the HSA lights up. When I see a car in front start to move it is off the brake on to throttle and bring up clutch to 'catch' the car as HSA flashes.
If I know I have to wait 30 seconds+ I use the epb. Then it goes footbrake on, clutch in, epb off, gear to 1st, HSA on and ready to engage clutch and throttle. I've almost learned to drive again!

It does sound as though my experience may be a feature rather than a fault, I'll just have to rely on the footbrake and easy-hill-start (now I know to watch out for the green icon!)

I asked the dealer to log it on my file so should anything similar happen again, they're already aware of it..

I really dislike the HSA at times! The worst is where it holds you back when you are trying to make a quick jump into a junction!

I think the trick is to simply to treat it as though you are on the flat setting off and just fully engage the clutch rather than letting it slip and only half engaging it.

I am quite scared of this issue to be honest and got a good answer on another forum, here's how I understand it works:

First if the car has been stopped and you didn't engage the electric parking brakes then you simply just do the old style hill start, it should stop for 2-3 seconds but then it will eventually move on.

Second: since you did engage the EPB then it should disengage as the manual says but then it will only move from (disengage -> hold and will keep you for 2-3 seconds) as it will find that she's actually on a slope and won't trust your request to move as being safe so it WILL stop stop itself, and that's where I think the problem happened.

If one smells clutch burning or feels that there's too much revving without movement, then simply disengage the parking brake by touching the brake pedal and then press the button down and then you're on your own, get going by balancing the gas/clutch as normal.

To clarify a couple of points, when EHS activates it'll hold the car for up to 2 seconds, if you move off sooner EHS will automatically disengage so you don't have to wait for it to time out and "eventually move on"

I'm pretty sure EHS will not engage from the EPB auto-disengaging as EHS will only ever activate from the foot brake release when on a hill. The only time the EHS will possibly engage following deactivation of the EPB is when it's manually deactivated with the foot brake depressed.

The problem with manually deactivating the EPB is that your right foot has to be on the brake pedal and in the time you move it over to the accelerator you can roll back slightly.

These auto systems work faultlessly most of the time, but there are situations where good old fashioned control of the brakes, lights, and wipers is the best option!