Hill-descent Control

Hydronaut · Apr 5, 2007

I don't have my patriot yet, but am curious if Hill-descent Control can be disabled.

I read a post somewhere that it can. If so, where is this button located?

superdave · Apr 5, 2007

There is an esp off button in the middle of the center console. You hold that button down for about 5 seconds until you here a beep. Then its turned off.
You can see it in this picture next to the seat heater button.

Belveder · Apr 7, 2007

Can you elaborate more on this hill descent control and the functionality of esp button????Thanks.

superdave · Apr 8, 2007

hill descent control keeps the speed to 4-6 MPH when going downhill in an off roading. This way you dont have to ride the brakes and you can pay more attention to the obsticle. If in reverse, the hill descent control keeps you a 3 MPH. Im not sure what you are looking for regarding the the functionality of the esp button. ESP is the electronic stability control. When you turn it off you are getting no computer assistance for traction control. This can be good in some circumstances like in sand where you want to get some wheel spin that the computer will try to minimize. But when you turn off the esp you also turn off hill descent control as that is controled by the computer, and I would imagine that the brake traction control is as well.

richie5120 · Apr 14, 2007

so if you're towing a boat out of the water would one have this hill descent on?

BigDuke6 · May 15, 2007

So, his hill desent and ESP available on the FD1 with manual tranny? Or just on FD2 with CVT?

oldskidog · May 15, 2007

FDI and manual has ESP.

srothfuss · May 15, 2007

I thought HDC was only available on the FDII package.

ESP is a totally different animal

Claynotmud · May 15, 2007

BigDuke6 said:
So, his hill descent and ESP available on the FD1 with manual tranny? Or just on FD2 with CVT?

Hill descent is only available with FDII, ESP is available with FDI, Standard with FDII

richie5120 said:
so if you're towing a boat out of the water would one have this hill descent on?

No, Just be in low

srothfuss said:
I thought HDC was only available on the FDII package.

ESP is a totally different animal

Correct.

Hill descent basically applies the brakes for you, it does this selectively, to different wheels. I think this has to do with the anti-roll feature.

superdave · May 17, 2007

srothfuss said:
I thought HDC was only available on the FDII package.

ESP is a totally different animal

HDC is only on the FDII but it is tied into the ESP that is in FDI. The electronic stability control is your traction control and anti-roll mitigation. FDII ties some more off road programs into the computer which are deactivated when the ESP is deactivated.

Urr · Feb 18, 2009

I thought there's no HDC on FDI Compass/Patriot?

But regarding to the home page Compass 2009 has it:
http://www.jeep.com/en/2009/compass/capability/suspension/

Hill Descent Control
Hill Descent Control allows a smooth and controlled hill descent on rough or slippery terrain without the driver needing to touch the brake pedal. This system applies the brakes to each wheel individually when needed to reduce forward motion while negotiating down steep grades.

Is it a new thing for 2009?
When adding it to 2007, does it need any extra parts or just reprogramming?
Is it possible to add it to 6-speed manual (CRD)?

Tony1911 · Feb 18, 2009

Urr said:
I thought there's no HDC on FDI Compass/Patriot?

There wasn't. Now, apparently, there is.

Urr said:
Is it a new thing for 2009?
When adding it to 2007, does it need any extra parts or just reprogramming?
Is it possible to add it to 6-speed manual (CRD)?

Yes, it's new.

Can it be added at all to previous year model vehicles is a good question. Apparently a lot of the programming in MKs is tied to the VIN - no retro-fitting FDII components/programming to an FDI Patriot, for example. (Well, in theory, if you knew where the VIN was stored - should be a ROM chip somewhere, no? - and changed that to one with a different VIN...

But this is just speculation on my part.)

APT · Feb 18, 2009

Hmm, that is interesting, Urr. Looks new, but I don't see anything else referring to it including the brochure which is listed in the Patriot one. I doubt it can be added to 07/08 models as HDC requires a longitudinal accelerometer which I doubt they have.

DM6156 · Feb 18, 2009

From the 09 patriot manual PG 295-296

Hill Descent Control (HDC) — If Equipped This system maintains vehicle speed while descending hills during off-road driving situations. HDC will automatically
apply the brakes to control downhill speed to between 4 mph (7 km/h) and 6 mph (9 km/h) depending on terrain. The system is activated by placing the vehicle in “Off-Road” mode and placing the shift lever in LOW or REVERSE. Refer to “Safe Off-Road Driving” under “Starting and Operating” in Section 5.

HDC has the capability to sense terrain and will only activate when the vehicle is descending a hill. It will not activate on level ground. If desired, HDC can be fully deactivated by putting the vehicle into ESP “Full Off” mode. This is done by pressing and holding the ESP OFF button for five seconds. Refer to “Electronic Stability Program (ESP)” in this section of the manual.

HDC operation can be overridden with brake application to slow the vehicle down below the HDC control speed. Conversely, if more speed is desired during HDC control, the accelerator pedal will increase vehicle speed like
normal. When either the brake or the accelerator is released, HDC will control the vehicle back to the original set speed.

HDC is only intended for low speed off-road driving. At vehicle speeds above 31 mph (50 km/h) HDC will no longer function. If the HDC indicator light begins to flash this indicates that the brakes are getting too hot and the
vehicle should be stopped to allow the brakes to cool.

- Dan M

UPKEV · Feb 18, 2009

Just google the expedition west off road review for the patriot. It references turning the HDC on and off in real world situations.

rocal · Feb 18, 2009

I've had HDC in vehicles before, in a Land Rover Discovery and in a Freelander. I don't reckon you'd be able to retro-fit it into an FD1 Patriot, because it only works convincingly in a car whose engine is turning fairly rapidly, ie. in one with a low range box or one with an underdrive. I think there'd be a risk of a stall in an FD1 Pat. In that situation on say, mud or snow, you wouldn't have the friction underfoot to guarantee a bump-start once the car started rolling again.
I know that Freelanders don't have either low-range or underdrive but their bottom gear is, in my experience lower than the Pat.

Rocal

Go on, techno-geeks, dig out the statistics and prove me a G**-d****d liar!
I thought I'd better ditto most of that out, 'cos I know yous Yankees are nowhere near as foul-mouthed as us Euros!

DM6156 · Feb 18, 2009

good points on the FDI and gearing rocal.

In some situations you'd want to disable HDC such as in loose sand and soft mud. Wheel spin is a good thing sometimes and needed to maintain momentum.

- Dan M

Hitzy · Feb 18, 2009

rocal said:
I've had HDC in vehicles before, in a Land Rover Discovery and in a Freelander. I don't reckon you'd be able to retro-fit it into an FD1 Patriot, because it only works convincingly in a car whose engine is turning fairly rapidly, ie. in one with a low range box or one with an underdrive. I think there'd be a risk of a stall in an FD1 Pat. In that situation on say, mud or snow, you wouldn't have the friction underfoot to guarantee a bump-start once the car started rolling again.
I know that Freelanders don't have either low-range or underdrive but their bottom gear is, in my experience lower than the Pat.

Rocal

Go on, techno-geeks, dig out the statistics and prove me a G**-d****d liar!
I thought I'd better ditto most of that out, 'cos I know yous Yankees are nowhere near as foul-mouthed as us Euros!

HDC in the Patriot is 100% provided by the ABS (brakes)....not tied into the engine/tranny/gearing at all.

DJ XS · Feb 19, 2009

richie5120 said:
so if you're towing a boat out of the water would one have this hill descent on?

I had always thought about a good application to use reverse hill descent control... Yes towing it in, or out you could use this feature.

rocal · Feb 19, 2009

Hitzy, you're absolutely correct in what you say, that HDC is provided by a computerised application of the ABS system, but this is the nub of my argument. If your gearing is not low enough then the engine is not revving when you're in bottom gear. The frequent application of ABS, as happens during HDC, can result in an engine stall. This doesn't really matter too much when rock-crawling because the friction will mean that you either bump-start again instantly or you'll stay stopped, yet safely. On snow or gloopy mud the stall can result in a slide, leaving you having to do several things at once, control the car and get it quickly re-started.
Since HDC was first introduced in Europe the off-road press has regularly featured instances in which it can be thwarted, leaving you in a worse position than if you didn't have it.
I'm certainly not saying that HDC is bad. It isn't. Its absence is one of the things I miss since changing from a Freelander to a Pat. But, without a bit of education and practice it's not, by any means, the "Idiot's Answer to All Problems".
When going down steep rocky trails, like the ones in the photos of British Columbia it makes driving a pleasure; basically all you've got to do is steer. But once you're off that trail and into the squelch then the brains and the feet have just got to take over.
Rocal

Hill-descent Control

Hydronaut

superdave

Belveder

superdave

richie5120

BigDuke6

oldskidog

srothfuss

Claynotmud

superdave

Urr

Tony1911

APT

DM6156

UPKEV

rocal

DM6156

Hitzy

DJ XS

rocal

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