–Fuel-Saving ‘stop-start’ Technology to Become Norm–
I said this when the CVT came out. When Honda and Toyota start using them in their primary models, they have arrived and we can embrace them. I will say the same for start/stop technology. Until then, I would avoid it in cars, all cars that aren’t hybrids. In hybrids, I think the starter motor is often that BIG generator/motor that’s always engaged. it just takes off on the electric instantly and starts the motor when needed…so It isn’t a big deal. So, you will move over a set of RR tracks in time ! Til Honda and Toyota in their normal cars, I will accept it in a golf cart only.
If the goal is to increase gas mileage it seems to work, I put off electric windows as one more thing that can break and cost more to repair, crank windows are gone, and none stop start may go also.
When everything has that feature the failures are going to be more pronounced; say rush hour traffic when X number of cars decide to not restart for one reason or the other after coming to a standstill or a no-start in traffic when the light goes green.
The forum will then have multiple questions about why in the hxxx it’s going to cost X number of dollars to diagnose and repair starter problems.
At least with a golf cart, the people in trail can play through… 
Another government mandate gone wrong. When its 20 below out and your feet are freezing, the last thing you want is for the engine to shut off.
I thought it was odd and didn’t like it at first on a rental in Europe. I did get used to it after a while.
So in rush hour traffic, the engine could be turning on and off thousand times. It has to first turn on and then rev up to 1500-2000rpm instantly due to moving traffic. This has to to produce a lot of additional heat.
At my work place, in the parking garage, they installed about 25-30 speed bumps…get ready…all 10 feet apart from each other. Getting to a parking spot at the end, the engine temperature (actually the water temperature according to scanguage) rises from 190F to 207F (fan turns on). The transmission constantly switches from 1st to 2nd. Also, the speed bumps are square like…so if you try to go fast, you can say bye to the CV axles/struts (almost everyone here goes fast over them).
“The transmission constantly switches from 1st to 2nd”
@xaml–I certainly empathize with you about having to drive through that parking garage on a daily basis, but you can at least eliminate the excess wear & tear on your transmission’s clutches by putting the shift lever into 1st gear when you enter the garage. If you are going as slow as you should be with those ridiculous speed bumps, there is no reason why you can’t just leave the trans in 1st gear while maneuvering thru that garage.
I don’t know if it’s the worst idea…but it’s certainly a bad idea. I used to drive from Kent, WA to Seattle or Kirkland every morning on the jam packed I-5. On some bad days I probably had to start and stop a few thousand times on the trip north then back south in the afternoon. That starter and battery had better be super heavy duty or there will be a failure of one or both in very short order. Someone will make a killing by selling a kit that eliminates this asinine function.
“Someone will make a killing by selling a kit that eliminates this asinine function.”
That may not even be necessary.
In their test of the new FWD Mercedes, Consumer Reports talked about the stop/start feature–including its resulting problems–and noted that, “you can disable the system at a modest penalty to fuel economy”.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most car mfrs allowed the feature to be disabled, although that might require the intervention of the dealer’s service dept in some cases. Apparently, with this Mercedes, it is something that the owner can do fairly readily.
Another government mandate gone wrong.
Where does it say this is a Government Mandate???
@VDCdriver…one would hope that the manufacturers would be smart enough to incorporate that feature. If not…“Someone will make a killing by selling a kit that eliminates this asinine function.”
@MikeInNH…I don’t know if it’s a “government mandate” or not it wouldn’t surprise me at all. Remember…these are the same folks that brought you ethanol in gasoline…surely one of the worst ideas ever foisted upon the American public.
@VDCdriver BMW’s stop/start feature can also be disabled. That said, when I was driving an X3 around a few weeks ago, I didn’t even notice the engine stopping at stoplights. Of course, the temps were in the negatives, so it might have left it running to keep the heater happy.
Remember....these are the same folks that brought you ethanol in gasoline....surely one of the worst ideas ever foisted upon the American public.
No the worse was MTBE - brought to you by the oil companies. The town next to us is still finding MTBE in ground water - even though it hasn’t been our gas for about a decade.
Ethanol in gasoline was brought to you by the agricultural lobby. Much of the time if you think govt is doing something dumb, look at the commercial interests behind it, not in some self-interest of the state.
I have to assume that ref to govt mandate was a roundabout/indirect shorthand for mandates about fuel economy. The stop/start is one way to improve avg MPGs. But I have never heard anything about stop/start itself being specifically mandated.
+1 to all of cigroller’s comments, above.
Yes, it was Congress that gave us the ethanol mandate, but that never would have happened if not for the influence (monetary and otherwise) of the agricultural lobby, which–nowadays–is funded by corporate mega-farming interests, such as Archer Daniels Midland. “Joe the Farmer” is not the one funding pro-ethanol lobbying, even if he might be benefitting from it.
And, like cirgoller, I hope that those who implied that the start/stop system is the result of a specific gov’t mandate were really saying that this is the “fallout” from gas mileage mandates, rather than a specific mandate for stop/start systems.
When we get to the point where we view everything that we don’t like as being the direct result of some kind of government conspiracy, the perceived need for aluminum foil hats is sure to follow.
;-))
This stop-start technology has been a long time coming, and there is no reason to fear it. We’re not all Luddites.
Ahhh, what does the govt. have to do with it ? When mandates are finally made, it’s always done with representatives from the car companies having an influence on it’s implementation. If the car companies can’t make a profit or encourage more sales because of a feature, the govt, should and does, reexamine whether it can be put in.
The same can be said with Safety Mandates. Every single car safety mandate was lobbied HARD by the Insurance industry. It wasn’t government officials sitting around thinking of ways to screw the people…It was the insurance industry looking out for their best interests by reducing accidents and payouts. The benefit is safer cars. But it was not and never has been started by the government. Ignorant people will blame the government - thinking it’s a intrusion on their rights (some how). But in reality it’s some other industry lobbyist that’s pushing this.
Mandates by the govt have the benefit of finalizing dates of implementation and standardizing these devices. Gee, I think we can all agree that many mandates have saved lives, made cars last longer, became cheaper to maintain and most importantly, made a ton of money for manufacturers. They have also helped encourage industry to created more then just a few jobs. If we left auto makers to themselves, Midas would still be making millions on yearly muffler changes and carb adjustments on our new Pintos.