2019 Honda Odyssey, about 65k miles. I accidentally tried starting my van without my foot pressing down on the break pedal (something I don’t do typically) and was greeted with a low voltage battery warning, turn off headlights… Warning. Pressed foot on the break and van started up just fine.
This seems to can be replicated every time. Is this normal when you try to do this?
you don’t need to step on accelerator in order to start your vehicle.
The engine is fuel injected not carbureted.
Tester
If your battery is 6 years old it might be worth checking and possibly replacing.
We all make miskates…!
Perhaps pokemon thought their foot was on the brake
–it happens.
You’re supposed to put your foot firmly on the brake pedal. Mrs JT has a 2019 Odyssey EX-L and we always step on the brake pedal and never the gas to start the car. She does get low battery warnings sometimes, but that is mostly from sitting in the car with the engine off waiting for a delivery, like at Target. The radio is on and often the HVAC is running too. That’ll run the battery low.
If I’m s h o t g un in somebody’s car, guess who has to turn off everything the driver turned on when we got to where we were going?
That’s my old man, tapping me on the shoulder from the great Beyond!
Common sense is in shorter supply than fossil fuels these days, it seems.
You switch the ignition on but didn’t start the engine. Ignition on/engine off; battery voltage will be lower than when the engine is running. What you observed is normal operation, not a failure.
I used to tell people (year ago) to keep both feet on the ground when starting their new fuel injected vehicle… lol
Now I have to put my foot on the brake for my push to start vehicle to even start, it has been take way for every push button start that I remember anyway… But I have always put my foot on the brake of any fuel injected vehicle rather it was required or not most of the time for safety, you just never know…
And even on a hot day or after my carbureted fun car has warmed up, there is no need to hit the gas so I put a foot on the brake if/when in the car…
And I never turn any keyed item off when I turn any vehicle I have ever owned off, on most any vehicle the start mode diverts the power to the starting system anyway, so no need to turn off even the radio… That is why things stop working while your engine is cranking normally…
Now when the tuner was loading the tune (after installing any and all updates from Toyota) in my truck he turned off all the lights, infotainment center and HVAC as well as hooked up a battery maintainer to keep from bricking my ECM…
Why are you usually pressing down on the accelerator pedal?
Perhaps he should specify what year and fuel system of his van.
Buick’s own instructions for start my 1981 Century, cold, were one, turn key to accessory, two, depress gas pedal halfway briefly, three, remove foot from gas pedal, and start the engine.
After the carburetor had run open high rev for a minute or two, I could lightly tap the gas to reduce the warm up idle speed, shift into drive and drive off.
Never was I required to depress the gas pedal while starting the engine.
I think there are word/ language differences afoot here.
The only things that needs to be turned off is manually operated headlights and anything plugged into a power outlet that is always on, those I unplug. I have never turned off my radio nor HVAC when I turn off the car.
In the first sentence: 2019 Honda Odyssey. Assuming the original poster is in the U.S., it is gas.
From Google: AI Overview
There was no 2019 Honda Odyssey diesel model offered in the U.S.; all models featured a powerful 3.5L V6 gasoline engine with 280 hp, paired with either a 9-speed (lower trims) or 10-speed (Touring/Elite) automatic transmission, focusing on family utility, technology CabinWatch/Talk), and safety, not diesel efficiency.
What jdmere said. You’re on borrowed time.This time of year when the temperatures go down the weak batteries start failing. In the Summer weak batteries still start your car.
I grew up in Upstate NY. In the Fall temps would go down and Sears would start selling Diehards by the hundreds!
All yes, sorry typo on my part I didn’t realize. Sorry for the confusion. I meant to say break pedal not the accelerator. It’s a push button and won’t start unless I press down on the break pedal then push the start button.
It typically would display an error if you press the start button without the break pedal pressed down and won’t start, but this error just tells you to press down on the brake pedal plus the start button.
Recently was a first for me, I accidentally did not press down on the brake pedal and hit the start button only (something I don’t typical do) and that’s when I saw the low battery warning.
Well there you go - 2025!
I think I’ll trust what my late father said years ago over the above.
As for the van, I thought the orig. poster was talking about a different one.
But in a car that new, you’re right, there is zero reason to depress the gas pedal before or while turning the ignition to start the car.
Could be either the battery or charging system. My car with foot off the brake, the push button start button puts the car into accessory mode. In your case no harm done. But would recommend getting the battery and charging system check, I am in the group the preemptively replace batteries before they are five years old.
My 2022 model, which works like that, is the first vehicle I’ve owned like that, but I think it’s fairly commonplace now.
What did your father say?
I never saw or heard my father interfering with the owner/driver’s of the operation of a vehicle.
Ahhh, playing mind games again are we.
Very simple:
Back in the ‘80s when I started driving, Dad told me to turn off all electrical accessories when turning off the engine.
Good advice, and can’t hurt.
You may return to your regularly scheduled disagreeing with me.
You are definitely wrong and rude to interfere with the operation of another person’s operation of a motor vehicle. If they have the transmission in Sport mode do you switch it into Drive mode? Do you change channels on the radio because in your opinion they chose the wrong program?
If you are in the passenger seat, I’ll thank you to keep your hands off of the controls of my car. It’s none of your business what’s turned on and what isn’t.
Yes, I was once taught to turn everything off when shutting off the car. I was also taught how to adjust dwell and how to crank-start a tractor. All of which is thoroughly useless when discussing a modern day car. 