Got a nice surprise while camping in Cherry Hill, MD 2 weeks ago.

I was disappointed to see this touted safety feature not available in the most expensive of trucks. The hill hold feature is not supposed to be available on the DRW's.

I had thought it seemed to be working occasionally but never was able to really test it. But that was without a trailer and just assumed the trans and engine does a really good job of holding at idle.

Well, on a decent hill at a stop light with 18K of toy hauler hooked up I was pleasantly surprised to see the hill hold actually does work, and works very well.

Step on the brake on a hill and it is activated. Release the brake and the truck hold for 2-3 seconds. After that you can hear something clicking (relay) and the brakes release and the truck starts to roll back.

Something else I notices is that eve though the brake pedal is released and the brake system is pressurized the brakes lights do not stay on.

 

I'll have to check this out when I bring my trailer back later next month.

Thanks for the info!

 

The hill brake assist as I call it (hill start assist) is a feature with SRW and DRW trucks.
"Trailer sway control with hill start assist standard on all pickups" according to the April 2010 order guide.

I know for certain my truck has the hill brake assist feature and I don't have to be in T/H for it to work.

It's the hill descent control that's only available on the FX4 SRW trucks.

Mike Rowe narrated both technologies in this short video:
2011 Ford Super Duty - Hill Assist - YouTube

 

Well, I could have sworn I read somewhere that DRW's are not equipped with it, I never had it activate while backing into my driveway.
Either way - it works and it works well, especially with a big load hanging on the tail.

 

It works on mine.

 

So as a new test I tried it in reverse on my driveway. According to the dash display my truck was at 8 degrees, backing up the hill.

It did not hold in reverse.