My car does roll backwards on hills when the engine turns off unless I press the brakes very quickly to stop myself. Maybe mine's messed up... well I'm getting rid of it soon so whatever.

EDIT: But when I take my foot off the brakes, it won't roll backwards; the brakes remain engaged, and the engine disengaged, until about a second after I release the brake pedal. But it does this every time, not just on inclines, so I can't simply accelerate right away.

 

yeah, that's not normal behavior. i observed my auto-stop and the behavior of my hch.ii when i take my foot off the brake this afternoon in a long commute. there definitely isn't any behavior as your describe. as soon as i take my foot off the brake, the auto-stop (if engaged) is disengaged and the the brake is immediately released and i can accelerate. sounds like a problem. of course, when you trade it in plead ignorance. ;-)

 

Today I took my car in for the mpg bug fix, and asked them to also check into the jerkiness of reverse. I told them it felt like the parking brake was sticking. All that was written on the work order was "CVT transmission is operating normal".

The fact that I'm not the only one with the issue gives me some confidence that a TSB might be issued in the future.

 

I called the dealer today and talked to a service rep about the jerkiness in reverse. He said that the car is still breaking in. I felt like he was blowing me off. I'll keep an eye on it.

 

I think this is normal. When you take your foot off the brake it takes about a second for the engine to start up and reach 1000 RPM. The transition from auto-stop cannot be instantaneous. And during that second the brake remains engaged to protect you from sliding while you have no control over the vehicle.

 

That's exactly what I had assumed, which is why I never contacted a dealer about it. I chalk it up as another disadvantage of IMA versus HSD, since HSD has motors strong enough to drive the car immediately, even before the engine has a chance to start up.