I have a 2018 Highlander with the “start/stop” feature that I can control with the firmness I put on the brake pedal. I live in a small town where the stoplights are not very long. Can you tell me what the minimum time would be to stop the engine to be practical and efficient?
Excellent question Charles. Stop Start is a controversial topic. I think you will have trouble finding any difference in your measured fuel economy with our without using it. The savings per vehicle are small. However, multiply that by a population of around 50 million cars in the U.S. with the technology and the little drops add up to many tankers of fuel saved. I recently tested a Subaru that tallied up the savings. I thought that was smart.
Modern cars take very little gas to restart so anything over a few seconds with the engine stopped will result in fuel and emissions savings.