Method and device for hill start

A method for facilitating hill-starting of a stationary motor vehicle comprising:

• applying at least one braking device using a brake pedal;
• estimating the traveling resistance of the vehicle using a control unit (30);
• using the control unit (30) to determine a starting gear, a minimum torque transmitted by the clutch and a minimum engine speed in order to overcome said estimated traveling resistance;
• keeping the braking device applied, using the control unit (30), so that the vehicle remains stationary when the driver lets the brake pedal up;
• operating an accelerator pedal of the vehicle to a position at least corresponding to said minimum torque transmitted by the clutch;
• transmitting the engine torque from the engine of the vehicle to the gearbox (3) of the vehicle by a clutch device which is activated by the control unit (30);
• and
• releasing the braking device using the control unit (30) in parallel with the clutch device being applied so that the brake torque of the braking device decreases as a function of the increase in the engine torque transmitted by the clutch device.