If the car was turned off your power brakes weren't functioning which is why it would have been hard to stop.

 

Not hard. I was not able to push the brake at all.

 

<snip> I put it in park and started to back out when I realized it was not idling. <snip>

I'm assuming you mean you put it in reverse and started to back out?

Questions:

Is it a CVT?

When you backed out, was it under power? Or was it simply rolling backwards?

 

Yes. I put it in reverse and it started to back out. It just started to roll as my driveway has little slop.

 

With a hybrid, sometimes it is hard to tell when it's on or off when it was sitting.

There is a massive tachometer in the middle of the dash. If it reads "0" and autostop isn't flashing, the car isn't running.

This excuse would be valid if the car was a true hybrid and used both the electrical and gasoline motors, but it doesn't.

 

Well, call it a "human error" but i think the driver should be able to stop a vehicle if its in motion. Isn't it the basic of safety?

 

I'll see if I can reproduce this "loss of brakes" tomorrow evening - I'll stop on a slight incline. Then, I'll pump the brakes a few times to see what happens.

Does this list reflect what configuration your car was in, hillymark?

• Parking brake... OFF
• Gear... NEUTRAL
• Ignition... OFF

Also, to note, what we call "parking brake" nowadays my Dad calls the "e-brake."

 

I'll see if I can reproduce this "loss of brakes" tomorrow evening - I'll stop on a slight incline. Then, I'll pump the brakes a few times to see what happens.

Does this list reflect what configuration your car was in, hillymark?

• Parking brake... OFF
• Gear... NEUTRAL
• Ignition... OFF

I think the vehicle was in drive. I can make it happen on mine and any modern car really.

 

I am not quite sure I am following quite exactly what you describe.
But, I did notice on my CVT CR-Z, there was one time, come to a stop, engine is NOT in auto stop, it is running, on a very very slight incline up hill, in Drive, take foot off brake to start, don't give it ANY gas, and the car will tend to roll backward, not forward like it should.
Anyone else?

 

This is because the CVT acts more like an MT than a normal automatic. Completely normal.

 

When I come to a stop on a hill with auto stop engaged , my car will roll backwards even after using the gas pedal for split second though it seems longer . Its a bit disconcerting when theres cars in back of me . .What I do is force it out of auto stop before moving , also this situation doesn't occur every time .

 

This ^^

When I'm on a hill and the car goes into auto-stop, I've made it a habit to release the brake and press it again prior to taking off, thus taking it out of auto-stop. This gives the CVT time to engage, and the car doesn't roll backwards. Must admit, the first time this happened I instinctively reached for the shifter, as if I was driving a manual and accidentally put it in neutral.

 

You don't have to push the brake pedal to be able to pull the CVT out of park? All automatic transmission cars I've driven are locked into park unless you push the brake pedal and the button on the shifter. But then I have not driven a CVT, since they aren't available here.

 

My CVT will hold the car on an incline for a second. It doesn't matter if auto stop is active or not.

 

That's the hill start assist. Doesn't work when the car is off though.