Do you have a car with the auto stop start “feature?” Are you sick and tired of your car turning off every time you come to a stop and remember you have to touch the button to disable the “feature” for the rest of your drive? Every darn time I get in the car, I either have to remember to press the button off or I have to press the button when the car reminds me because it shuts off unwantingly.
Who told you I wanted the car to turn off? What kind of communist car is this?
ARRRRGGGGG!!!!!
This whole time, I was blaming Honda! I have been so frustrated I can’t permanently disable this feature. Why oh why, can I, the owner of the vehicle not permanently turn the darn thing off one time and one time only? Why must I turn it off EVERY. GOSH. DARN. TIME?
It turns out, you can thank the government bureaucrats in the EPA. Thanks to a great article published by Car and Driver, I learned that the car makers basically use this feature to trick the EPA’s government test.
Great! I know that manufacturer’s actually listen to customers to make cars better, but once the government gets involved, they don’t give a crap about what you like or don’t like. The government, no matter how ridiculous, always knows best.
YouTuber Scotty the Mechanic tells you why Stop / Start sucks!
AUTO STOP START IS BAD FOR YOUR CAR
- STARTER
- Increased load on Starter
- Starters won’t last as long
- Increased cost for the part and the service
- BATTERIES
- Batteries are stressed
- Batteries are not designed for running your lights, wipers, and AC fan multiple times per day without the engine.
- Shorter battery life
- Expense in replacing the battery faster than normal
- ENGINE WEAR
- Engine startups account for a major part of engine wear
- Do the multiplication and your stressing you’re reducing your engine’s lifespan
- If you are doing 10 times the startups you used to, you may be shortening some of the engine components lifespan by a factor of 10.
- So an engine that might last 300,000 miles, may see it’s lifespan shortened to 30,000 miles in an extreme scenario.
- AUTO STOP / START FAILURE
- Because the car has an added system, it’s another system that will break down.
- In other words, cars with auto stop start systems will eventually have glitches with the system as they age.
- We have no way of telling what issues owners will see other than knowing every system can and do eventually fail.
Hackers fight back!
Of course, leave it to good ole American ingenuity to figure out a hack to bypass the auto-stop-start “feature.”
Owners of the new Ford F-150s despise the Auto-Stop-Start feature and have found a way to disable the incredibly annoying feature.
One hack people have used is attaching a tow light that tricks the truck to think it’s in a tow mode. When the vehicle is towing, it disables the auto-stop start “feature.” However, it also disables other features like the backup radar.
But a company has started creating a product called the Autostop Eliminator! It’s a chip that permanently records your preference. If you want to permanently disable auto-stop- start, it’ll do just that. However, there’s one drawback. They only have products for Ford and Chevy trucks at this time.
JEEP WRANGLER HACK
This YouTuber (JeepImformant) uses 2 hacks to disable the auto stop / start feature. Hack #1, he removes one of the hood ajar sensors. This makes the Jeep think you’re working under the hood and thus disables auto stop/start. Hack #2, he simply removes the intelligent battery sensor and voila, the auto-stop-start feature is disabled. I especially love his second hack. Nice job.
HONDA AUTO STOP START HACK
I have a 2018 Honda Odyssey and it too has this most annoying feature. There is a perfectly easy hack. Similar to the Wrangler hack above, you disconnect the intelligent battery sensor, et voila, the auto stop start feature is disabled. Yippee!
However, you get a message inside your car that there’s a problem with your charging system and another message that your car’s auto stop start feature is disabled. These warnings may be even more annoying than the auto stop start feature, but hey, at least you have an option.
BOTTOM LINE
This system is not worth the price of admission. Here are the expenses you’ll incur that do not offset the fuel savings:
- Any car with auto stop start has extra systems and sensors that make the car more expensive
- Replacement batteries for cars with auto stop start are more expensive than standard batteries
- Batteries will need to be replaced more regularly than cars w/out auto-stop-start
- Starters and engine components won’t last as long
So, in order to save $100 per year in gas, you’ll end up paying more in upfront cost, because the auto stop start tech, makes your car more expensive. Then, you have to pay more for the long term component replacement and repair fees.
Auto Stop Start is not worth it. And, it’s incredibly annoying.
HOW TO FIX THIS LONG-TERM?
Most things you don’t like about a car can be fixed by choosing a competitor that fixed the problem. The natural competitive forces, give you a better car and a better mouse trap.
However, in this case, the federal government has created a government mandated requirement. You can’t fix this by using natural market forces. You have to fix this by reaching out to your Congressman and tell them you want the ability to disable and enable auto stop start permanently. You want the car to work the way you want, not the way the government bureaucrat wants.
Find your member of Congress at: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members
I completely agree, luckily my Ford F150 has a dash button to disable start stop each time I restart vehicle. It’s better than nothing. This is all about car makers like GM who sell more gas guzzlers to get a break on their Cafe standards by implementing this on all their vehicles. As this article points out there is a lot of negatives for the owner of a vehicle with this feature that negates any possible benefit in mileage. Not to mention the increased wear on the starting system, the engine and potentially driver comforts as heating or AC stops functioning properly when engine is off. Its a terrible ideal that really only benefits the car makers who have sold out their loyal customers for a few credits for Cafe standards.
I have a Golf 7 and it has a button to disable it which I have to press every time I start the car. However, using an OBD11 dongle I can easily program it so it’s permanently off.