EPA Chief: Auto Start/Stop Technology Is Done
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Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 35,468
Likes: 380
From: ON/NY
Yes.....until your neck gets caught in them. 
I had a Mazda Protege of that vintage with the fixed lap-belt and the automatic shoulder-belts. Decent idea in theory, but sometimes a PITA in day-to-day use. Some manufacturers used them, instead of air bags, for several years in the late 80s and early 90s as a lower-cost alternative to the passive-restraint-regulations, because the dual front air-bags themselves did not become a Federal Requirement in the U.S. until 1995.
I had a Mazda Protege of that vintage with the fixed lap-belt and the automatic shoulder-belts. Decent idea in theory, but sometimes a PITA in day-to-day use. Some manufacturers used them, instead of air bags, for several years in the late 80s and early 90s as a lower-cost alternative to the passive-restraint-regulations, because the dual front air-bags themselves did not become a Federal Requirement in the U.S. until 1995.
just another complicated thing to break.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,464
Likes: 251
From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
Yep.....I wasn't the only one. A number of people I know who had those automatic upper-belts tended to get their heads and necks in the way. It was easy to do, even with reasonable care. They only were in production a few years.....until the 1995 air-bag mandate finally did away with them.
However, to be honest, some auto-buyers, back then, bought and drove these vehicles simply BECAUSE they did not (yet) have airbags. The oft-heard excuse was....."I ain't gonna have me a vehicle with a friggin' bunch of explosive gas ready to go off in muh *** - **** face".
Last edited by mmarshall; May 15, 2025 at 08:34 PM.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 8,395
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From: Las Vegas
I have bimmercode, just went back in this morning and fixed the setting. Not sure how it had been flipped.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 17,127
Likes: 521
From: Knoxville, TN
I need mine coded off.
This is year 3 with the Yukon and I still most of the time forget to turn it off, and I used to ask you guys how you could forget lol.
It is so annoying, and it's actually pretty decent for S/S in terms of transparency. But I still hate it. I can't imagine it in really cheap cars.
This is year 3 with the Yukon and I still most of the time forget to turn it off, and I used to ask you guys how you could forget lol.
It is so annoying, and it's actually pretty decent for S/S in terms of transparency. But I still hate it. I can't imagine it in really cheap cars.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,464
Likes: 251
From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
It was never a mandate per se, but it was a short-cut for manufacturers to meet other EPA-standards that were a mandate, and the EPA gave manufacturers fuel-economy credits for those who did use the system. I personally have disliked it from Day One, and will be happy to see it go....or at least a switch that permanently disables it, not just for one ignition-cycle. Currently there is a deactivation-switch, but it must be pressed each time the engine is manually-started....which, after hundreds or thousands of pushes, will probably wear out the switch itself after several years.
Lead Lap
Joined: Sep 2020
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