Will factories and dealerships provide updates to ECMs to defeat auto start/stop,

TrueBlue · February 19

once Trump's repeal of the requirement to have them is in place?

It would be very nice to be able to do this, without having to rely on a third party device.

davester · February 19

no.

Silverado4x4 · February 19

It would be nice if they did but I don't think they will. It would be great even if they charged maybe 50 bucks to delete it, GM could make a little money here.

Edited February 19 by Silverado4x4

newdude · February 19

No. Not going to happen. Gotta read deeper than the headlines and Lee Zeldin stating he's going to eliminate it from cars.

Why?

Its not a full on ban of the tech. Its just a removal of government incentives to install the feature in the car to begin with. AKA the automakers were being handed money to put it in.

EPA Says It's 'Killing' Stop-Start, and Here's What Automakers Have to Say

Quote

Hyundai's statement was the most specific we received, pointing out that the EPA's rule changes simply remove incentives for automakers to use this technology, rather than banning it: "Start‑stop technology has never been federally mandated, and the EPA’s recent action removes regulatory incentives associated with it rather than prohibiting its use.

I'd expect stop/start to actually NOT go away at this point in time, possibly ever.

TrueBlue · February 19

You're closer to this than most of us @newdude, so you're likely right. However I have yet to find anyone who is actually a fan of the tech, or will even admit that they find it useful.

By and large I think that it's one of those things that people love or hate, and I've yet to find anyone that loves it. That being said, and as @Silverado4x4stated, GM (and others), could make money on this. Creating a very simple ECM tweak to disable it, and upcharging to apply it could create some revenue. Alternatively for those companies who actually care about what their customers want, and don't want, it could be a simple, optional OTA tweak that might help to keep the customer base pleased with their purchase.

Of course if that original "incentive" was binding for the life of the vehicle, it would never happen to our advantage.

Atlas · February 19

I've never heard of anyone loving stop/start tech, just people who tolerate it. I don't. It does save a tiny amount of fuel, but that wasn't actually the point of the tech, yet it's where people focus their ire on the subject. It was about reducing emissions. If you can save hundreds of thousands of idle hours per day, vehicles throwing CO2, NOx and other gases into the atmosphere, that amounts to a meaningful reduction in pollutants across a nationwide/ modern fleet of gas and diesel vehicles.

IMO the tech is disruptive and clunky, and goes against everything I know about prolonging the life of an internal combustion engine and that's why I disable it in my vehicles. But I understand the intent.

As I understand, it was an EPA compliance credit. Not an incentive/$ check from the EPA, but rather an optional (easy) way for automakers to score compliance points to offset potential fines and more costly changes to tech in other areas.

Seems like GM could offer either a customer satisfaction program to have it optionally removed, even at a cost. But the reality is, the elimination of the "credit" is likely very temporary and automakers probably won't roll out big changes other than skipping the tech in production for a while.

Edit: Even if GM offered to let us pay to have the stop/start button remember it's last setting (off) that would be nice! Otherwise it's janky 3rd party devices and hacks and I don't like those either.

Edited February 19 by Atlas

Albert Palos · February 19

12 hours ago, TrueBlue said:

once Trump's repeal of the requirement to have them is in place?

It would be very nice to be able to do this, without having to rely on a third party device.

Its going to be a while if they even decide to do a software update. And if and when they have an update, you wont be able to do it from your car, you will be to take ur truck to the dealership and charge you to do the update. There's a video on YouTube that came out yesterday that explains it

newdude · February 19

Here's the EPA presser on it. It does bring up some factual info such as when it went into effect and that it was a credit created during the Obama administration in 2012.

Administrator Zeldin Eliminates Off-Cycle Credit for Almost Universally Hated Start-Stop Feature in Vehicles | US EPA

The rest of what is in there...eh. Definitely a bit of a puff piece. Feels like it was written by a child or young teenager.

Does auto stop/start impact emissions more than fuel economy? Yes. You aren't burning that extra fuel waiting at a light or going through heavy stop and go traffic, or a long drive-thru line at McDonalds. That's where it actually has its benefit, is reduction in fuel consumed idling and lowering your MPG. Its a small dent, but a dent none the less in the emissions produced in ICE vehicles.

There is also an SAE piece on actual tested and documented savings of auto stop/start.

Honestly? Having driven so many different vehicles at work, I rarely turn it off anymore. Its not that big of a deal/end of the world to have that feature, yet it seems to be so loathed. The starters they've been using are more robust as well, deep cycle AGM batteries, etc. Most everyone does have a switch to disable it, sure, but it can also self-disable with the heat or AC on moderate to high settings.