Start stops are terrible. My Dad swears off his. When the motor stops he instinctively reaches for the shifter, as if he just killed it driving a stick..

No thank you to this.

 

When you drive it everyday you get used to it. The Pacifica has it, and I hate it, but if we're traveling or something and I'm driving it for an extended period of time then I dont even notice it.

 

An ON/OFF switch simply pleases all.


Source

General Motors patents a slightly less annoying start-stop system

It still kills the vibe, just less frequently

One of the many double-edged new features in vehicles is the modern start/stop system. Designed to save a few teaspoonfuls of fuel by shutting down a car’s engine under certain conditions while it’s at rest, this invention amuses and annoys in equal measure.

On one hand, it is saving fuel; on the other, it can kill power steering on some cars, and roar back to life with a rude judder in others.

GM thinks it may have a way around some of these annoyances. At present, a start/stop system looks for a number of criteria before shutting down an engine, including road speed and accessory load. According to a new patent filed by The General, the addition of a camera and slick AI programming could make the systems that much more bearable.

Using the car’s onboard GPS to help determine location and situation, GM’s patent will allow a start/stop system to recognize the difference between being in a parking lot or on the 401 during rush hour. Combined with machine learning, it would theoretically be able to deactivate the start/stop during parking lot maneuvers, or when pulling into a driveway.

Few things in this life are more irritating than a car shutting off the instant one stops outside their home only for it to fire again when the driver moves their foot off the brake. If the driver is not quick enough to clue into what’s going on – raises hand – there’s a good chance they’ll stab a finger at the ignition button to turn off the car but, because the system has already turned the car off, such action results in the engine re-firing for no reason. It can be infuriating.

Technically, the system could also read traffic data from the cloud in an attempt to prepare itself for start/stop duty when it might not otherwise be needed. If one’s commute is generally light on traffic, such knowledge harvested from the cloud would allow the car to recognize upcoming congestion and permit the start/stop system to operate once thrust into that environment. Since the car is monitoring its whereabouts, Luddites will surely carp about privacy.

It’s an intriguing solution to a wholly self-created problem. We’ll keep our ears to the ground for more details.

 

Definitely not a fan of it. I can't stand the delay in go/acceleration.

 

Better than nothing, but it would be highly annoying to have to reset it each time you start.

 

Yeah for sure. I know hybrid was pretty good, but from what I understand is that the electric motors gets you going which makes it feel seamless.

 

You can adjust fords setting with a tune or forscan. It's not ideal and most would not bother so having the ability to turn it on or off easily would be huge.