The auto idle stop feature is a nuisance-how do you disable it?
I do not think you can. Test drove a malibu, 2 batteries one for start, one for engine. Kicking and dragging while drawn into the new word of technology.
Agree. Don’t think you can. That’s a key part of the hybrid fuel savings.
Nope. You’re asking how to de-hybrid your hybrid. The engine runs when it needs to and doesn’t when it doesn’t need to.
Might I ask why you want to disable it? The auto stop doesn’t require any effort from the driver.
Yeah, shutting down the engine at idle (and regen braking) are how hybrids get the MPGs they do. (There’s also a small savings from under-sizing the ICE, but that’s small potatoes, relatively.)
This is one of those circumstances where you just trade for another vehicle if the “nuisance” bothers you that much.
“This is one of those circumstances where you just trade for another vehicle if the “nuisance” bothers you that much.”
…and be sure to do much more research and due diligence regarding the next car before you purchase it…
How on earth is the auto-stop a nuisance ? I do not see this guys gripe .
HE needs a new frame of MIND…
.It took my wife a while to adjust her mind-set around the 06 Escape hybrid auto-stop as well.
— forget everything you ever knew about car operations —
start fresh…for THIS car.
1— FORGET about anything the engine is doing…it has a mind of its own.
2— Forget about anything the engine is doing…it has a mind of its own.
3— when you push the accelerator pedal …the car goes…that’s all you need to know.
4— when you’re just driving along and the RPMs goes to zero …guess what the car still goes. Same with waiting at a stop…just push on the pedal.
5— did I mention ? …FORGETabout anything the engine is doing…it has a mind of its own.
You’ll get used to it.
She even had to stop listening AT ALL to the engine or watching the tach…just driving down the road at a steady gived speed…the engine races or rests as needed for battery charging…all the while your mph has not changed one iota.
“How on earth is the auto-stop a nuisance ? I do not see this guys gripe .
HE needs a new frame of MIND”
Some people have a very difficult time adjusting to anything that is different, so that might be the case in this situation.
You might recall a visitor to this forum a couple of years ago (Otterhere was her screen name), who was miserably unhappy with her new 2-door Toyota Yaris. After a lot of probing, it turned out that her dissatisfaction boiled down to two causes:
She had done her car-shopping at night, and she test-drove a 4-door Yaris–which is larger than the 2 door model. (The 2 door model has a shorter wheelbase, so it rides much worse, and it also has a different upholstery pattern than the 4 door model.)
The Yaris wasn’t identical in every way to the 20 year old Geo Metro that she traded in. According to her way of thinking, anything that wasn’t identical to that…pinnacle of automotive perfection…had to be bad.
So, in her case, the problems really resulted from…
failure to do adequate research/due diligence before buying the car…
and…
an inability to adapt to anything that is different.
When I stated these observations, she actually agreed with me on both points!
@VDCdriver watch it!
There are regulars on this website who believe the Geo Metro was an excellent vehicle
I’m not one of them
I’m more realistic . . . the Metro was an extremely bare bones car which provided basic transporation, and decent fuel economy
No more, and no less
Since the auto stop/start can be disabled on non-hybrids that have this feature, I don’t blame the OP for asking. Now he knows.
I had a rental BMW diesel in Europe with autostop. It was unsettling at first, but I eventually got used to it. Fuel mileage was great returning from a tour of the Alps. There was a traffic jam and it was all downhill. As long as I drifited forward with the clutch in, the engine did not restart. I spent 20 minutes or more drifting downhill using no fuel.
What non-hybrids have autostop? I thought the auto stop made it a hybrid, albeit a mild one.
Several BMWs. I don’t know what others.
“What non-hybrids have autostop?”
I found this in an article from Edmunds.com, from 2012:
"The start has been slow, with a number of Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche models debuting 12-volt stop-start in the U.S. in the 2012 model year. Jaguar added stop-start to its 2013 XF and XJ sedans and Kia has plans for stop-start systems in upcoming 2013 Soul and Rio models.
Ford’s 2013 Fusion will be the first domestic car with a stand-alone stop-start system. But others are expected to follow. Chrysler Group includes stop-start in the V6 HFE (high-fuel-efficiency) model of the just-launched 2013 Ram 1500 pickup. It will add a V8-powered HFE model of the Ram 1500 with stop-start early in 2013."
I believe Kia had stop/start as an option on some of their cars. Specifically I’m thinking about the Soul.
People tended to hate it and disabled the feature not long after trying it out.
On a regular hybrid, stop/start is pretty seamless and not an issue.
The Toyota Prius (3rd gen.) internal combustion engine (ICE) normally stops running when it’s not needed. But if you run the Prius in engine braking mode (B), the ICE continues to run even when the car is not moving. This may be a quirk of the Gen 3. Not sure about other versions. So if you really miss hearing the ICE idling while at a stop light, that’s a work-around. But (B) mode isn’t recommended except when descending a mountain road. It will definitely hurt the average fuel economy and probably put more wear and tear on the engine.
This article explains how (B) mode works on a Prius:
It’s part of what makes this car a fuel saver. Doesn’t make sense to buy it and then attempting to disable it.
Ken, it matters not if you think it’s a nuisance. The OP does, and it’s his car.
Perhaps you need a new frame of mind.
I agree with everyone that there’s nothing that can be done to change the engine’s operation. If it bothers you that much, unfortunately your only option is to find a car without this “feature” (I use the term loosely).
And another year old thread belonging to an OP who not only left the building but may have left the planet.