[MagSS]

Ending up in a pond or worse if a child happens to be behind the car. Thanks for sharing the info.

[IAI80]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

Yeah, 1.5 years of ownership before I made that mistake. I can see how it was overlooked.

Hearing that whirring sound of the brake disengaging and watching the car start to roll away was a pretty intense experience and could easily end badly! I would not be surprised if that was what happened with the blue ZLE Scottyz mentioned, ending up in a pond is actually a great outcome vs having the car hit someone.

A few weeks ago very early in the morning I swiped my card to a secure parking lot at work, the gate came up and I drove through. As I went to close the window the car very abruptly decelerated. I thought I hit something in the dark at first. It was then I realized that I had engaged the E-brake instead on the window switch. I’ve driven a car with power window switches on the center console in the past, but not recently. So how I managed to do that stupid stunt after driving this car for over 2 years is beyond me. It would not of happened with a traditional mechanical E-brake. From pure feel though, it is similar to a window switch that a not with it brain can happily activate.

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

Hi! We agree with the thread title that you never want to mistake the hill start assist feature with the electronic park brake; however, there are a few things to clarify regarding these features. The hill start assist feature will only activate under certain set of conditions otherwise the feature will not hold the brakes.

Here is the chart of hill start assist grade activations for all of the 6th generation Camaros.

Variant HSA Grade Activation
All Manual Transmissions 5%
LTG/LGX/LT1 Automatic Transmissions 8.5%
LT4 Automatic Transmissions 10%

For Hill Start Assist to activate and hold the brakes in a manual transmission Camaro, all of the following must be true:

1. Engine running
2. Clutch pressed in
3. Transmission placed in any forward gear or neutral on an incline >5%, or if the transmission is placed in reverse gear or neutral on a decline >5%
4. Brake pedal applied on the grade, then released to activate Hill Start Assist
Hill Start Assist will deactivate and release the brakes in a manual transmission Camaro when any of the following occurs:
1. 2 second automatic timeout
2. Driver releases the clutch pedal
3. Engine is shut off
4. Transmission gear is shifted from Forward to Reverse, or if the transmission gear is shifted from Reverse to Forward
5. Driver seatbelt unbuckled during an active hill start assist brake hold
6. Driver door opened during an active hill start assist brake hold

For Hill Start Assist to activate and hold the brakes in an automatic transmission Camaro, all of the following must be true:
1. Engine running
2. Transmission placed in any forward gear on an incline greater than the percent noted in the grade chart, or if the transmission is placed in reverse gear on a decline greater than the percent noted in the grade chart
3. Brake pedal applied on the grade, then released to activate Hill Start Assist
Hill Start Assist will deactivate and release the brakes in an automatic transmission Camaro when any of the following occurs:
4. 2 second automatic timeout
5. Driver applies the accelerator pedal to accelerate
6. Engine is shut off
7. Transmission is shifted out of Drive when on an incline, or if the transmission is shifted out of Reverse on a decline
8. Driver seatbelt unbuckled during an active hill start assist brake hold
9. Driver door opened during an active hill start assist brake hold
Note that for both transmissions, the following conditions will still allow Hill Start Assist to hold brake pressure for 2 seconds and will not cause an early termination:
1. Driver door is opened before activating hill start assist, then during the hill start assist brake pressure hold, the driver seatbelt is unbuckled
2. Driver seat belt is unlatched before activating hill start assist, then during the hill start assist brake pressure hold, the driver door is opened
3. Both the driver door is open and the driver seat belt is unlatched before activating hill start assist
The hill start assist feature was calibrated to allow enough time to safety accelerate up a hill, but short enough that the driver notices the brake pressure release prior to exiting the car.

We hope this helps!

Aleigha W.

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by Chevrolet Customer Svc

Hi! We agree with the thread title that you never want to mistake the hill start assist feature with the electronic park brake; however, there are a few things to clarify regarding these features. The hill start assist feature will only activate under certain set of conditions otherwise the feature will not hold the brakes.

Here is the chart of hill start assist grade activations for all of the 6th generation Camaros.

Variant HSA Grade Activation
All Manual Transmissions 5%
LTG/LGX/LT1 Automatic Transmissions 8.5%
LT4 Automatic Transmissions 10%

For Hill Start Assist to activate and hold the brakes in a manual transmission Camaro, all of the following must be true:

1. Engine running
2. Clutch pressed in
3. Transmission placed in any forward gear or neutral on an incline >5%, or if the transmission is placed in reverse gear or neutral on a decline >5%
4. Brake pedal applied on the grade, then released to activate Hill Start Assist
Hill Start Assist will deactivate and release the brakes in a manual transmission Camaro when any of the following occurs:
1. 2 second automatic timeout
2. Driver releases the clutch pedal
3. Engine is shut off
4. Transmission gear is shifted from Forward to Reverse, or if the transmission gear is shifted from Reverse to Forward
5. Driver seatbelt unbuckled during an active hill start assist brake hold
6. Driver door opened during an active hill start assist brake hold

For Hill Start Assist to activate and hold the brakes in an automatic transmission Camaro, all of the following must be true:
1. Engine running
2. Transmission placed in any forward gear on an incline greater than the percent noted in the grade chart, or if the transmission is placed in reverse gear on a decline greater than the percent noted in the grade chart
3. Brake pedal applied on the grade, then released to activate Hill Start Assist
Hill Start Assist will deactivate and release the brakes in an automatic transmission Camaro when any of the following occurs:
4. 2 second automatic timeout
5. Driver applies the accelerator pedal to accelerate
6. Engine is shut off
7. Transmission is shifted out of Drive when on an incline, or if the transmission is shifted out of Reverse on a decline
8. Driver seatbelt unbuckled during an active hill start assist brake hold
9. Driver door opened during an active hill start assist brake hold
Note that for both transmissions, the following conditions will still allow Hill Start Assist to hold brake pressure for 2 seconds and will not cause an early termination:
1. Driver door is opened before activating hill start assist, then during the hill start assist brake pressure hold, the driver seatbelt is unbuckled
2. Driver seat belt is unlatched before activating hill start assist, then during the hill start assist brake pressure hold, the driver door is opened
3. Both the driver door is open and the driver seat belt is unlatched before activating hill start assist
The hill start assist feature was calibrated to allow enough time to safety accelerate up a hill, but short enough that the driver notices the brake pressure release prior to exiting the car.

We hope this helps!

Aleigha W.

Thanks for weighing in!

I'll have to experiment with this and I'll repost after I attempt to get my car to do the same thing it did that made me start this thread.

One thing is for certain though, the car's brake was holding the car in place and after I got out, I heard the whirring noise that happens when the brake is engaged or disengaged, this made me turn around and look at my car just as it proceeded to start rolling away.

It is possible I opened the door and unlatched the belt before turning the motor off, there isn't much extra room in the garage and I like to be able to walk behind the car, this means the car must be within a couple inches of hitting what's in front of it. Sometimes I open the door to check to make sure the car is parked exactly where I want it before turning the motor off, from looking at the info you gave this must have been yet another contributing factor. As I said, I know I didn't do everything correctly...

This time, I'll be staying in the car...