It's all been there - the Hill Holder celebrates its 80th birthday
12/20/2016
It is a luxury attribute that is often touted, and VW in particular has been keen to highlight it in recent years - the hill holder. It prevents the car from rolling backwards on an incline when you want to drive off, as the brake automatically holds the car until the released clutch gives the car propulsion.
Wagner Electric developed such a mechanism over 80 years ago, and it was first used in the 1936 StudebakerPresident , manufactured by the Bendix Brake Company.
Since then, it has been offered by various American manufacturers in their cars, usually as an optional extra.
As many American cars later had automatic transmissions with torque converters, it became less important, but Studebaker still made it the focus of PR and advertising campaigns in the 1950s. This is also where the picture (above) comes from.
