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Disabling "Hill Holder" for an '03 Forester

13K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  adunn10495 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,
I know this is kind of off subject for a WRX forum, but I thought I'd ask anyway...

My friend just bought an '03 Forester and hates the hill holder feature when trying to back up. Is there a way to disable this feature? Thanks for your input.
 
#3 ·
Damon said:
Hey,
What exactly does that feature FEEL like? I am just curious. Hopefully its an electronics thing and you can get it disabled via yourself or the dealership. If it's mechanical.....
Basically it feels like the brakes never let back up...which is what it does. while in gear and if the clutch isn't nearly fully let out the brakes will remain depressed as far as you had them pushed down while in motion (or stopped).

So imagine as you're backing out of a spot, your not fully off the clutch, and you tap the brakes to see if anyone is coming and then your back on the gas to back out of the spot more... well the brakes will not release until you let the clutch out all the way, so you're basically driving against the brakes in reverse.

Im still not sure how the mechanism works. But after riding in my friends Forrester it isn't that big of a deal in most instances...I'm not really sure why he's complaining. =) I guess he's just a whiner. :D
 
#4 ·
i don't even see the point of this device. you can hold yourself on a hill with the brakes, and then to go without rolling backward you let the clutch out until you feel the engine strain a bit, and let go of the brake. the car won't move. you add gas and slip the clutch out and go.
 
#5 ·
cyrilgrey said:
i don't even see the point of this device. you can hold yourself on a hill with the brakes, and then to go without rolling backward you let the clutch out until you feel the engine strain a bit, and let go of the brake. the car won't move. you add gas and slip the clutch out and go.
Uhh.. yeap.
 
#6 ·
cyrilgrey said:
i don't even see the point of this device. you can hold yourself on a hill with the brakes, and then to go without rolling backward you let the clutch out until you feel the engine strain a bit, and let go of the brake. the car won't move. you add gas and slip the clutch out and go.
It's basically a lazy persons 'feature' or someone who isn't confident in their ability to prevent a car from rolling back.

Now if it were really used in off road situations, it seems pretty neat. It free's up your right hand from using the e-brake. Kind of like the feature my Toyota 4x4 had that you could diable the clutch from needing to be pushed in during start up. So if you stalled it in an area that you don't want to roll back at all, you can just crank it while in gear and it'll roll forward (or backward) until it fires up. I guess the other use of that would be to get you out of a stream or something like that if you should get water on the engine and short out the plugs.
 
#7 ·
Its only designed for off road use the hill holder mechanism.

I thought there was a button on the dash to turn off the hill holder mechanism....

Otherwise search for a fuse to pull maybe?

Cheers
Antony
 
#8 ·
Disabling hill holder

The easiest way to disable the hill holder is just to disconnect the cable. The return spring will hold the check ball open to keep the valve from locking the brakes.

DO NOT TRY TO PLUG THE LINES!!! The mechanism is inline with the brakes, so if the valve has a problem with fluid leaking, it cannot be plugged and must be replaced with a hydraulic tee.
 
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