I'd rather my engine run for 2 seconds than my starter. I don't think a starter will run 1,440,000,000,000 revolutions without wearing out but I'll bet the engine will. (200,000 miles at approx. 60 mph)

I am the one who will have to pay for repairs and I am the one who should be able to choose what I prefer to wear out.
But I don't 'worry' about my truck wearing out. That's why I bought an F150.

 

As someone who is living in Europe at the moment and driving rental cars until my US vehicle arrives, I can attest to the annoyance of this auto start/stop feature.


Wait until your vehicle comes with 360 degree proximity sensors like my current rental. With parking stripes easily 2 feet narrower than anything found in the States you can't park the stupid thing without it constantly chirping at you.


I also detest the warning bells at any temp below 4C (about 40 degrees F). We all know that black ice is everywhere at that temp..(yes I'm kidding here).....Welcome to countries that take Nannyism to a whole new level.


I'll have to see if I can force a zip tie into both start/stop and proximity dis-able buttons on my rental. Thanks for the tip.


Adam

 

We must have had the same hire car in Ireland last autum. Roll up to a stop and just about the time you came out on the clutch the engine died. Yes, you can defeat it by pushing a button, but you have to remember to push that button every time you get in the car. And when you are sightseeing and focused on the scenery the stops are frequent and the memory doesn't work.

The zip tie idea is good - especially for a rent car as you can leave it dangling and remember to pull it when you turn it in.

 

I agree with you 100 %.
Europe is not the USA!
Start/stop Etc may work for them.

BUT:
While a FEATURE -MAY-be "important" to -some- individuals . . .
WHY should it be FORCED upon ALL/ME ???

It is quite simple to -allow- a BUYER to change such basic options.

 

Because the federal gov't standards are involved?

 

Go to eBay or Amazon and purchase a light that mounts in the trailer hitch, plug it into either the 7 pin or 4 pin socket, which ever one it takes and it defeats the auto on / off system.

 

Thanks- but I don't need to.
I just jammed a piece of black nylon tie into the button. The stop/start stays off all the time and it didn't cost anything. (except 1 nylon tie)

 

I got a wireless latching remote relay and connected it to a common 5 pin relay and each time I start my truck it powers up a piezo buzzer to remind me to disable that auto engine off feature. Then I just touch the remote to turn off the buzzer
Works for me

 

I've only had my F-150 for a week, so I'm still getting use to this. I'm not sure if I'm thumbs up or thumbs down on it yet. I live out in the country, so haven't minded it so far driving around here or on my way into town. On the way to town, there are two stop signs and then a light on the edge of town.

It doesn't bother me as much at those places as it does when I'm actually in town. We have an old town section that is a bunch of stop signs and lights, but they're all just long enough to stop, and then immediately go again, so the engine always barely shuts off and then needs to restart almost before it has stopped.

The other thing that kinda bugs me right now in the Summer heat is that when I am at a longer light, the engine shuts down but then starts back up five seconds later because of the AC (I guess). Then it might shut off again before the light changes to green.

Also, sometimes when it restarts at a stop light because of the AC, the sound it makes kinda cues my ears to thinking the engine has actually died instead of started. That's just me not being accustomed to this and expecting that if I would have heard it on my other vehicles, it would indeed have been the engine dying.

Anyway, as I said, I'm still new to it, so I'll give it some time. As of now I'm leaning towards hitting the "off" button when I'm in the part of town with all the short stops.

 

You live in an area like I. There are NO STOP LIGHTS.
Only ONE blinking 3 way light -in the ENTIRE COUNTY-

My solution -which WORKS-:
After turning the ignition on/starting . . .
Push the 'Auto Stop/Start' and -when- it shows -OFF- . . . just JAM SOMETHING ( I used a black cable tie end) into th button to -hold it-.

YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO -PUSH IT AGAIN- to Disable it !!!!

SIMPLE . . . . INEXPENSIVE . . . .IT WORKS . . . .
No -plug in- for the "trailer" or anything else.