Mine also takes two quick pushes of the brake pedal to engage.

I read the manual, but must have missed this feature. After reading this I tried it and got it to work the first time!

Only one "stab" is needed, but you can't have taken your foot off the pedal while coming to a stop. Those of you that are needing two "stabs" are probably taking your foot off the pedal some time during the process.

yup....brake to a stop and then without lifting your foot, just push down a little more..then release.

OK...got it done with one "stab" on the pedal....COOL!!

I knew this feature existed on my '10, but was never able to activate it until stumbling upon this thread. It's very useful at long stop lights, especially those on grade. What I particularly like is the seamless release when you depress the gas pedal. I recall my Passat which had a distinct "thud" when you would disengage the auto hold feature. Thanks to all.

mine works like this.

come to a complete stop ---- hold your foot on the brake --- press the brake petal in more. for me you only need to do this once.

Be careful about using on steep grades. At some point the car will shift into park and if you are on a steep grade it will put it in park, release the hold and slam all the weight to the tranny.

Thanks, good thread will try the feature. I use it in my Lexus but never realized MB has it as well.

Since I learned of this feature I utilize it almost everyday now,after stopping a solid re-depression of the pedal gets it done..nice option

Okay, tried it today and it works, although activation way looks a bit weird for me. I like it more at Lexus , but it seems fine with MB too.

How is yours weird? I couldn't think of a better way of implementing it (how does Lexus' work?). Mine doesn't give you any noticeable feedback other than as if you were holding the brake down yourself, and I like how they have you engage it. Apparently BMW has you activate the Hold feature, however once you do, every time you stop it automatically engages it for you. Apparently it's an annoyance to drivers as I've heard some complain that they prefer M-B's way where you choose when you want it activated and when you want to just hold the brake down yourself.

Lexus's one works similarly to BMW's. You need to enable the mode and then it gets engaged at full stop with indication on console similarly as MB has. What is weird that you need to push brake pedal really firm, but my driving style is doing everything gently. I also had a problem with my old Ford, when I pressed brakes really hard, it broke something and then my stop light were on all time and I needed to go to a shop to fix it. So I am still under an impression if I apply too much force I can break things. And since you can't engage it without slight release pressure and apply it again, it looks like an extra move for me, let's say I need to do double click instead of single click to do something.

Personally, I like BMW's hold. Just come to a stop and its on hold.

just realized tonight that I can engage hold in my AMG and still shift into N to rev at people.....and shift back to D, all while in Hold...

Bubye tranny!

yeah, I only did it once, and thanx for telling me it isn't good....
someone else may chime in now too...
but, seriously, thanx.....I had a feeling it might be weird...
what about not having the thing engaged and just revving it?

Ned,

It was stated in the owners manual. Sorry you didn't know this. Made a difference on hot days.

P.

I wish this was available as an auto feature.

What do you mean, like you can put it on "Auto Hold' where the Hold engages itself when you stop?

Because that's what my new BMW does. It's cool as you can click the button and every time the car comes to a stop, it'll automatically go into "Hold" for you.

BUT, I can't tell if I like this more than M-B's more analogue way of just pressing the brake hard when you choose. BMW seems to do lots of things to make the driver have to "work" less (i.e auto parking brake button instead of pushing that pedal in with your foot, Hold button instead of pushing the brake hard with you foot, etc.) which is more "ooh/ahh", but sometimes M-B's more "analogue" way is simpler in the long run.

I will say that as convenient as BMW's Auto-Hold button can be, I find myself using it less than M-B's "push brake Hold", so maybe M-B's way is better after all, at least subconsciously.

Exactly. Pull up somewhere, stop, let go and just hold for me baby!

As you may know, the MB "Hill Start Assist" function sort of works that way, but not quite. It's separate from the driver-activated "Hold" function and not meant to perform the same operation as "Hold."

"Hill Start Assist" engages automatically when stopping on uphill gradients. Unfortunately it's programmed to only work for a second or two, presumably long enough to get a foot off the brake and onto the accelerator without rolling backwards.

I think I would like to at least have the option K-A has to set "Hold" to engage without extra pressure on the brake pedal. I find the pedal-press is not 100% reliable in activating the function every time without a re-try or two. Although, I seem to have gotten better at getting it right, the more I use it.

So the Auto Hold must be enable with a button each time you start the car?

I would like the Auto Hold as I use the Hold 100% when I stop at traffic lights. Never use it when have to stop for getting on the road etc.

I also see when the Auto Hold would not work that well. This is if you are going down hill in a crawling stop-and-go traffic where you need to let the gar roll down the hill by it's own without gas pedal use. You would have to touch that pedal every time you come to a stop and then need to roll again but this is when you would simply turn the Auto Hold off, right.

My problem with it is so minimal as I have the Distronic. It does the Auto Hold for me unless there is nobody else in front of me.

It's really a great feature on the cars that start in second gear (is that all of them?) That feature makes it great that they do not creep so much in traffic, but if stopped on a uphill they do roll back.

HOLD definitely makes that issue go away.

There are two different hold features in these cars. One is "Hill Hold" and the other is HOLD.

Hill Hold works automatically when the car has been stopped in an incline. After lifting the foot off of the brake pedal it holds the car from rolling back but only for 1.5 seconds, i.e. it gives you time to move foot between the pedals without the car rolling back.

HOLD is the feature you can activate by giving the brake pedal a quick hard press AFTER the car is at full stop. This HOLD keep the car from moving in either direction for long time and it does not matter if the car is stopped in an incline or not.

I remember reading long time ago somewhere in this forum when someone wrote about the HOLD switching to P after 15 minutes or so. The writer was talking to his friend sitting in the car with the HOLD activated. It made a "bang" at switch as the car was stopped in an incline.

has anyone noticed you don't need as much pressure to press the brake to trigger the hold feature after some uses? i assumed that's normal wear and tear ?