7 speed hill descent control?

[Llyr42]

Sorry if i didn't see this in another post,

Why does a manual need hill descent control at all? can't you just drop a gear and ride out? what am i missing?

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[annieVonBebop]

It locks your speed in so you don't need to bother with any pedals to maintain a constant velocity. If you just put it in gear and you're going downhill odds are, it'll gain momentum and you need to manage it with the brake pedal or shifting so you don't over rev the engine.

(Disclaimer: am not a huge gear head and I've only tried this out once on my Badlands so far, but I think that's the gist of why it's useful

 

[Llyr42]

It locks your speed in so you don't need to bother with any pedals to maintain a constant velocity. If you just put it in gear and you're going downhill odds are, it'll gain momentum and you need to manage it with the brake pedal or shifting so you don't over rev the engine.

(Disclaimer: am not a huge gear head and I've only tried this out once on my Badlands so far, but I think that's the gist of why it's useful

I am not much a gear head, but i've had 5 speeds for most of my cars, more so for my offroad vechiles have been 5 speeds, and i've always just down shifted into low and coasted, Even my my gfs car i down shift when i come down off step hills with her auto.. I just didn't understand the point of the tech when you can do this with your pedals

 

[Aut-Lin]

Driving down a hill everyday for work I can tell you that there isn't much engine braking from the 2.3L when gearing down, so crawling low speeds not sure if the engine will do much to slow you down at all.

 

[Dusty]

We've used ours on a few long, steep descents without using the hill descent control feature. We just put it in Crawl gear and let it idle down. Tap the brake or the gas once in a while if needed. Not sure why that requires automation. Here's a pretty good demonstration of it in this video, with my wife driving as we make the steep descent on the back side of Bronco Knoll (scroll to about the 16:00 mark):

 

[Tricky Dick]

Seems kind of fluffy to me. I did a bunch of hill climbs and descents yesterday and never thought about testing it. I did get a hill descent fault, along with half dozen others, when I was doing brodies but it all went away.

 

[Llyr42]

We've used ours on a few long, steep descents without using the hill descent control feature. We just put it in Crawl gear and let it idle down. Tap the brake or the gas once in a while if needed. Not sure why that requires automation. Here's a pretty good demonstration of it in this video, with my wife driving as we make the steep descent on the back side of Bronco Knoll (scroll to about the 16:00 mark):

I love you videos btw, glad to see a base 7speed getting it.. You guys drive it like boss, Really liked your rock garden video with the base...

Side note> that was my thoughts with the crawling gear, why would there need to be another peice of code to do what i can do manual?

 

[hellahella]

Im guessing sure you can drop it into gear and youd have some engine breaking but maybe depending on your gearing, a 4.7 wouldnt slow down as much (?)

 

[AlpineDescent]

I am not much a gear head, but i've had 5 speeds for most of my cars, more so for my offroad vechiles have been 5 speeds, and i've always just down shifted into low and coasted, Even my my gfs car i down shift when i come down off step hills with her auto.. I just didn't understand the point of the tech when you can do this with your pedals

In your scenario, the car would speed up on very steep sections of a hill and slow down on flatter sections. If I understand Hill Control correctly, it will also apply brakes or adjust throttle to maintain a speed that you set.

 

[Llyr42]

In your scenario, the car would speed up on very steep sections of a hill and slow down on flatter sections. If I understand Hill Control correctly, it will also apply brakes or adjust throttle to maintain a speed that you set.

But this isn't the case for every other 5 speed i've driven I live in east TN and drove the ski resorts of NC ( Beach mtn, sugar mountain, APP State ) all the time in winter, on HWY 421 the snake a 22 mile 421 curvey play ground coming down the back side of the mountain i would just gear down into second or 3rd and not touch my breaks at all...

Does the broncos have zero engines breaking at all?

 

[AlpineDescent]

Side note> that was my thoughts with the crawling gear, why would there need to be another peice of code to do what i can do manual?

Same reason you have a cruise control when you could just do it manually with the accelerator. Hill Control will keep the speed constant regardless of what obstacles or terrain gets in your way - ie, you don’t need to tap the accelerator or brakes to maintain speed.

 

[Rivers90]

I am sure the software is already in the computer so adding hill decent control cost nothing.

It is two ways of doing the same thing but why not have both if there is no cost.

 

[webspoke]

The 7spd with 4.7 gears has a lot of engine braking in 4L - 1st gear. if you need even more you can use 4L - crawl gear. Have not tried the hill descent yet, I think it may be more useful in the auto's where you may not actively control the gear you are in, and dont have the torque convertor locked for engine braking.

 

[Dusty]

Does the broncos have zero engines breaking at all?

The 2.3 has adequate compression braking. In Crawler gear it will hold the weight of the vehicle back on as steep of an incline as the tires can grip. In higher gears, at reduced highway speeds it also functions well. I'm one of those guys who actually uses downshifting and compression braking as part of my braking during normal driving.

Perhaps the HDC is intended more for highway downhills. While I haven't even messed with Hill Descent Control, I'm guessing it applies the service brakes to hold you back if you're on a long, sustained descent and your chosen speed is in the lower RPM range for whatever gear you're in, since compression braking works better at middle RPMs. Perhaps some people aren't comfortable hearing the engine wind up a bit as it holds the car back. I'm not one of them. I would rather wind the engine up a little bit than ride the service brakes all the way down. I guess that's from my RV and truck driving experience though.

 

[Lil Red Broncette]

Side note> that was my thoughts with the crawling gear, why would there need to be another peice of code to do what i can do manual?

Most of the GOAT modes are more presets that anyone can do manually....the only aspect that I saw in the GOAT modes that I wasn't aware of a way of doing manually are the ones that change throttle response and something else I can't recall. During my Off-Rodeo drives I never messed with the GOAT modes, just manually selected what I wanted.

Anyway, it is likely just easier to leave it in there be it automatic or manual and simply call it a feature.

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