pureity

Tim, I would say that the Bradford Citroen dealer hasn't a clue. Mine works with Air Con on and Head lights on. If the Head Lights are on then ECO doesn't stay on for long but without the Headlights on Air Con and Radio on there is no problem. It all depends on the load on the battery, but at least it should kick in. Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that the dealers don't really have a clue what they are dealing with. Paul.

I have made Citroen aware of what happed. I have had no response to my email, which to me says they know they have a problem with this technology. Paul.

Alan, Did you send the email and if so what was the response? I had a situation over the weekend when my wife was driving. Not knowing when the Hill Start Assist is on, there is a temptation to hit the accelerator as quick as you can after releasing the breaks. On this occasion, Hill Start Assist was on and she managed to drag the locked rear wheels across the road until the system released the rear breaks. Another case of being unsure if it is active or not. Hopefully, Citroen will implement the Hill Start Assist notification light I suggested. Paul.

Here is an update to my suggestion to Citroen. They have acknowledged it as a fair point and have passed it on to the development team. Whether they will implement it is any bodies guess. Paul.

No idea which country he is in, but can understand the India suggestion. Tonight I sent him a suggestion. Thinking about the issue, the problem is the uncertainty of whether Hill Start Assist has been activated (i.e. going to Hold the vehicle), depending on the incline, Eco and brake pedal depressed. My idea is to have an indication on the dashboard if the system has been activated. So if you find yourself on an incline, stopped, engine off or not, if the indicator is showing, you know you are safe from roll back, if not and you are worried, you apply the hand break. I'm sure this isn't too hard to program into the system and be issued as a software update. I believe Mercedes show 'Hold' on the dash when their Hill Start Assist had been activated. Paul.

Alan, The contact I have is Gurjit Chinji, Customer Support Manager, Tel 0844 463 3500, email: cuk_contactcentre@citroen.com Paul.

Alan, You are absolutely right. You need to do as I have done and anyone else who have this issue and post a comment on their Facebook page. The more that complain, the better chance of getting the issue fixed. Now that I have got a name at Citroen I thought I would ask another question that was bothering me. I will open another post regarding Automatic Headlight Dip. Paul.

Here is the Citroen response to my Facebook posting: Thanks for getting in touch with us via Facebook in France. As you're a UK based customer, I've been asked to respond to the concern you've raised with the hill start function on your Citroën C4 Picasso. The assisted hill start function is designed to help you in the event of a hill start and isn't a fail-safe piece of equipment to be solely relied upon. As a result it kicks in where you’d normally have to use the handbrake to stop from rolling back. The incline will need to be at a certain degree for this to kick in automatically and on slight inclines it won't. I take your comments on board that this doesn’t kick in when you expect it to. But, bear in mind that if the hill start function activated every time you stopped, the slight pause as the brakes disengaged when you pull off would get very annoying. If you feel the vehicle may roll back and the hill assist won't come into play, please use the manual handbrake. The only piece of advice I can offer in using the function is to ensure you come to a complete stop with your foot on the brake to activate it, rather than simply rolling to a stop. If this still concerns you the ECO function can be easily disabled in the vehicle settings screen. As we take all customer feedback seriously, I've passed your comments onto out product development team. I hope with this further explanation and the fact the dealer hasn't found a fault with your vehicle, you have the peace of mind that your vehicles operating as it should be. Thanks again for bringing this matter to our attention. ------------------------------------------------------------------ I'll just have to use the hand break! Paul.

Here is an update following posting a message on the Citroen Facebook Page. They have requested the Vin No. and Point of Purchase so they can raise it with customer service. At least they got back to me. I will keep you posted on developments. Paul.

I will put a post on their facebook page and will report back with any answers.

Thanks for the welcome to this forum. My dealer has spoken to Citroen about the issue. Their response was, it is working as designed! If this is the case, the design needs to be re-visited and improved. Is there not a road safety body in the UK that could take up this issue with Citroen?

I have exactly the same issue, brand new C4 Picasso (5 seater) 1/3/14. The issue is only apparent when the engine shuts down with foot on the break and at a complete stop. On the level when releasing the break, the engine starts and away you go. However, if you are on an incline on releasing the break, the engine starts but the vehicle rolls back, which could be up to a foot or more depending on the incline, before the engine holds the vehicle. This is quite dangerous, especially if a car is behind you and too close, you stand the chance of hitting it. I have been back to the dealers about this problem several times. The first time I was told the car has to learn how you drive and will adjust to your driving style. What a load of rubbish! So when my wife drives, it has to start learning all over again. Then when I drive after her, it has to start learning again. Complete and utter tosh! I went back again, this time the salesman and the manager both drove the car and witnessed the issue and agreed that it wasn't right. The car was booked in so they could investigate the issue. That day the main mechanic looked at the issue, took me out for a drive to demonstrate how the Hill Start Assist works. His demonstration showed that the car would roll back when releasing the break when the engine was in Eco mode, until the car had learnt the environment, then Hill Start Assist would work. Learning the environment took quite some time. His explanation of how Hill Start Assist works was that the system uses the ABS system to hold the breaks on for 2 seconds, But for the ABS system to work the engine needs to be running. So there is a brief period when the ABS doesn't hold the brakes on during the time the engine starts and ABS kicks in. This is surely a bad design issue and an unsafe issue. Clearly, the car is virtually run by computers. The simple solution to the dangerous problems would be for the computer to detect the car was stationary, the foot break was depressed and the engine had stopped under ECO mode, then apply the electronic Hand Break. Simple! Then when the foot break is released, the car is held by the Hand Break, the engine starts, accelerate, Hand Break comes off and away you go. No more dangerous rolling back! I have got into the habit of manually applying the Hand Break when on an incline when a car is behind. The problem is very unnerving. My wife is very reluctant to drive the car because of this issue. Remember your driving test, when at a junction and stopped, ''apply your Hand Break!' So you don't roll back and hit the car behind!