Hill Start Assist in Uconnect

[lynne]

Hey everyone, I wanted to find out who has the feature Hill Start Assist in their Uconnect?

I have only had my Journey for about 8 weeks. Hill Start Assist was in the soft keys in Uconnect 8.4N which was activated on a test drive. I ended up buying the vehicle and never disabled it.

My Journey has since been in for it's first complimentary check at 1000kms and the service department also did an update on my radio. Now my Hill Start Assist option has disappeared in Uconnect.

Our service department over here in Australia were adamant I never had the option on my screen, as it is a standard feature that is turned on all the time. I am grateful the sales person remembers activating it on the test drive. It has since been tested and it doesn't work, but it did work before the update. This has been going on for about 3-4 weeks and only yesterday did the service department agree that I should have the option on my screen, hallelujah. And the agreement only happened because my book tells me it is in my Uconnect.

But here in lies another problem - they are now saying that my car may have had US settings and they can't do anything about it. What the? Anyway as they don't know how to get it back, they say they will need the car for a few days to try figure it out.

Is it really that hard - they took it away, why can't they put it back?

I'm also pretty sure I had the compass in my soft keys in the settings too, but it's not there, another one they are saying I shouldn't have.

It's not that I need Hill Start Assist with my driving, it's the fact that we purchased the vehicle with it and we want it back.

Appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

[dhh3]

Hill Start Assist, at least in a Subaru, puts the brakes on when you are starting on a hill with a manual transmission. As soon as you give it gas, and release the clutch, the brakes release. Are you saying that you have a manual transmission? This is not offered in the States, so it would not be a function of Uconnect.

[jkeaton]

Agree ^^. Do you have a manual transmission?

[bramfrank]

I thought the same, but it seems that we have it in the Journey and that, at least as far as the owner's manual and the 2013 dealer presentation for Canada is concerned, we can also have a button in the settings menu to enable it or disable it, not that I've ever seen evidence of it.

[bigtsr]

I have it in my 2016 Jeep Cherokee LTD with 9 spd auto

and it is indeed enabled/disabled thru 8.4 AN

settings.

[dhh3]

bigtsr, does your Jeep have Start/Stop at traffic lights? This is the first time I have ever heard of Hill Assist on an automatic transmission. Usually, the torque converter stall speed take care of this.

[lynne]

Hi everyone.

Sorry, yes I have automatic transmission.

[bigtsr]

bigtsr, does your Jeep have Start/Stop at traffic lights? This is the first time I have ever heard of Hill Assist on an automatic transmission. Usually, the torque converter stall speed take care of this.

Yes it has ESS(start/stop).

I have driven a 2015 Chrysler 200 2.4 L automatic that also had "hill assist" setting via base Uconnect.

[dhh3]

With engine stop/start I see the need for Hill Assist, because someone will not put their foot on the brake while stopped on a hill, and sue FCA. Just like the guy in Florida who was killed in his Tesla while on Auto Pilot. He was playing video games, and the car drove itself under the trailer of a semi, because the cameras are too low to detect a semi trailer. Go figure.

I read today where Tesla recommends that the driver keep his hands on the wheel while in Auto Pilot.

Edited July 13, 2016 by dhh3

[jkeaton]

With engine stop/start I see the need for Hill Assist, because someone will not put their foot on the brake while stopped on a hill, and sue FCA. Just like the guy in Florida who was killed in his Tesla while on Auto Pilot. He was playing video games, and the car drove itself under the trailer of a semi, because the cameras are too low to detect a semi trailer. Go figure.

I read today where Tesla recommends that the driver keep his hands on the wheel while in Auto Pilot.

Personally, I keep my foot firmly on the brake while stopped. No need for "hill assist". Don't dven need it on my manual transmission cars cause I know how to drive. Lol

[lynne]

bigtsr do you have a compass in your soft keys in Uconnect or in EVIC?

[bigtsr]

Yes in both EVIC display and on the Uconnect screen.

The system is a VP4 RA4 with HD radio.

[bigtsr]

Hill start assist only works when you are at a fixed

amount of angle or so it seems to me , only have

1900 km on the Jeep.

[lynne]

Thanks bigtsr, I knew mine was in the uconnect as well as EVIC before this update they performed. However my service department again were saying I never had it.

Yes you are correct, according to my manual the hill needs to be 6% or greater, which indeed it was in my uconnect and did work for me - before the update.

I'm not sure what my system is, it seems anyone I speak with at the dealership doesn't know much at all about the Dodge brand. How do I find out what my system is?

[bramfrank]

5 hours ago, lynne said:

Thanks bigtsr, I knew mine was in the uconnect as well as EVIC before this update they performed. However my service department again were saying I never had it.

Yes you are correct, according to my manual the hill needs to be 6% or greater, which indeed it was in my uconnect and did work for me - before the update.

I'm not sure what my system is, it seems anyone I speak with at the dealership doesn't know much at all about the Dodge brand. How do I find out what my system is?

Be aware that his is not a Journey and that his is also a different uConnect than we all have.

As I wrote, I saw reference in the manual to the feature and mention that there *might* be a button, but I'm on my second Journey and I know others with the model and I have never actually seen a button on any of them that allows enabling/disabling it.

Yours may have shown the button, but clearly the updated firmware doesn't have it - downgrading, even if it was possible (because it may not be) is likely not recommended, because updates are issued for good and valid reasons.  And especially because it is an almost passive feature in that you need to be on a steep grade for it to function and it's operation is not intrusive, being able to turn it off is a dubious requirement.  Making Dodge's and the dealer's lives difficult could cost you goodwill should something come up in the future, so maybe it would be an idea to let them know how much you appreciate their efforts, and to let them off the hook for this?

Edited July 15, 2016 by bramfrank

[lynne]

Just an update on my issues in case anyone else encounters the same problem;

The dealer is replacing my radio and we are waiting for it to arrive for installation. The dealer found the software update they performed actually downgraded my system. Their update was older than my existing software. The original software was to be reinstalled however they received errors and couldn't. They tried installing the update again and received more errors. They then looked into all the vehicles information more thoroughly and found a lot of other anomalies, so the decision was made to replace the whole unit.

I'm eagerly waiting for that to happen, hopefully next week.

 

And just so no-one makes an incorrect assumption - I do have a very good relationship with my Dodge dealer, they have thanked me for being so patient whilst they found the problem.

[bramfrank]

Interesting news, especially since your vehicle is 2 years old and there have been several updates issues in the intervening 2+ years since it was manufactured.

Dealers tend to try and install updates from CDs (for the 4.3) or DVDs.  The radio is very picky about this and USB updates tend to work MUCH better - if he was using optical media for the update your dealer might want to try copying the CD/DVD to a FAT formatted USB key and trying that way.

Do you have the version numbers for the original software and the current one in your radio?  If not, then you can read out the current version at least from the dealer menu (You do this by pressing the left side temperature 'up' and 'down' buttons simultaneously, along with the rear defrost button and hold them all for about 10 seconds).   I realise that they may be different for Australia than for us in North America, but it would be interesting to see what versions are at play here.

Of course the new radio they get may, or may not have the right firmware.

[lynne]

On 8/1/2016 at 10:01 PM, bramfrank said:

Do you have the version numbers for the original software and the current one in your radio?  If not, then you can read out the current version at least from the dealer menu (You do this by pressing the left side temperature 'up' and 'down' buttons simultaneously, along with the rear defrost button and hold them all for about 10 seconds).   I realise that they may be different for Australia than for us in North America, but it would be interesting to see what versions are at play here.

Of course the new radio they get may, or may not have the right firmware.

 

Had been trying the sequence to get into dealer menu but didn't work so I forgot about it for a while.

I only tried the up and down buttons with front defrost button yesterday and it worked.

I'm assuming it is the SW version you wanted to know? It is 15/09/D1

 

[lynne]

An update:

Had the phone call that my new radio had arrived and booked my R/T in.

Unfortunately after spending 5 hours in the customer waiting area (with a 2yr old - the original time frame given was 1.5hrs) my old radio is back in. The new radio didn't fix the issues but came with a new one and that was the sat nav not working, so my old one went back in as the sat nav worked.

The dealer is now awaiting further answers from higher up. They did mention that the update that had been issued is now on hold so it was more than likely other R/T's had the same problem as mine.

I'm patiently waiting for an answer.....

[bramfrank]

6 hours ago, lynne said:

 

Had been trying the sequence to get into dealer menu but didn't work so I forgot about it for a while.

I only tried the up and down buttons with front defrost button yesterday and it worked.

I'm assuming it is the SW version you wanted to know? It is 15/09/D1

 

 

That's the most recently released TGM firmware, and the version specified for the R65 recall for nav-equipped vehicles - it's been out since May 28, 2015 - about 15 months now, so it isn't just '16 R/Ts.

You can always try downgrading to the previous release, which was 15.03.B2 or the one before that (14.27.B5).  I have them on my hard drive if you want to try and don't mind assuming the risk inherent in flashing these devices.

[lynne]

14 hours ago, bramfrank said:

 

That's the most recently released TGM firmware, and the version specified for the R65 recall for nav-equipped vehicles - it's been out since May 28, 2015 - about 15 months now, so it isn't just '16 R/Ts.

You can always try downgrading to the previous release, which was 15.03.B2 or the one before that (14.27.B5).  I have them on my hard drive if you want to try and don't mind assuming the risk inherent in flashing these devices.

 

Thanks bramfrank, I might just wait and see what the guys come back with first before I take you up on that offer.

[lynne]

On 8/31/2016 at 11:06 PM, bramfrank said:

 

That's the most recently released TGM firmware, and the version specified for the R65 recall for nav-equipped vehicles - it's been out since May 28, 2015 - about 15 months now, so it isn't just '16 R/Ts.

You can always try downgrading to the previous release, which was 15.03.B2 or the one before that (14.27.B5).  I have them on my hard drive if you want to try and don't mind assuming the risk inherent in flashing these devices.

Hi bramfrank,

Could I be bold and ask a dumb question......with the previous release 15.03.B2 and 14.27.B5 are you able to tell if it has the hill start assist and compass features without downloading onto my uconnect?

 

I have hit a brick wall, after 5 months the tech people are now saying my vehicle never had it, and they can't put it back, even though 3 people knew it did have features. Unfortunately the salesman that sold us the vehicle, that had been supporting us in getting these features back has now left the company.

[bramfrank]

I can't, because the only way I would be able to tell without doing handsprings would be if they embedded the display labels in cleartext in the code, which they seem to not have.

You know as much as I do about this.