Engine noise?

[NotthatJasonKenny]

'cos you customarily start your engine at the start of a journey and stop it at the end, you don't start/stop/start/stop all the way through, as you will in heavy traffic with one of the new systems. Presumably starters & ring gears are only rated for a number of starts/stops, these new systems will/could greatly accellerate the rate at which said starts/stops are used up.
Tha's wot oi fink anyhoo!

At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I doubt you are the first person to think of that, the designers probably gave it a little thought too and I'm sure came up with a solution. I may be proven wrong though, after all, they've only been available for six years without any issues...early days yet.

Seriously though, go for a drive in one, most manufacturers have them in the range as they reduce co2 emissions which they all have to do under eu law, make your mind up after driving one, you may be surprised!

Due to the emission targets getting harder to reach each year, it's only a matter of time before all cars are stop/start.

 

[Jonathing]

It's taken me this long to realise that drivers of posh looking new cars aren't consistently stalling at traffic lights.
Not having owned a car for some years and never having owned one less than 10 years old such things hadn't showed up on my radar.

 

[Browser]

At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I doubt you are the first person to think of that, the designers probably gave it a little thought too and I'm sure came up with a solution. I may be proven wrong though, after all, they've only been available for six years without any issues...early days yet.

Seriously though, go for a drive in one, most manufacturers have them in the range as they reduce co2 emissions which they all have to do under eu law, make your mind up after driving one, you may be surprised!

Due to the emission targets getting harder to reach each year, it's only a matter of time before all cars are stop/start.

No sarcasm detected Mr K, but it's suprising how many 'thoughts' designers should have had but didn't
I shall stand to be corrected in the course of time, I still say the best way for car manuafacturers to start reducing CO emissions is to start building bicycles....

 

[NotthatJasonKenny]

still say the best way for car manuafacturers to start reducing CO emissions is to start building bicycles....

They should but it would put me out of the motor trade and into the cycle trade! Not a bad idea!

 

[Browser]

Working in a bike shop, that would be hell wouldn't it?

 

[simon.r]

My last car, an A**i, had a petrol engine and the stop / start system and it was faultless. It surprised me how often the engine would stop, but as said above, it was 'intelligent' - it wouldn't stop when the engine was cold, or when the A/C was on for example. I don't imagine it made a vast difference to the fuel consumption, but it must have helped. I did develop a slightly different driving style - coming to a halt rather than edging forward in traffic. There were never any problems with it re-starting.

Before that I had a Prius, which rarely ran on battery only. When it did (typically at <20mph) it was positively dangerous as pedestrians would often just step off the kerb into the road in front of it!

 

[HovR]

With all the car companies nowadays installing engine cut-offs in pretty much all the cars, we will be seeing a lot more of them. I have seen and heard numerous cars in town starting up from the lights. One person even stalled!

I wouldnt be surprised if there are more incidents with cars involving the car behind expecting the car in front to move away, but it doesnt. So it gets rear ended. I doubt that would happen much thinking about it.

As Mr P said, there really is no noticeable difference in "away from the lights" time. The ones I've been in have a really beefy starter motor, or even use the cars electric motor also as the engines starter motor, so the engine is started in a fraction of a second as soon as it is put into gear.

 

[NotthatJasonKenny]

Working in a bike shop, that would be hell wouldn't it?

I'd never get any work done! And before anyone says it, yes, people would notice the difference!

 

[HLaB]

When a ned(chav) cuts you up near lights it used to be obvious that they stalled and you could laugh but with eco cars!

 

[NotthatJasonKenny]

You would be amazed at how much (percentage of journey time) the system is used. Most new engines are stop start so it doesn't cost anymore (obviously it does, you just don't have the option) so you will be quids in.

They are more about emission targets for the car makers than a complete solution to energy consumption. Even though I'm in the motor trade, I agree, a sensible use policy combined with exercise based travel (cycling, walking) would benefit everyone. In particular I would like to see more kids walking to school like I had to (or cycling as I got older) instead of 1 car dropping 1 kid off, not so bad when it's a parent on their way to work but the amount of school run only journeys I see bottling up the roads is frightening!

 

[NotthatJasonKenny]

[QUOTE 1885179, member: 9609"]I actually wonder if there is another reason; Modern diesel engines are severely handicapped with DPF's, these devices suffer terribly in slow stop start traffic and can soon clog up, effecting engine efficiencies by over 10% and can cost £500 - £1500 to replace - the on off technology can get the DPF through warranty and can provide the car manufacturer a nice little profit when the owner has to fund the DPF replacement themselves.[/quote]

You may be right, mainly had problems with dpf's (diesel particle filters) on vauxhalls but they are known for using cheaper parts (hence they are cheaper to buy with silly 0% offers and a 5 yr warranty, paid for out of margin).

There are stop start on petrol engines too though so maybe it has some merit in its own right.

 

[Linford]

[QUOTE 1881131, member: 45"]You'd hardly notice the difference if you drove one.[/quote]

I had a Smart car on hire a couple of years ago in Majorca and it had this system on it. TBH, it was horrible when it cut out all the time at every set of lights in town, and I used the override to stop it doing this. There is also the issue that the car will remain on choke (or the 'E' version of it) for an extended period as the engine take much longer to warm up as well that the Cat will never get up to temp on shorter journey's.

I'm not convinced that the tech is quite there yet - certainly wasn't on the Smart car.

 

[Linford]

[QUOTE 1885294, member: 45"]Stop-start doesn't kick in until the engine is warmed up, so the choke issue isn't an issue.[/quote]

Does this include the Cat temps as well ?

 

[Linford]

[QUOTE 1885310, member: 45"]I'm not the designer, I just drive one of them. I'd have thought so, but you could always ask them.[/quote]

I guess they all work slightly differently. My bike gets up to temperature on the gauge after about a mile and a half in the summer, but the exhust will still be luke warm. I am a bit wary of the claims made in the name of safety etc as I find modern cars with their super wide A pillars make them safer for the occupants but increase the risk of smidsy's and feel that the start stop cycle on vehicles used over short distances may create issues with emissions as they never get to the point where they work properly over the average journey for many drivers. Obviously this will be an even bigger problem in the winter.

 

[jonny jeez]

You'd think wouldn't you? I'm sure the car parts managers would love that to be the case! I am sure they have thought of a way around that problem though!

If you think that's bad, on the new diesel hybrid, the starter motor runs via AC (240v) to become a generator, it keeps turning (think of the pulse setting on a food mixer but with the Alternating current doing the pulsing!)

Or something like that...I was only half listening...

I love quotes like that. Mine usually go something like "the starter motor runs via AC (240v) to become a generator, it keeps turning into kittens...Or something like that...I was only half listening"