The default on the new RAV4 is that it shuts the engine off at stop lights/signs.

It's so transparent, I didn't fully realize what was happening until I glanced at the tach and it was on zero. You do have the option of overriding it with a button on the dash.

My question is this: Is it really saving anything? Maybe a teaspoonful of gas, yes, but wouldn't the wear and tear on the battery and starter more than outweigh that?

At 170-ish miles and just now coming off the full mark, the computer says I'm getting a shade over 40MPG. I find that hard to believe and past experience indicates that the computer is almost always optimistic. I'll do the math at fill-up. I'll be happy with anything over 30 and shickled titless with anything over 35.

Ich bin ein Deutscher, records VILL be kept!

I would rather buy gas than a starter and much easier to "install".

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
I would rather buy gas than a starter and much easier to "install".

That's my thinking as well.

I despise the auto-off feature.

Can’t you disable it?

The charging system, starter motor, and battery on these vehicle are supposedly beefed up to handle all the additional starts.

For more fun, be sure the automatic parking brake doesn't drain your battery if you leave it sit for an extended period. PG 224 of the manual according to the interwebs.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
Can’t you disable it?

Yes, there's a button on the dash, but you have to disable it every time as far as I know. I'll check to see if I can change the default.

My new Gladiator has it too, trying to train myself to just turn it off every time I start it up.

^Yep.
Most of these auto-stop cars have an AGM battery & supposedly a beefier starter/alternator.

I tracked it on my F150 & saw no appreciable difference in any mode (Normal, Sport, Tow, with auto-stop off or on) in normal driving.
Same in the Mercedes, no real difference with it on or off, apart from getting toasty when it's TX summer temps.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
For more fun, be sure the automatic parking brake doesn't drain your battery if you leave it sit for an extended period. PG 224 of the manual according to the interwebs.

I'll put that on my list of things to bitch about when I take it in for service.

Unless someone has an aftermarket solution, you won't be able to disable the auto Stop.

The Lincoln has it, it's annoying but nothing IMO worth being concerned about unless you keep cars beyond warranty periods, since the goal would be to keep it working though that period, after that the manufacturer really isn't concerned.

I wouldn't own a new vehicle without a warranty, not because of some manufacturer issues, but because the tech being put into the cars is advancing at a significant pace the electronics in a car are massively expensive.

Imagine the costs you'll have out of pocket if the main screen in your Tesla or Ram Pickup goes out, and the whole vehicle won't run, and you'll be out big bucks.

My last & current BMW has it. I hate it, especially the last car, which was a stick. Easy to defeat, I just leave it in Sport mode which disables it .

I have this on my new 2020 Kia Soul. It can be disabled by pushing a button every time I start the car....as long as I remember to do it. I must admit that the operation is seamless when I forget.

That said, I would rather not have it. All the gas savings were spent paying for the beefed-up components. Total BS.

Reminds me of the last gas saving attempt of GM, they had the 8-6-4 V8 in the Cadillacs, when you were driving the computer sensed how you were driving and cut power to the ignition to shut down cylinders from fuel and spark.

Didn't really do what they thought it would, saving the world.

25 years ago the government had AC companies create a loop between the AC compressor and your hot water heater to recover any hot water/heat from the AC unit when it ran to help reduce water heater power use.

Once again claiming that the heat/power savings "as a group" would be fantastic, it wasn't, and it added more problems...

The big difference with the auto-stop is that the fuel lines and cylinders stay pressurized, so the spark does more work of the work than the starter motor.

It used to be that manually shutting off your car and restarting it took around 30 seconds of fuel, so of your were to idle longer than 30 seconds it made more sense to just shut it off.

The new method uses less than 5 seconds of fuel, and in theory will save much more in emissions over the life of the car.

TL : DR It's more about overall emissions vs. fuel mileage, and doesn't rely on the starter as mush as a cold start does.

My 2018 Tiguan has this "feature." Bothered me at first, but I quickly got used to it. On the Tiguan, at least, if you partially lift off the brake, the engine will restart, and will not shut off subsequent when the brake is reapplied. The car does not have to roll for this to happen. The auto-shutoff can also be disabled in Settings on the control panel.

ISTR I read in an earlier thread here on SF about this subject that the starter is not what restarts the car after an auto-shutoff, but that the computer "remembers" which cylinder is charged and under compression on the power stroke, and simply fires that spark plug to get things rotating again. If someone more automobile-knowledgeable than me can confirm this, I'd be interested to know if it is true as it would alleviate any concern about over-wearing the starting system.

2019 Durango. Have it and hate it. At least I can override it with the dashboard button. Dodge service dept. has so far refused to disable it.
Stupidest vehicle add-on ever.

quote:

Yes, there's a button on the dash, but you have to disable it every time as far as I know. I'll check to see if I can change the default.

I wedged a folded piece of paper between the switch and the dash plastic, to keep from having to push the stupid button every single time I get in the truck....my dad got a wooden wedge you use for door installation and he cut off a small piece and does the same thing.

The dealers won’t change your programming because the on/off thing is part of their epa regs...

I'm in rentals a lot for work, 90% of new cars have this feature I'd guess. Always fun to survey the dash when I get in one I'm not familiar with.

I've read that some can be disabled "for good" if that switch is controlled by its own fuse.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
^Yep.
Most of these auto-stop cars have an AGM battery & supposedly a beefier starter/alternator.

I tracked it on my F150 & saw no appreciable difference in any mode (Normal, Sport, Tow, with auto-stop off or on) in normal driving.
Same in the Mercedes, no real difference with it on or off, apart from getting toasty when it's TX summer temps.

Actually the Gladiator comes standard with 2 batteries. The second one is about the size of a lawn mower battery and sits underneath the main one. The new Wranglers (JL) probably have them as well. There is a program that you can plug into the OBD2 plug to disable it. I believe it is called a Tazer.