HOLD sometimes does not work
 

So far my brake HOLD feature has failed about 7 times and the problem is becoming more frequent. Turning the car off and then back on usually fixes the problem. The hill assist still works while on an incline.

Today it worked once on a drive and then stopped working for the rest of the drive.

I need to get the car back in to the dealer as a few other issues have been piling up but was wondering if anyone had any clues as to what can be wrong?

I pump my brake without it being on a hill and it hasnt ever worked for me. I guess I'm doing it wrong or you need to be on an incline :S

Odds are you aren't doing it wrong, it's rather simple to trigger. When I did some searching it seems like some model years of the C-Class may not have had the feature. Which is odd as I thought it was a MB standard on all vehicles.

Do you get a brief hold if you are on an incline? That doesn't show on the dash but the car won't move for about 1 second. I'm not even sure why an automatic would need a hill hold like that.

I've got to get it fixed anyway. I love the feature too much!

Hey Michail,

do you need a brake job by chance? I remember reading somewhere that if you need a brake job theres a sensor that won't let in engage all the time.

Also someone hit the sensor wire and messed theres up after a DIY brake job. I just remember reading about someones issue way back.

not sure if that will help but good luck.

Thanks, I was wondering if the pads could be the case. They were listed as good on my last visit but they did have to replace an ABS sensor and a couple other brake related items at the time.

I believe the pads could be the issue, i would talk to the dealer about that. I'm pretty sure its going to be the sensor or pad thickness.

After driving a rental for 2 weeks, other than missing the car in general the feature I missed the most was the HOLD feature. I guess its made me more of a lazy driver but I don't think i'll buy a car with out that option anytime soon.

My pads are great I still can't do sh*t

You don't want to pump the brakes to activate it. With your foot already on the brake and teh car stopped just push down further on the pedal. Could that be it?

The pre-facelift W204s do not have brake hold, they have hill start assist - but that is a totally different thing.

I doubt that pads are the problem with brake hold. Do you have anyone that could hook it up to DAS?

There's probably a fault somewhere that is disabling it. Get the car scanned fully

I've got two rattles, a fuel door that pops open, an alignment that won't hold and now the HOLD issue. Time to get to the dealer! I'll probably have a loaner for a month. :)

I had exactly the same issue a couple months ago. Took the dealer 2 days to diagnose it as the battery going bad. replaced the battery and it was fine again.

Battery should be the first suspect when you have weird things happening. But what's with battery failure at these ages? Back when I had a W203 the batteries were known to be good for 7 years and many went longer.

Way more electronics in these newer cars. Things like the a/c blower coming on after shutdown to dry the evaporator, mean the battery can easily get drained down even when it's fairly new. The routine heavy discharge is hard on the battery internally, and they just don't last as long as we are used to. 2-3 years is normal now, anything over 4 years is exemplary.

> Side note on my case

I guess it doesn't work when your not on a hill.

So yes ladies and gentlemen, mine does work turns out. Which is good news.

You're confused about what feature this thread is talking about. The 2008-2011 USDM W204s do not have brake hold. This was a new feature in this market starting with the facelift 2012 models.

Your car has hill-start assist. It will hold the car for about 2 seconds and release.

i came across this post searching about the brake hold issue. My battery is from 2012, and i leave the radio on often while in my garage. I would expect 3 years out of those super cheap, generic batteries- assuming the date is checked before purchase.

I have original batteries in my car, built September 2012, delivered October 2012

Our cars are probably from the same litter! :) I'm waiting for AAA to come out and test my battery as I type. My battery certainly has more life left it in, especially with Southern Californias version of "winter" finally over, but I get annoyed by delays and with my luck, it'll die on me on a day where its actually important I show up for work on time.

happened to me a couple months ago, replaced battery. all is fine now

The main battery in the front or the aux one in the trunk? My car starts perfectly but I think it has low voltage because the hold function stopped working gradualy. Also I have a feeling that this is related with the new error I have, the anti-theft came on and disabled my turning signals, my cruise control, wipers, radio, etc

Yes I've heard low main battery plays havoc , I've expected issues 10 months ago since this reading was taken and certainly this October gone , but it still soldiers on without issue .

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...6866c12936.jpg