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Auto Stop/Start in 2018 models

48K views 39 replies 17 participants last post by  RS Cruzer 
#1 ·
Hello everyone,

Not sure if this has been asked before; does anyone know if the 2018 models have a switch to turn off the auto stop/start feature?

Thanks,
H.
 
#3 ·
There is not a switch, no.

The 2018 Equinox loaner we have right now has it, I see no reason to ever turn it off. I actually got upset when it wouldn't stop while we were at a light, but that may have been because we had the air on full blast. Rolled down the windows so it wouldn't have any trouble stopping the engine.
 
#6 ·
The only issue with auto start/stop is when it breaks, which I honestly have yet to see. It's extremely seamless and most reviewers praise the chevys for doing such a good job with it. The only con to it is the possible slight thud that it may produce, but I never experienced this and I drive like a bat outta **** trying to improve my green light reaction time, and it needing to start back up didn't slow me down in the least, and this was in a Chevy from 2014..
 
#8 ·
Thats because you have a manual. I couldn't stand it. Its intrusive, to me. I roll into the garage, creeping up, to make sure Im all the way in, so the door closes, without hitting my car. The d@mn car dies at 1-2 MPH, and restarts, again, immediately, for me to pull up 3 more inches. Almost as annoying, is, when you're trying to make a right turn, at a red light, and the cross traffic is hauling mail. I often creep up anticipating pulling out, and I let my foot off the brake to creep, and the car doesn't move, why? because its not friggin running. Cant stand this stupid feature.

BNR sent my tune to me, last night, and Jerry DISABLED it for me. No more auto start. POS.
 
#9 ·
Yeah, I don't get this S/S feature myself. My car does not have it thank goodness, but if we have cars EASILY getting 40-50 MPG without it, why in gods name do we need it? So we can get 41 or 51 mpg? Nobody can ever convince me this does not create added wear and tear on the car's starter, tranny, engine. Plus, as previously pointed out, when going very slow or parking it's intrusively aggravating.
 
#10 · (Edited)
No. City MPG, not highway.

Thats because you have a manual. I couldn't stand it. Its intrusive, to me. I roll into the garage, creeping up, to make sure Im all the way in, so the door closes, without hitting my car. The d@mn car dies at 1-2 MPH, and restarts, again, immediately, for me to pull up 3 more inches. Almost as annoying, is, when you're trying to make a right turn, at a red light, and the cross traffic is hauling mail. I often creep up anticipating pulling out, and I let my foot off the brake to creep, and the car doesn't move, why? because its not friggin running. Cant stand this stupid feature.

BNR sent my tune to me, last night, and Jerry DISABLED it for me. No more auto start. POS.
Meh. You learn to live with it (or shift to L when it needs to be disabled).

I've let my dad and gf drive my car. Both stopped noticing it shutting off after a day or two of driving it. It's pretty seamless when you're not in stop-and-go traffic.

There SHOULD be a delay of a few seconds before it shuts down, though. I think that would alleviate a lot of complaints - mine as well.
 
#11 · (Edited)
How about when you have your foot on the accelerator, the engine can't shut off? Make parking easier you'd think. Otherwise, this seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen after the car gets older and components may not operate properly. I mean, have you ever seen those crazy Chinese driving videos? I think they are victims of this stop/start. The car stops, they gun it to make it go and flatten an family of four or drive off of a 15 story parking garage.
 
#12 · (Edited)
If you're touching the brake and gas at the same time (I've seen people that do - mostly quite older), you shouldn't have a license. Same stupid crap that Toyota got sued over; they now have a defeat written into their software that disables the accelerator when the driver's foot is also on the brake and the car is moving. Newer Toyotas also hesitate quite a bit if you suddenly slam on the gas...I'm not sure if that is also intentional, or just slow transmission response, but it's annoying.

Any time your foot is OFF the brake pedal in a GM, the engine's running.

Most people creep around parking lots/spaces without ever touching the gas pedal...I do it myself. I've gotten into the habit of knocking the shifter into neutral as I make the final turn into my parking spot, but that may not work for everyone.
 
#16 ·
Jb, I’m with you. I just got tired of remembering to go through all of that. Shifting, keeping the A/C on. I drive 60 miles to work, and get off of the highway, and hit the first light. Bam, it dies. I’ve put 4,500 miles on mine, in 7 weeks. I gave it, it’s chance, it’s gone. And I’m loving every minute of it. [emoji108][emoji108][emoji108]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#20 ·
I am like most others and don't like the Auto Stop on the new 2017 Cruze LS 1.4 auto I just bought (7k demo) . I was looking to buy a used old style Cruze, to avoid this feature ,when I saw a good deal on this 2017. This feature is coming on all cars eventually so there will be no choice anyway. I wish it could at least be switched off. If you give it a second or two to properly start before accelerating you don't hear what sounds like the gnashing of the steel starter motor gear and the fly wheel gears.I got 466,000 km on my previous 2001 Sunfire with the original starter motor and 350,000km on my 1989 Corsica before that, but the starter was replaced once on that. I don't remember at what mileage. Even though the Cruze starter is supposed to be designed for the constant start stop , I can see it failing just after the warranty is up.That is the biggest issue with it. I haven't even been able to find it on the engine.I may get BNA to program it out, and I will certainly use L6 in stop and go city driving. It is also annoying how the engine stops then restarts if you are going to put the car into Park and turn it off anyway.Start stop should be disabled if the turn signals are on, so that you can quickly accelerate to make your turn, when there is an opening.Anyone know if there is a second battery for the start stop like on the Malibu ?
Thanks
Nov 6 2017
 
#22 ·
Are all the stickshift cruzes free of the autostart/autosto?

Or is it just the oil burner stickshifts which omit autostart/autostop?
Us former stickshift VW-cheater-diesel people don't want autostart/autostop and thank you GM for not giving it to us. We LIKE the extra vibration and noise from diesel engine! (Many of us liked the massive soot clouds from those old pre-DPF TDIs too, it was glorious to see tailgators react to being surrounded in such a stupendous sootcloud from such a tiny car. Favnerhugen & schadenfrade together in one vehicular package.)
 
#24 ·
thanks... maybe in future years the buyer will be able to select automatic transmission vs autostop/start independently either from the dealership or via aftermarket tune, with all four combinations possible.

in the automatic vs standard depart, i'm glad the HVAC doesn't have auto-temperature-adjust, i prefer its red/blue hot/cold setting that doesn't always try to adjust the temp using Swiss Precision and 72 different temperature sensors. probably that should be its own thread, or there are 14 threads about that already .
back in the day on the free Usenet via uucp we could post to two threads/forums at the same time. :}
 
#28 ·
Just to add something about GM's automatic stop-start implementation, an automatic isn't a technical requirement as they offer it on manual transaxle cars in Europe including some versions of the 2.0L diesel. I'm not sure why they didn't offer it on the manual 1.6L diesel in the new North American Cruze. Maybe save cost, maybe to get some A-to-B testing and warranty info between the two engines, or maybe something else.

Having driven a couple newer GMs with it (a gas '16 Cruze and new Equinox) I'd say GM does have some of the better implementations. If I owned one I'd get used to it quickly although the background sound change of the engine shutting off is more notable than the actual feel/vibration, engine resume, and acceleration, which are reasonably seamless.


I haven't looked at some of the technical papers in a while and understand that many systems are able to time the engine shutdown to keep a cylinder near compression stroke for quickest restart, but I'm mostly concerned about battery and to lesser extent starter service life. GM is using a special starter that should be engineered and tested for more cycles than the engine will see, but the battery may take a hit over time and are generally only tested and designed to go past the bumper-to-bumper warranty. Constant discharge cycles are bad for lead-based batteries and most idle-stop systems require use of more power dense AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries that also happen to be more expensive and fail suddenly at end of their service life.


GM plans stop-start fleetwide by 2020
http://www.autonews.com/article/20160523/OEM06/305239970/gm-plans-stop-start-fleetwide-by-2020

Powering up the new stop-start systems
Powering up the new stop-start systems - SAE International

Johnson Controls bets big on stop-start systems
http://www.autonews.com/article/201...hnson-controls-bets-big-on-stop-start-systems


With GM using capacitors to help with engine restart on some models and greater amount of discharge cycles AGM batteries can handle I'm optimistically hopeful the stop-start systems will have a long service life but some teething issues wouldn't surprise me. More frequent and expensive battery changes is one of the areas I'll be watching after the newer systems have been out for 4-5 years with lots of miles and cycles.
 
#29 ·
^The Cruze, at least, uses both a capacitor and AGM battery. Not sure about the Equinox.

They say that it can kill a lead-acid battery in ~6 months, and that seemed to be the case with mine - my Cruze came with the incorrect battery installed in it by the dealership since it had probably sat in the showroom for 6+ months and killed the original.
 
#33 ·
Nice looking car. I like that color on the sedan with the RS package. :th_dblthumb2:
 
#37 ·
I can only speak for myself, so allow me to explain. I am 53 y/o and quite mechanically inclined. In the 1980's I worked in an Auto Electric shop, rebuilding starters and alternators. From the knowledge I gained from that experience, I have learned that auto manufacturers design their equipment to be mass produced as cheaply as possible. So, allow me to put that in other terms; Let's say the starter is designed to operate 10,000 cycles. If I use up 5,000 of those cycles needlessly, at stoplights, for example, I have cut the life of that starter in half. This, and not to mention the added stresses this put on the battery. I will say that my 2017 Cruze has a large battery in it, so there has been some consideration for that future problem. But I still would like to disable the feature. I don't want to be at a stoplight when the battery decides its lifetime is over.
 
#39 ·
Yup.

Additionally, the batteries are AGM technology that can handle lots of short charge/discharge cycles, and the car has a capacitor it saves up charge in to fire off the starter again.

I wouldn't worry about it if you are just trying to prevent failure. Failure rates on vehicles with starters designed for this heavy duty work have been very low (for instance hybrid vehicles).

However, I have had some people that drive my car tell me it annoys them, which I do totally understand.
 
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