Hi Don, still waiting on the car to arrive so I can't answer that with any authority yet. I test drove it of course and all I could ascertain from that was that it's a simple spring loaded button on the dash that you can depress once the car is started or anytime thereafter. I am getting a manual but I assume it may be the same on the automatic as well but again I am not certain. I have already promised Uwe an autoscan of it upon delivery so I will add your question to the list. I am about 2 months out from delivery. On the manual at least or at a minimum the one I test drove the start stop feature was quite noticeable and not something I am comfortable employing in tricky driving or heavy traffic.
Greg
Greg: Thank you for the reply. Sounds like you and I are of a single mind where SS is concerned! I'm contemplating starting a world-wide movement against this most dangerous of features - so I take every opportunity that I can to talk to like-minded folk on these forums (with Uwe's kind forbearance, of course).
I totally understand (and respect) Ross Tech's stance on the regulatory aspects of Start Stop, but like most things in this short life - the advantages of this feature come at a cost. This cost includes lots of technical matters (like increased battery and Starter motor wear etc.) which can and have been addressed at the car design stage. However, there are consequential and less definable costs as well from SS.
, one of the more important and less-obvious consequences of SS is the risk management considerations to the car's occupants of switching off the engine in normal driving conditions. Completing a turn against on-coming traffic is a clear example of this (depends on what side the steering wheel is fitted as to whether this is a left, or right hand turn). Having the engine crank, start and then power-up only takes a few seconds, but it can be the difference between a near-miss and outright disaster. Sure, you can turn the steering wheel to the extent that SS won't engage, or you can apply only moderate pressure on the brake pedal to not engage SS (the "SS soft shoe shuffle"), or you could have remembered to turn-off SS when you started the journey. But, it's far better for the driver's attention to be fully devoted to the actual road conditions (I believe) than to be thinking about how to defeat this feature - whilst mentally juggling other more immediate considerations.
Clearly, in allowing SS to function as it does, Regulators have deemed these risk management matters to be acceptable - but I suspect that even Regulators agree that these decisions are rightly to be made by the driver. I assume that's the reason why these cars have a SS off button.
So- this is all a long winded way of suggesting that you install a
Automatic SS Kill switch. It's a very easy device to build and install and it's also inexpensive -
and the device is entirely compatible with Ross-Tech's stance on regulatory matters because it makes SS default to off-state on each ignition cycle and the driver can then choose to turn-on SS if desired.
Don
