We used to have to start car engines by key and listen for when the engine would “catch”. How does it know now automatically?

Question

This is probably already revealing how old some of us are, but we remember that we had to start our cars by turning the key and waiting to hear the engine “catch”. At that point you knew the engine was ok to proceed, and if you stopped turning the key it wouldn’t die.

How does the starter today (push button) know all this, and it never seems to get it wrong? I have never heard a push button starter fail to get it right unless some other issue like dead battery, etc. (and btw, today’s engines seem to have so far fewer issues like we used to have)

In: Engineering

Answer 1

I still use a key for my 2019 car. You just know by feel. There is a timing for it too. My guess push button cars use a current sensor to know when the load drops indicating that the engine is running. I’m no car expert but I have background in electrical engineering.