How Do You Drive On Inclined Steeps?

[GrandRk]

The key to handle incline is momentum.

Now taking this into account i am maintaining steady momentum while approaching incline, i can see some truck is already climbing but with very low speed. Now as my speed is more hence i reach close to the truck and remove my leg or decrease pressure from accelerator, this technically make my engine struggle or get stall at the peak.

Now how to tackle such situations ?

 

[Sidd7hartha]

Moving to 2nd gear may be a solution I presume.

 

[Figoian]

The key to handle incline is momentum.

Now taking this into account i am maintaining steady momentum while approaching incline, i can see some truck is already climbing but with very low speed. Now as my speed is more hence i reach close to the truck and remove my leg or decrease pressure from accelerator, this technically make my engine struggle or get stall at the peak.

Now how to tackle such situations ?

Firstly, if you can see it ahead, better to slow off as getting closer to such a big vehicle in such an incline can be seriously bad. Moreover, his rearward visibility would be zero. You have to cut down to the lower or lowest gear (depending on the speed, distance and vehicles behind you etc.) and maintain the engine to be alive. If your's a diesel car, no need to worry about stalling even at the lower gears as the enormous low end torque will take care of it even with minimal or zero throttle input. In case of petrol, you will have to maintain a steady throttle with moderate clutch to avoid stalling. Also, indicate the truck guy in someway by honking or flashing the headlight for him to be aware of your presence.

 

[GrandRk]

Moving to 2nd gear may be a solution I presume.

I am already in second gear then it becomes bit complex situation

Firstly, if you can see it ahead, better to slow off as getting closer to such a big vehicle in such an incline can be seriously bad. Moreover, his rearward visibility would be zero. You have to cut down to the lower or lowest gear (depending on the speed, distance and vehicles behind you etc.) and maintain the engine to be alive. If your's a diesel car, no need to worry about stalling even at the lower gears as the enormous low end torque will take care of it even with minimal or zero throttle input. In case of petrol, you will have to maintain a steady throttle with moderate clutch to avoid stalling. Also, indicate the truck guy in someway by honking or flashing the headlight for him to be aware of your presence.

I am not going very close to truck and have maintained safe distance, but its speed is very slow and there is no situation of overtaking. In such situation either my petrol 1.2 L stalls or i need to brake and put it back to 1st gear applying hill climbing techniques.

The complexity of this situation worsens when somebody behind me gets panic on his windtone horns because as per him the truck ahead of me is still moving and i have stopped in between breaking his momentum like

Please pour your thoughts as one of my friend who is newbie in driving has came across such situation though he knows all techniques of climbing. Due to this he has lost his confidence of driving in ghats and has never taken his family out of city.

 

[Figoian]

I am already in second gear then it becomes bit complex situation



I am not going very close to truck and have maintained safe distance, but its speed is very slow and there is no situation of overtaking. In such situation either my petrol 1.2 L stalls or i need to brake and put it back to 1st gear applying hill climbing techniques.

The complexity of this situation worsens when somebody behind me gets panic on his windtone horns because as per him the truck ahead of me is still moving and i have stopped in between breaking his momentum like

Please pour your thoughts as one of my friend who is newbie in driving has came across such situation though he knows all techniques of climbing. Due to this he has lost his confidence of driving in ghats and has never taken his family out of city.

Yes, as you said, the situation can be tricky and every such situation is unique as we can't be prepared with a general thumb rule.

I would say, Brake - Shift to lowest gear (as much the engine could take it and be alive) - Manage with accelerator and clutch.

Vehicles behind you can certainly get panic. But we can do least about it. As a thumb rule of driving, one should watch and act according to the other ahead of them. I would simply don't care them even if they honk or irritate, at least to keep myself cool and handle the situation better. At the same time, would ensure that nothing was done to jeopardize the rear ones, panic braking for one.

 

[incarnation]

Now if i may ask, what if the hand brakes aren't working and you are on a slanted road where at the back you have a vehicle, If you go back you are going to hit the vehicle. and the vehicle in front of you halts. you apply your brakes and get your vehicle to halt now the front car moves. What then. you cant go back as will hit the car at the back. what do you do then. I know the answer but think.
yes there is a point in clutch where even if you are not braking the clutch itself will prevent the car from moving or else you can keep your right leg crossed with the toe pressed on the brakes and ankle above accelerator once you slowly remove the Toe from brakes pressing the ankle on the accelerator while you remove your toe from the brakes. this is definitely a tried and tested method.

 

[Figoian]

Now if i may ask, what if the hand brakes aren't working and you are on a slanted road where at the back you have a vehicle, If you go back you are going to hit the vehicle. and the vehicle in front of you halts. you apply your brakes and get your vehicle to halt now the front car moves. What then. you cant go back as will hit the car at the back. what do you do then. I know the answer but think.
yes there is a point in clutch where even if you are not braking the clutch itself will prevent the car from moving or else you can keep your right leg crossed with the toe pressed on the brakes and ankle above accelerator once you slowly remove the Toe from brakes pressing the ankle on the accelerator while you remove your toe from the brakes. this is definitely a tried and tested method.

I think, this has been discussed earlier in this thread, and mostly everyone disagreed using handbrake to climb. Moreover the fact is, handbrakes do not support for incline over 30 degrees.

The heal-toe method is by and large not feasible in most of the cars by their pedal positions. And in a panic or even urgent situations, not a choice at all. Managing with ABC pedals is the only safe choice, though it's tough.

 

[Kichu]

Hi GrandRk ,

In the case of steep incline, remember your vehicle should in the 1st gear upto 20-25kmph or even more (It varies according to the incline).

You said you were driving in 2nd gear, so I suppose you were climbing the incline at 30kmph. So when you found a vehicle infront of you moving at a very slow speed, then all you can do is drive at the same speed of the vehicle ahead of you with a safe distance. (If its not possible to overtake)

Even though its a slow moving traffic you must leave approx 2-3meters distance ahead in the case of steep incline. So now our aim is to reduce the speed of our car to the speed of the vehicle ahead BEFORE REACHING THE 3 METER DISTANCE.


Case 1: Your speed is 30kmph in 2nd gear and the speed of vehicle infront is 20-25 kmph.
Here all you need to do is reduce the pressure on the accelerator pedal. Remember, dont take off the foot from the accelerator completely which will results in loss of momentum, instead you just need to reduce the pressure. and maintain the speed of the vehicle ahead with a safe distance.

Case 2: Your speed is 30kmph in 2nd gear and the speed of the vehicle ahead is 10kmph
In this case, definitely you need to shift to 1st gear to maintain a speed of 10kmph.
All you need to do is just before reaching a distance of 5m slowly downshift to 1st gear and maintain the speed. No need to apply the brake to slow down, taking off the foot from the accelerator for shifting the gear is enough to slow it down.

Case 3:Your speed is more than 30-40kmph in 2nd gear and the speed of the vehicle ahead is 10kmph and the distance between you and the vehicle ahead is less than 5 meters, Here you must apply the brakes to slow it down and quickly downshift to 1st and you must realise that YOU WERE DRIVING AT THE WRONG SPEED.

Since its a petrol car, always be prepared to downshift. Always leave a steady 2-3 meters when following a heavy vehicle which is struggling to climb unless you dont have a way to overtake.


NOTE: Don't ever force a loaded truck or other heavy vehicles to brake when they are moving in their momentum. Always be sure our overtaking in such situations wont give them any pain

Regards.,

 

[max_demon]

I use Hill hold very useful feature as there's no rolling back ever.

 

[Kichu]

I use Hill hold very useful feature as there's no rolling back ever.

In you car is that a default feature or do you need to activate whenever you want?

 

[max_demon]

In you car is that a default feature or do you need to activate whenever you want?

its by default when it senses incline, we can't turn off manually. (On VW Vento TSI)

 

[Lameassonwheels]

Situation:You are a newbie driver in a petrol car, stuck in a steep. The car behind you is honking like crazy and you started getting panicked!. The road in front is either free or there is a vehicle in some distance.

Things to do: Apply handbrake. Don't give ear to the other guy's horn till you get out of this.
Press the brake and clutch pedals fully. Now release the handbrake.
Slightly release the clutch pedal by a bit. Now slowly release the brake a little and check if the vehicle is able to stay steady with clutch alone, without any backward momentum. If its still showing a tendency to roll backwards, depress the clutch pedal some more and repeat the above procedure. Continue till vehicle is not moving in reverse direction with clutch alone. Now take your foot off from the brake pedal and gradually press the accelerator pedal. This will be slightly noisy but the car will move forward, now increase the acceleration gradually and slightly release the clutch at the same time. This way you will gain some confidence and gradually you will get the "feel of clutch" and then you can figure out improvements in this method by yourself.
@Kichu, Hill hold control is a feature some cars have. It measures the body tilt with a sensor and prevent the vehicle from rolling back even if the brake is released. There is a feature called hill descent control as well.

 

[Kichu]

its by default when it senses incline, we can't turn off manually. (On VW Vento TSI)

Its really a very good feature, but the problem that I found in this is
Imagine, we stopped on a steep incline and waiting for the vehicle infront of us to move ahead. So we slotted the gear in 1st and both the clutch and the brake pedals are fully depressed.

When the vehicle ahead moves forward, using this hill hold feature we can take off effortlessly.

But what if the vehicle infront of us lost control and rolls back.? Just by releasing the brake wont helps in moving the car backward to make some room infront of us. I think here we have to shift the gear to either neutral or reverse to move backward which is a bit time consuming practice especially when we are in a panic situation.

Keep this in mind and always keep plenty of space infront in the case of very steep incline. Now a days there are lots of new drivers who are yet to become expert in the case of climbing hills and not all will have hill hold feature

@Kichu, Hill hold control is a feature some cars have. It measures the body tilt with a sensor and prevent the vehicle from rolling back even if the brake is released. There is a feature called hill descent control as well.

Thanks for the explanation. Anyways I got to know about this feature before. Here I just wanted to know whether it can be deactivated by the driver.

 

[Sidd7hartha]

and not all will have hill hold feature
Thanks for the explanation. Anyways I got to know about this feature before. Here I just wanted to know whether it can be deactivated by the driver.

Is it possible to install this facility in a car which i s not equipped with this feature?

 

[Arijitb]

And any incline with Stop & Go Traffic Situation (For Newbie Only) - Turn Off the Car's A/C Unit. So that all Torque from engine can be use for this maneuver.