# Transmission or programming?



## Danman1453 (Feb 24, 2011)

I have a 1.8 with the 6spd auto. From a dead stop, if the car is leaning back, it will roll back until I hit the gas when I take my foot off the brake. I have resorted to double-footing it at some intersections to avoid hitting the car behind me. I am also having issues with the transmission "slamming" into 4th when cold. Another fun trick it can do is revving half way to redline before catching the next gear when accelerating up a hill. I have shown video proof to my dealer that its happening. Yet, they are still telling me the shop mechanics cant find anything so its normal. How can coasting backwards in drive be NORMAL!!! I had a '92 4dr Lebaron w/ 3.0 V6 that was a thousand times smoother in both power delivery and application. and it had 130k miles on it!

Am I really missing something here, or is my dealer's shop being stupid?


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...unfortunately, the "rolling back" is a NORMAL function of GM's "idle-neutral" programming of the transmission...when you come to a stop and the engine speed drops to idle, the transmission automatically switches to NEUTRAL (to save gas), but in doing so, the car can "roll" forward or backward if it's on any kind of a slight incline.

...only way to overcome this is to hold the brake when stopped. And, yes, it's a stupid / dangerous function that GM should allow the owner to "disable" but they don't. Bet your saleman didn't mention it to you did he/she?


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## Danman1453 (Feb 24, 2011)

What about the slamming gears and the rough power delivery?
By 'slamming' I mean that it was an instantaneous shift. No rev matching. Fast enough that it feels like a clutch bouncing. When the car stammers and stutters, it is both as the feel of the car lurching, and of the engine lurching. The slam is only from 3rd to 4th. Once it warms up, 3rd to 4th is the transition that drops the ball. When accelerating up a hill and going from 3rd to 4th, it moves out of 3rd and revs unrestrained,( usually about 1000 to 1500 rpm past where it was whem the shift started ) and the catches the gear. when cold, the shift is too fast. when warm, its too slow.

Any suggestions?


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## dennisu (Jun 17, 2011)

*70AARCUDA*

My 2011 1.4 AT LT doesn't go to neutral at stops or roll back when on a stop unless the slope is excessive.


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## inspiruze (Jul 4, 2011)

same as above. My 2011 1.4T 6AT doesn't roll back at stops. In fact, on most hills I can leave my foot off the brake, and it will hold itself on the incline.


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## Dale_K (Jul 16, 2011)

I thought I read somewhere that the 2012 models have an anti-rollback feature on the automatic transmission cars. It must be totally software because all the hard parts you'd need are already on the car. Maybe it can be reflashed into 2011 cars.


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## Danman1453 (Feb 24, 2011)

So is the lack of holding a design flaw or an unsolved problem? or both?


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## shawn672 (Oct 31, 2010)

Danman1453 said:


> So is the lack of holding a design flaw or an unsolved problem? or both?


I can only speak for 2011 models...
2011 Cruze's have a feature that allows the transmission to shift into Neutral when the brake is applied for more than a few seconds and the car is not moving. Just like in a manual trans car, when you left off the brake and you're on a hill, you will roll back for a moment until the trans re-engages into 1st gear. 

The rolling back is mostly because the stock TCM (trans control module) is super slow and doesn't shift quick enough back into gear. This feature has been "Corrected" by trifecta by increasing the shift times - my car still shifts in N while stopped while I'm in normal Drive mode, but it shifts back into 1st gear so quickly that I don't roll backwards.


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## cruznontario (Feb 28, 2011)

Tonight while leaving a busy parking garage I almost hit the guy behind me because of this "feature". I immediately put my foot on the gas pedal but it still rolled back and the guy behind me did a "HEY".... Nothing I could do... can this feature not be disabled? Especially on steep slopes this is a serious safety issue!!! If the guy behind me was 1 foot closer I would of hit him!


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## wbwing (Feb 23, 2011)

I actually like the neutral transmission feature. I've been on some decently inclined stops and while the car would roll back momentarily, the transmission always caught it before it got anywhere close to anyone. Sometimes though, just to be safe I would have one foot on the brake and the other on the pedal giving a tiny bit of gas before I let go of the brake. I rarely have to do this so I don't mind really mind vs the gas savings, but I can see how it might be annoying for those of you that have to stop on really steep inclines at all the time. On slight inclines that I see everyday it's pretty much been a non issue once I got used to it. The 2012 Sonics came standard with a "hill holding" feature. It may have been rolled into the Cruzes.

As for the rough shifting, I was having the same problems. As it got colder the transmission had no clue what it was doing most of the time. It would hesitate and jump into gear, randomly downshift, not upshift at all, etc. I took it into the dealer, got it reflashed to the most up to date calibration and haven't had any problems since. The reflash was quick and free. You should consider going to your dealer and asking them to update your transmission calibration the latest one.


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## yourdoinitwrong (Aug 7, 2011)

The demo I am driving now from work is a 2011 LS automatic and it behaves exactly the way you describe. Even though I sell these cars the way this particular combination behaves drives me insane. I could never own one of these Cruzes. Between the jerky shifting, rolling back, and hanging on to revs I thought there was something wrong with it. I have not seen this behavior from the 1.4T and automatic though. For 2012 there were some transmission upgrades that hopefully addressed some of this but I haven't driven any of the 2012 LS automatics for any length of time. After my experience with this drivetrain combo I'm really surprised that I have not heard any complaints from my customers that have purchased them.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

yourdoinitwrong said:


> ...After my experience with this drivetrain combo I'm really surprised that I have not heard any complaints from my customers that have purchased them.


...they're *all* _here_ complaining about their $#*%-transmissions and posting under *pseudonyms* (wink,wink)!


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## Macman (May 4, 2011)

I don't roll back, but it does get to 4000 rpm uphil struggling to shift to the next gear, be it 3rd or 6th.


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## fastdriver (Jan 7, 2011)

wbwing said:


> As for the rough shifting, I was having the same problems. As it got colder the transmission had no clue what it was doing most of the time. It would hesitate and jump into gear, randomly downshift, not upshift at all, etc. I took it into the dealer, got it reflashed to the most up to date calibration and haven't had any problems since. The reflash was quick and free. You should consider going to your dealer and asking them to update your transmission calibration the latest one.


WHEN did you get your Cruze and WHEN did you get the reflash? I have 6,000 miles on my LTZ RS and it does ALL of these crazy things- rolling back, reving high going up a steep hill and shifting like nothing I have ever owned before. I'm STILL waiting for it to learn how to shift!


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## Jaycruze (Jul 11, 2011)

Danman1453 said:


> I have a 1.8 with the 6spd auto. From a dead stop, if the car is leaning back, it will roll back until I hit the gas when I take my foot off the brake. I have resorted to double-footing it at some intersections to avoid hitting the car behind me. I am also having issues with the transmission "slamming" into 4th when cold. Another fun trick it can do is revving half way to redline before catching the next gear when accelerating up a hill. I have shown video proof to my dealer that its happening. Yet, they are still telling me the shop mechanics cant find anything so its normal. How can coasting backwards in drive be NORMAL!!! I had a '92 4dr Lebaron w/ 3.0 V6 that was a thousand times smoother in both power delivery and application. and it had 130k miles on it!
> 
> Am I really missing something here, or is my dealer's shop being stupid?


Mine rolls in 1st and in reverse, If I start off in 2nd it won't roll back though.

Mine also slams into 4th and only 4th and only if the car has been stopped/off for at least 15 minutures or so. It doesn't happen after the car has been sitting over night. I haven't been able to show this to the dealer either because it doesn't happen "every" time.

2011 LS auto


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## CHUV (Jun 25, 2011)

i noticed that if you don't take your foot off the brake all the way it will roll for as long as you let it!!!. the second you lift off all the way it will catch and only slip backward about a few inches. nothing to be concerned about. If someone is behind you that close then it would be their fault if your car rolls back and hits them. I know this is the case with manual vehicles here in canada. The person behind you would be ticketed (most likely for stopping too close [remember, you're supposed to leave half a car length btw you and the car in front]) and would be liable for damages. I'm sure that the same rule would apply if the transmission is automatic but shifts to neutral by itself and some jackass is tailing too close to you on an incline...


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## wbwing (Feb 23, 2011)

fastdriver said:


> WHEN did you get your Cruze and WHEN did you get the reflash? I have 6,000 miles on my LTZ RS and it does ALL of these crazy things- rolling back, reving high going up a steep hill and shifting like nothing I have ever owned before. I'm STILL waiting for it to learn how to shift!


I got my Cruze in March of 2011 and got the reflash in November? Or somewhere very close to that.


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## 2011ecosa (Oct 4, 2011)

70AARCUDA said:


> ...unfortunately, the "rolling back" is a NORMAL function of GM's "idle-neutral" programming of the transmission...when you come to a stop and the engine speed drops to idle, the transmission automatically switches to NEUTRAL (to save gas), but in doing so, the car can "roll" forward or backward if it's on any kind of a slight incline.
> 
> ...only way to overcome this is to hold the brake when stopped. And, yes, it's a stupid / dangerous function that GM should allow the owner to "disable" but they don't. Bet your saleman didn't mention it to you did he/she?


Agreed. I also noticed this idle-neutral transition. I also noticed that in my 2011 eco. when I let my foot off the brake at stop lights the car does not move for probably 1 second and then you can feel it kick back into gear.


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## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

Does anybody know if the automatic 2013 Cruzes will still have this roll-back feature when stopped on inclines/hills?! I personally don't like it because I'm used to my current car (automatic) staying completely still on inclines, sometimes even when my foot isn't on the break! I remember the first couple times I test drove the Cruze and it rolled back while I was in the median of a divided highway that had a slight incline and it scared the **** outta me! lol. 

Plus, so many people these days, love to pull right up on your car's ass when you are on a hill, incline, or a divided highway median that was a slight incline!! Who would be at fault if the car was to roll back far enough to back into the other car that's behind you on your ass? Even if they were to get blamed/charged for being to close, you still might have to deal with damages, injury, and all the other crap that goes with getting in a accident, whether it be a big one or small. The possibility of you rolling back into someone because of this roll-back feature especially on any kind of incline has to be even worse during rain, snow, sleet, and freezing rain right? Either way, I don't like the feature and wish they would do away with it. Clearly just my opinion though.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Hmm...I wonder what the longevity on these transmissions will be because of this feature.

Volvo tried it on their 2001 models in an effort to save "wear and tear" on the clutches and torque converter, as well as to save gas at idle. This was the second year that they used a 5-speed Aisin-Warner automatic gearbox. _*90% of the 2001 transmissions died *_because of this "stop-neutral" feature. It wore out the valve bodies, solenoids, etc.

Volvo issued a software update that disabled the stop-neutral feature a few years down the road when they began to have problems, but for many, it was too late. Those that did have the software update done early on have had reasonably good success rates with the delicate transmissions.

BTW, just FYI, some automatics DO still roll on hills at idle if they have a higher stall speed than others. This means that, at idle, the torque converter slips more and does not provide enough torque at low engine speeds to keep the car from rolling backwards on a hill. Doesn't sound like the issue for the Cruze, but it does freak me out when the girlfriend's Camry does it (and rolls more than my manual transmission Cruze) when I'm trying to parallel park on a hill by a friend's house.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...as mentioned earlier:

• the *2011* AT Cruzes _"...got the *problem *feature..."

• _the *2012* AT Cruzes _"...got the *fixed *feature..."_


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## John Henrique (Nov 21, 2019)

In my case I have a 2013 1.4 t at cruze and the issue of the brake apparently rebounded it, mine behaves very well when I am at the intersection with the braked car when I start the march in micro mils of a second, it seems that they corrected that detail by the software and now the setback is almost imperceptible.
when perishing in the 2013 models onwards they were corrected more than 85% of the failures they presented and among the failures was the aforementioned.


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## John Henrique (Nov 21, 2019)

i


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