Beth Gallagher
Well-known member
Anyone (in the USA) who has bought a new ICE vehicle in the past several years has been introduced to the Auto Start/Stop feature, usually against their will. Love it or hate it, it was another government mandated component that added cost to the bottom line and aggravation to the driver. It purportedly saves gasoline and reduces emissions, though I don't know if any of that is significant enough to justify the investment in research, retooling, and manufacturing by automakers. Those costs are passed down to the consumer, adding to the already bloated cost of buying a car.
I frequent a couple of car forums and most discussion around auto start/stop is "how can I turn this !$%?#* OFF???" Which lead to a whole new market of after-market devices to install to defeat the component. Of course, the EPA has now repealed the legislation requiring Auto Start/Stop. I'm not aware of any car maker that has stopped including the feature, or even altered it so that the driver can turn it off permanently. I have to wonder if they will bother, since apparently they are subject to any whim of the federal government changing stupid regulations at the drop of the hat (and as soon as democrats regain the presidency all bets are off).
More and more, automakers are moving to hybrid vehicles that don't require Start/Stop. ICE vehicles are being totally phased out of the new vehicle market in the name of progress. We are constantly being force-fed crap we don't want, "for our own good" apparently.
In case you are interested, this guy explains the Start/Stop function and addresses some of the questions many people have. A lot of people want to know how all the starts/stops affect their engine, starter, battery, etc. and he answers those questions.
This video is 30 minutes long, but interesting if you want to know about such things.
I frequent a couple of car forums and most discussion around auto start/stop is "how can I turn this !$%?#* OFF???" Which lead to a whole new market of after-market devices to install to defeat the component. Of course, the EPA has now repealed the legislation requiring Auto Start/Stop. I'm not aware of any car maker that has stopped including the feature, or even altered it so that the driver can turn it off permanently. I have to wonder if they will bother, since apparently they are subject to any whim of the federal government changing stupid regulations at the drop of the hat (and as soon as democrats regain the presidency all bets are off).
More and more, automakers are moving to hybrid vehicles that don't require Start/Stop. ICE vehicles are being totally phased out of the new vehicle market in the name of progress. We are constantly being force-fed crap we don't want, "for our own good" apparently.
In case you are interested, this guy explains the Start/Stop function and addresses some of the questions many people have. A lot of people want to know how all the starts/stops affect their engine, starter, battery, etc. and he answers those questions.
This video is 30 minutes long, but interesting if you want to know about such things.