[27665]

Hopefully this is the correct section. I haven't had luck lately.

Anyway, I have a Latitude with the 2.4 and nine speed slushbox. (I got the auto due to having surgery on my right shoulder) At the moment, I cannot manually shift the tranny, even with my left arm (it hurts to do so) and after watching way too many youtube truck videos (The Fast Lane Truck) and hearing about grade shifting while they descend the Eisenhower tunnel, I decided to experiment. While descending a steep, longish hill, I tapped the brake pedal and low and behold, the transmission downshifted. I tapped the brake pedal again, and the transmission downshifted again. I did this two more times and got two more downshifts.

Interesting. There is no mention of this in the full version of the owners manual.

 

[LittleRedJeep]

Hopefully this is the correct section. I haven't had luck lately.

Anyway, I have a Latitude with the 2.4 and nine speed slushbox. (I got the auto due to having surgery on my right shoulder) At the moment, I cannot manually shift the tranny, even with my left arm (it hurts to do so) and after watching way too many youtube truck videos (The Fast Lane Truck) and hearing about grade shifting while they descend the Eisenhower tunnel, I decided to experiment. While descending a steep, longish hill, I tapped the brake pedal and low and behold, the transmission downshifted. I tapped the brake pedal again, and the transmission downshifted again. I did this two more times and got two more downshifts.

Interesting. There is no mention of this in the full version of the owners manual.

I've noticed the same type of behaviour, and for months I thought I was just imagining it. Tapping the brake while going down hill seriously feels like it kicks in engine-braking and a down-shift - or at least engine-braking with a hold-at-current-gear. I absolutely love it, as I'm one that __hates__ to ride the brakes. With my previous Jeeps (all autos) I would shift to "L2". But the way the auto-9 works is starting to really spoil me,

 

[Mrsig]

Yep that is hill assist kicking in.

 

[bwbike]

I don't like this feature and use auto-stick on the hill when I leave work. The downshift slows the car down to less than the speed limit (40 mph) and I have to step on the gas instead of coasting down the hill.

 

[Oldav8tor]

I thought Hill Assist only worked in Rock Mode in a Trailhawk. I can see instances where I would use this feature so thanks for pointing it out.

 

[Lackadazikal]

I thought Hill Assist only worked in Rock Mode in a Trailhawk. I can see instances where I would use this feature so thanks for pointing it out.

That's Hill Descent control

 

[flash75]

Has anyone used cruise control to maintain downhill speed? I live in Florida and haven't seen the need to try it here.

When I lived in North Carolina, going down Black Mt. on I 40. I used cruise control on a Honda Fit
I had there, I would set cruise on 55mph at the top of the hill, car would shift down or brake as
needed to maintain desired speed, very little or no braking needed. I had a Mazda 3 and tried the
same procedure but it didn't work very well, had use lots of braking or manually downshift.

Clifton

 

[Pat]

Hopefully this is the correct section. I haven't had luck lately.

Anyway, I have a Latitude with the 2.4 and nine speed slushbox. (I got the auto due to having surgery on my right shoulder) At the moment, I cannot manually shift the tranny, even with my left arm (it hurts to do so) and after watching way too many youtube truck videos (The Fast Lane Truck) and hearing about grade shifting while they descend the Eisenhower tunnel, I decided to experiment. While descending a steep, longish hill, I tapped the brake pedal and low and behold, the transmission downshifted. I tapped the brake pedal again, and the transmission downshifted again. I did this two more times and got two more downshifts.

Interesting. There is no mention of this in the full version of the owners manual.

Do you know if this is on all models or just like the trailhawks?

 

[27665]

Do you know if this is on all models or just like the trailhawks?

Read the first sentence of the second paragraph.

 

[Pat]

Read the first sentence of the second paragraph.

Well that's embarrassing, reading fail for the win on that one. Could have sworn I read trailhawk...well u nothing to see here ill be in the corned with the dunce hat on.

 

[27665]

So on the way back home this evening, I decided to play some more. When the cruise control is active, the transmission will downshift to maintain speed while going down hills.

 

[Brokenjeep]

Yes all models with the 9 speed auto have hill assist which is different from the hill descent in the TH model.

Hill assist will down shift the tranny to try and maintain your speed while going down hill if you tap the brake.Easy way to defeat it is dont touch the brakes or if you do tap the gas after word.

Hill descent on the TH is more like a low speed cruise control. The jeep will maintain it speed when Hill descent is activated the difference with cruise is even if you hit the brakes to slow down it will then make that new speed your set speed verses disabling it like cruise control.

 

[syzygy]

So on the way back home this evening, I decided to play some more. When the cruise control is active, the transmission will downshift to maintain speed while going down hills.

It is a bit slow to react on a steep hill.
Whet set at 30, mine almost hit 40 before slowing.