Hello! New cars have this fun feature of turning your car off when you idle for too long. Whenever I drive a new rental care with the feature I always turn it off because it drives me nuts. I started thinking about it and I thought that idling (at least at a stop light) is more efficient than starting your car again since it takes more fuel to start. Why then do all of these new fuel efficient cars have this feature? I would assume it’s more fuel efficient since they all have them now, I was just wondering how?
Thanks!
In: Engineering
The trick is pretty much that when you stop at a red light, and stand there for a while, you don’t produce any unnecessary exhaust fumes if the engine is turned off.
For me, who lives rurally and drives into a large city occasionally, this means maybe half a percent on the fuel consumption, yearly.
For others, it probably cuts as much as 5%. Or maybe even 10%.
So…it’s both micromanaging the environment right next to where you are. Making the air a bit better for people who live right next to the road you commute by every day.
And cutting down fuel consumption. Sometimes more symbolically, sometimes more sincerely.
All this at the expense of the starter motor that gets more wear, and the battery that needs to provide for far more engine starts than in a car without the feature.
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