Brake auto-hold is kind of confusing on my non-auto-pilot Model 3p. From my (after the fact) testing, if the road is flat (maybe slightly downhill) to uphill, the "auto-hold" will engage immediately when you stop. To engage auto-hold on a downhill you have to really mash it after you stop. So here is the situation where my old and tired ass got in trouble. There is a road on my way to work that has to be continually repaved because it is slowly sliding towards the ocean. The road was stopped in my direction and I lined up behind another car on a small downhill slope (the road undulates due the slide area). The car did not go into brake auto-hold. After about 10 minutes of waiting for my traffic direction to go, my attention wavered, my foot pressure eased off the brake and I coasted forward and tapped the stopped car in front of me. I can't see any damage on my car, but who knows about their car. But they got all my info, so I will have to see. I find the inconsistency of auto-hold kind of confusing to the uninitated, now I know to mash the brake or go into park. But I am thinking that it would be nice if brake autohold engaged no matter what after ~2 minutes of being stopped or something.
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Confusing brake Auto Hold Confused me into accident.
- Thread starter Sponge Bob
- Start date
My 3 engages as soon as the car is stopped and the hold symbol appears. In settings pedals and steering do you have stopping mode set to "Hold"?
This indicator displays on the touchscreen whenever Vehicle Hold is actively braking Model 3.
To disengage Vehicle Hold, press the accelerator pedal or press and release the brake pedal.
Note
Shifting into Neutral also disengages Vehicle Hold.
Note
After actively braking Model 3 for approximately ten minutes, Model 3 shifts into Park and Vehicle Hold cancels. Model 3 also shifts into Park if it detects that the driver has left the vehicle.
Note
When Stopping Mode is set to Hold (see Stopping Mode), Vehicle Hold engages automatically whenever Model 3 stops while in Drive or Reverse. There is no need to press the brake to engage it.
Vehicle Hold
When Model 3 is stopped, Vehicle Hold can continue to apply the brakes even after you remove your foot from the brake pedal. When driving on a hill or on a flat surface, brake as you normally would. After coming to a complete stop, simply press the brake pedal again (until the touchscreen displays the Vehicle Hold indicator light) to enable Vehicle Hold. You can then release the brake pedal and remain stopped, even on a hill.This indicator displays on the touchscreen whenever Vehicle Hold is actively braking Model 3.
To disengage Vehicle Hold, press the accelerator pedal or press and release the brake pedal.
Note
Shifting into Neutral also disengages Vehicle Hold.
Note
After actively braking Model 3 for approximately ten minutes, Model 3 shifts into Park and Vehicle Hold cancels. Model 3 also shifts into Park if it detects that the driver has left the vehicle.
Note
When Stopping Mode is set to Hold (see Stopping Mode), Vehicle Hold engages automatically whenever Model 3 stops while in Drive or Reverse. There is no need to press the brake to engage it.
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How much distance was originally between your car and the one in front of you? Maybe there is some brief neutral period between when the brake is released and the hold feature actually “holds”.
OK, this looks like another useful piece of information that I read and then forgot. So if sponge bob didn’t hit his brake a second time, then Vehicle Hold would not have been enabled?
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
As another mentioned, do you have the car perhaps set to creep or roll? In those cases, the auto-hold does not activate unless there is actually a hill that may cause the car to roll backwards.
Birdsfan
Member
With regen braking and autohold I may touch the brakes maybe once or twice a week. I have not had any issues with autohold even on uphill/downhill stops.
Depends on what stopping mode this OP has the car in. I have my car in "roll" so in order to engage auto hold I have to press the pedal harder. I am going to guess that this OP does not have the car in "Hold" mode, but I dont know that, obviously.
Note that my stopping mode is "Roll" (was forever stick shift driver) and the "Stopping Mode" options were added after I started driving the car. The "new" "Hold" braking option: "Maximizes range by extending regenerative braking to lower speeds and automatically blends in brakes to hold the vehicle at a stop." which sounds more for a range optimization for stop and go driving.
Anyway, try it yourself. Put it in "Roll" braking mode, put it on a downslope and brake normally (feathered) to a stop. It will not go into brake auto-hold no matter how long you wait. You have to mash the brake pedal to get auto-hold in this situation. Otherwise (near flat,uphill), it will always go into auto-hold.
Anyway, try it yourself. Put it in "Roll" braking mode, put it on a downslope and brake normally (feathered) to a stop. It will not go into brake auto-hold no matter how long you wait. You have to mash the brake pedal to get auto-hold in this situation. Otherwise (near flat,uphill), it will always go into auto-hold.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Yes, auto-hold is designed primarily to prevent the car from rolling backwards on hills.
It also functions to hold the vehicle after the car comes to a complete stop as a secondary function.
I have my car set to Hold mode (which is the default mode in the newer cars), and it engages automatically when it stops:
Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla
In other modes (as the OP has set in Roll mode) it only engages if you apply the brakes hard.
No, because brake auto-hold is instantly on for upslope or nearly flat downslope car orientations in (the original braking behavor) "Roll" mode. Before the firmware updates, there was a special separate "creep" option to simulate old-school auto-transmissions.
Yes, thats correct. Thats how roll mode works. The mode that was added later was "hold". The car has had creep and roll since late 2018 at least, when I got mine. Perhaps you got yours before I got mine.
If you were so tired you couldnt feel the car rolling forward, or that your foot had "eased off the brake" thats another issue entirely, at least in my opinion, and doesnt have anything at all to do with "confusing brake hold". I have learned, however, that in these type threads, in general, people dont want other opinions, they want either affirmation ("yep your right, the car did it"), or silence......so.....
Right. What I was saying that there was no "Braking Mode Option", there was only a separate Creep Mode. Also is "Creep" really a brake mode?
What is confusing is that brake auto-hold works differently based on the angle of the car in "Roll" setting. Consistency (I stop the car and it t goes into brake hold) is much less confusing than the car might not go into brake hold if the slope is greater than around x degrees and you are pointing down the slope. I didn't run into this issue until I did. It was only after I experimented, after the fact, that I learned the car's behavior. I think car behavior should be intuitive and the car did not save me from myself in this situation. That the road was smooth (probably paved the day before), my Tesla has super smooth "almost-slicks" tires (Yoko A052s) and that the Tesla has super smooth brakes instead of the spongy mechanical ones like my last car, contributed to me not noticing the car was creeping forward, but then again, I may have just lost consciousness. That "Hold Mode" braking option is now default may be because Tesla believes it is the safer option.f you were so tired you couldnt feel the car rolling forward, or that your foot had "eased off the brake" thats another issue entirely, at least in my opinion, and doesnt have anything at all to do with "confusing brake hold". I have learned, however, that in these type threads, in general, people dont want other opinions, they want either affirmation ("yep your right, the car did it"), or silence......so.....
The reason for this post are:
- A warning to not be an idiot like me. If you are pointing downhill make it a habit to mash/double pump the brake to make sure it goes into auto-hold (for extra safety).
- A possible suggestion to Tesla that auto-hold should be engaged regardless after some period of time. Now there are drivability reasons for not going into hold mode on a downslope, so the delay timer could be like 2 minutes or something. Depending on the feedback in this forum, I may forward this to Tesla.
- To get feedback and knowledge, I had forgot about the "Hold" Braking Mode Option. I think I remember freaking out when this was enabled by a firmware update because my first thought was that something was wrong with my car.
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To be honest I have no idea what advantages roll mode gives. I always use hold mode and one pedal driving, feels so stress free and intrusive, honestly one of the best features of the car. I only turn on creep mode to let friends and family test drive the Tesla if they're not used to it.
I use Roll mode for a couple reasons:
1. Hold mode didnt exist on teslas when I got it, as OP says
2. Back when hold mode came out, my wife still had a ICE vehicle (a BMW X3) and I didnt want to re wire my brain from NOT automatically pushing the brake pedal when I want to stop, if I am in any vehicle other than a tesla.
3. I still have a desire for #2 ( to NOT re-wire my brain away from "stop" = pushing brake pedal.)
Note that I am completely comfortable with regen, and most of the time I can regen brake down to a point where I only have to lightly touch the brake pedal... but I do still have to move my foot to the brake pedal, just like in a "regular" car. I want that to continue to be automatic.
Humans are super adaptable. Using one pedal driving will get a person used to NOT pushing the brake in any other circumstance. When my wife had her X3 still, every time I drove it, I got slightly disoriented when I took my foot of the brake, and the car just continued "hurtling" forward without slowing down in the slightest. Only took a minute or two to get re acquainted, but I definitely did not (and do not) want any "re acquainting" with a brake pedal.
Makes sense. But why not use creep mode in order to make the car feel even more like a normal auto transmission?
Good question. The answer for me is, I am not looking for it to feel like an automatic transmission. I just want to keep the muscle memory of what a brake pedal is for. I use brake hold when I stop (by pressing the brake pedal again to put it in hold mode).
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