Descent Control

Not sure if this is the right category, but maybe the best fit. I have a 2021 Renegade TH, and a 2014 Cherokee TH. I bought the Renegade last March, and yesterday was its first real test at the Jeep Adventure Academy (JAA). My Renegade and a Compass TH were the only non-Wrangler/Gladiator vehicles there.

First of all, if you've never been to JAA, I highly recommend!! It was so much fun, and I learned so much, and everyone was awesome. And the Renegade did great - they did give us THs a couple of modified obstacles, but for the most part we stuck with the pack.

On the second to the last obstacle of the day, we were learning to employ the descent control. The Renegade TH only has descent control, not ascent. What that means (I believe), is that descent control ONLY works to control your descent speed automatically - it does not "pull" the vehicle forward, or up when engaged. Use of the brake or gas overrides the system.

So what happened was we were stopped, pointed uphill, receiving our instructions from the spotter. They reminded me that brakes/gas override the system. The goal was to let descent control keep us at .6 mph, feet on the floor. So I don't remember if I put feet on floor and nothing happened, so I hit the gas to crest the hill, or if I just assumed I needed to hit the gas to crest the hill. Regardless, the end result was that the gas took us over the crest of the hill, but of course, overrode the descent control at the same time. I put feet on floor as planned, and the Renegade did its thing - without descent control, of course. Lol. Luckily the descent, though very steep, was very deep sand, and the 90° turn at the bottom was even sandier. Everything happened so fast that it didn't even register to me that we were NOT going .6 mph. The spotters were having heart attacks. My partner was having a heart attack. I was having a blast. After making the corner, the bottom spotter tells me to slow down, so I hit the brake. And THEN the descent control kicked in... Lol. Only then did I realize that the descent control wasn't in effect during the training portion of the obstacle.

Not being sure how I messed that up, or why I'd hit the gas, today I did a controlled test to confirm that descent control really DOESN'T pull the Renegade forward on flat ground, and certainly does not pull the vehicle UP a hill. What I still need to confirm is how long it takes descent control to kick in after stepping on and then releasing the brake.

I think the only way I could have completed that obstacle "properly" was to use gas to get the car pointed downhill enough that it would roll on its own, and then brake. Once I release the brake, descent control should kick in - I'm just not sure how long the delay is.

I realize that we're very lucky that the deep sand prevented anything bad from happening, and that there was no damage to the vehicle, and really, I didn't even realize anything was wrong 'til it was all over. But I would like to know I can count on the technology to work as designed when implemented properly.

Anyone have real time experience? Is there a delay between releasing the brake and the descent control kicking in?