I use my hand brake to prevent the considerable weight of the car urging the drive shafts to rotate backwards when I want them to go forwards! I believe I am reducing strain on the CVT belts and bearings.

 

I have driven cars with 400+ HP and automatic transmissions and still had them roll backwards given the right hill and/or condition.

We all fall victim to a couple of unfortunate things in this situation. The first one being gravity, the other thing being the fact that gravity is inescapable.

 

Mine always sticks when I release the brake on a hill. However, there have been a few times when I wasn't on a steep hill that the car autostopped and rolled back slightly when I took my foot off the brake. Perhaps it only works on a steep grade?

 

Now I wondering if yesterday's roll backs I experienced were a fluke. I followed the same route today and the braking system held at both spots where I rolled back yesterday. Both of them were at 4-way stops and maybe with the heavier traffic yesterday I may have stopped/braked differently at the stops. I also stopped on other inclines today and the "Creep Aid System" worked at all of them.

Mark

 

I just hope Honda engineers have a solution to this. I don't want to have to be consciously aware of every stop. Its annoying to say the least. What happened if I hit another car behind me? Recall to fix the problem I say.

 

The reason you are encountering this is that the clutching mechanism in the CVT is more like a manual transmission than an atuomatic -- there is not fluid torque converter, so when the car drops below about 8mph, the clutch will actually go into "creep" mode where the main locking clutch is out, and a smaller creeping clutch that can slip is connected to allow the car to roll around parkgin lots and such without stalling the engine. This is electronically controlled so this is why accleeration can be "jerky" at these speeds. When the brake pedal is engaged, even this creeping clutch is disengaged, so it's completely out of gear.

The only time I've rolled back on hills is when I have gone from the gas to the brake too fast, such as when auto-stop goes off when I don't expect it to, as I manage to rev the engine before the clutch has a chance to re-engage.

My scariest incident in the car was in the rain one time when the car auto-stopped as I reached a stop sign where I immediately wanted to turn left into an intersection. I had to wait for the engine to wind down ,then back up. By then, I was already on the gas pedal, so when the clutch reengagd, I was revving so much I actually caused the wheels to spin, when I finally got traction, I had to gun it just to make it through the intersection in time. (this is why I decided to ditch the low rolling resistance tires... they should not have spun in that situation)

On very steep hills though, what I will do is I will let go of the brake fro a second, to restart the engine, and quickly press down on it again hard right before a red light is about to go green -- this will restart the engine and give the clutch ample time to re-engage. If someone is very close behind you, you could even pump the brake pedal without releasing it before you go -- this will use up the brake assist vacuum and cause the engine to come back on without ever releasing the brake.

 

DT,

Which tires did you switch to and how has it affected handling, MPG & acceleration?

I was a little shocked (had full control of the car) when I squealed the tires taking a 30 MPH highway ramp at around 50 MPH and braking and decelerating. I used to take the same turn in my Acura TL Type S at 50 MPH without any issue whatsoever...

I know the HCH II isn't going to be featured in the Fast & the Furious III, Tokyo Drift, but I still don't want to be drifting on a turn

 

When I first took delivery of my HCH II I also experienced this roll back. It quite frankly scared the heck out of me. Thank goodness I was not close enough to anyone to hit them. It seemed to do it every time the auto stop engaged and I was on an incline. Well since I read this post I have been trying to get my HCH II to do this rollback and I am quite surprised now I CANNOT make it do it. I have even gone as far as to take my foot completely off the brake but NOT apply the accelerator and to my surprise the car just sits there stationary. No more rollback at all. I am wondering if perhaps it just needed to go through some sort of break-in period to work itself out. I am now at 6,000 miles.

 

I had reported earlier in this thread that I had experienced rollback twice in one day. Since that day I have been trying to reproduce the rollback and I haven't been able to, the brakes have held on all inclines. All I can think of is that I didn't come to a complete stop and therefore the "Creep Aid System" didn't engage.

Mark

 

My experience is that it is related to the amount of the incline. It always holds on steep hills... questionable on slight grades.