Breaking on an incline causes car to Climb hill / rolls back down the hill
Asked by RAM616 Jan 17, 2017 at 11:39 AM about the 2015 Ford Fiesta SE Hatchback
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
We just bought a used 2015 Ford Fiesta. We got the car home fine and we
have a slight incline to our driveway. My husband noticed if he lightly
pressed the break on an incline the Fiesta would climb the hill. If he then
pressed down a little bit harder on the break, the car would sort of...stop
/shut off(?) and it would start rolling backwards down the hill. We're
clueless, we've had the car for a whole day!
3 Answers
Oh, and the car had 38K miles on it if that matters.
I noticed the same thing with my 2015 Fiesta. On an incline at a light, the car rolls back a little the same time that I accelerate to go forward. Thinking of calling the dealer to find out what is going on with it.
Hope I'm not late with this answer. I would say that is pretty normal behavior for these cars. These cars use a dual-clutch "automated manual" transmission instead of a traditonal automatic. This means that the car does not naturally roll forward like a normal automatic, but behaves more like a car with a manual transmission. When you fully stop, the car disengages the clutch and is essentially put in neutral. When the software senses that you are releasing the brake pedal it begins to engage the clutch and start moving the car forward. Sometimes you can "trick" the software into thinking your car is stopped when it is not. For example if your brake pads are a little older and you press the brake pedal in just far enough to trigger the car to disengage the clutch but not far enough to have enough stopping power to actually stop the car. Another really easy way to do it is to pull the handbrake up one click, just enough to see the parking brake light on the dashboard. In these cases of you are facing uphill the car will briefly roll backward until the software senses this and engages the clutch. I hope that helps.