Auto Stop or whatever it's called!

I recently purchased a new car!
I should say that I traded my 2010 Toyota RAV4 in for a newer (2020 Ford Escape with about 50,000 miles on it)!
The new car has a feature that stops the engine when the car comes to a stop! I know that the feature can be disabled. However, you must disable the feature every time you get into the car. There is no way to turn this feature off and leave it off.
How stupid is that? Any comments?

Yikes! That does sound like a bit of a pain. Is this an electric car?
Will the starter be toast in a short time due to excessive start-ups?

PS~ congrats on your new vehicle! I bought a new used car (Toyota)
last summer with 106,000 K on it .. That's about 66,000 miles .

This is a Gas car, not an electric or hybrid! This is just a new feature that has been demanded by the green new deal folks. It probably adds weight to the car because of the battery needed to restart the vehicle every time you come to a stop sign!
By the way 106,000 is not bad. I had about 250,000 on the one I traded in.

I got a 2019 a few years ago. It had this feature as well. And, yes, it had a button to press every time you started the car. I hated it.
I'm not sure why, but eventually it was disabled and the engine no longer turns off when stopped. Or perhaps the button became a permanent toggle. I've not touched it to find out.
I can't imagine much gas is really saved by this feature. Though I suppose its not really for the customer, like they say, but viewed instead for the bulk effect of it happening on millions of cars (eventually).
Either way I hated it.

It is very stupid. But why did you even buy this car? You didn't know about this feature? You didn't take it for a test drive?
I'm very OCD about these details and i know that the "green energy" folks have done a lot of other stupid things. Like when you buy a hybrid car and go on reverse it makes an awful noise. I'm not buying that.
In fact i'm so OCD that i have disabled the annoying seatbelt sound through an electronics guy.

That's almost something i want to mess around with at a dealership.
Say you're about to buy a mercedes, about to sign the papers and the check and then you ask the innocent question :
- Oh by the way, can you disable the seatbelt sound?
- No sir we can't that's from the factory.
-Oh i'm so sorry, i'm not buying the car then.

Must be hard on the starter, starting after every stop. Hard on the battery too, and the alternator that charges it. Horrible feature. I'm sure that there is probably a YouTube video explaining how to disable this 'feature'.

You could just leave the seat belt engaged behind your back if the sound bothers you.

Yeah but that's annoying because you don't feel comfortable with the belt behind you.
There are some aftermarket clickers which you can plug in to stop the sound too.

Those work but i disabled mine through an electronics guy.

When they made seat belts a requirement in Napoli, Italy everyone hated them so they bought seat belt shirts to fool the cops.

Both good ideas, the shirt particularly. I've been looking for another t-shirt to complete my ensemble of tuxedo and Charlie Brown t-shirts.

I knew about the option. Thing is, try buying a newer car 2020-2024 and good luck finding a car in the U.S. without this feature. I do believe you can install after market chips to disable the feature. But the point is, you shouldn't have to! It should be like a radio, if I turn it off it should remain off.
However, you are correct. I should have demanded that the dealership deactivate it!

I think most of the newer cars are coming with that feature. Most don't seem to like it but I like it plenty. I'm in the minority. I'm easy on both the gas pedal and the brake. Folks that like a quick start from a stop sign or intersection with lights tend not to like the feature. I like the fuel savings.

At least with Ford, the starters are beefed up to be able to handle it, and the batteries too. I can't speak for the other manufacturers.

It's possible that the battery is below the charge level required for auto stop/start to activate. There's around a dozen other stipulations that have to be just so for it to activate as well.

I have decided to take my 1999 Mercedes out of the garage just to make a point.

By the way magenta, I know that you are an entrepreneur, since you almost went into the baby food business.
How about you designing a fake phone. It must be at least 2 ft long with an antenna that sticks up an additional 1 ft. If the price is right, I will buy one to use when I go to Walmart! I can walk around with the thing up to my ear and pretend that I'm on an important phone call.

That’s what our military gear back in the 90s looked like lol.

Seems like somebody else didn't like it too, enough to make an override for it.


NOTE: I don't have a Ford Escape, I've never tried this and I have no idea if it really works. But it seems promising.

Thanks for the info! I will try to get the dealership to fix the problem. If they won't fix it, I will probably look into this product...

I agree.... if someone wanted this as an OPTION, I'm ok with that. My 2023 pickup has this feature as well..... along with about 15 cameras that want to send warnings and vibrate the seat if I even approach another vehicle. Fortunately, both of these are controlled by buttons on the lower dash area, under the display screen. Easy to punch both off as soon as I start the truck.

I'm sure technology has changed, but I remember early on in my driving career, that it uses more gas to start and stop the engine than it does to idle it for a given amount of time.... I don't remember the exact amount of time, but I think it was close to 5 minutes. So if you sat at a light longer than that, you would be better off, fuel consumption wise, to kill the engine. Otherwise, starting and stopping used MORE gas than idling.

Might be different now. Just more nanny-state control over our lives and habits....