What do we really know about the Start & Stop system and its use in summer

It is not mandatory but manufacturers have made it an essential in recent years and it is usual to find it in any new car that is sold in the market to the point that it is activated every time we enter the vehicle.

We talk about the Start & Stop, a system designed to save fuel that manufacturers carry by flag but that does not stop raising controversies. Is it really interesting to use it or is it better to deactivate it to avoid breakdowns?

Start & Stop, a controversial system

Although the origin of Start & Stop system dates back to the 80sIt was in the 2000s when manufacturers began to popularize. Before increasingly hard emission regulations that have brought us the microhbrid cars, the sailing circulation or the disconnection of cylinders, the marks opted for a drastic solution: turn off the engine.

He Start & Stop System directly turn off the engine when we are standing. The theory is simple, if the engine does not work at the idle, the car does not produce polluting emissions and the approved means are lower than usual. Keep in mind that WLTP cycles, for example, contemplate stops in all the scenarios that simulate, from urban circulation to high speed on highway.

Savings, according to some experts, is evident. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it ensures that fuel savings is between 4 and 5% compared to that of a car that keeps the engine at the idle. This is especially useful in cars that constantly move by city. In fact, some studies They raise savings to 26.4% When the traffic jams are prolonged.

As we said, the system is not really mandatory by any regulations but according to AxiosThe system is mounted by 65% of the cars sold in the United States. In Europe we have not found concrete data but the new car that is sold without said system is rare.

The problem is that the system, by default, comes on every time we open the car. To comply with the expected broadcasts, the manufacturer is obliged to make it so. Therefore, it has become a controversial system. In fact, the EPA itself, now led by Trump administration personnel, ensures that it is studying the elimination of the system “that everyone hates”, In the words of Lee Zeldin, its director.

As in the case of the speed alert system, it is something that could be completely deactivated forever from our cars but is not recommended since In the ITV they will soon check that we have made this modification and will suspend us.

Until then, it only remains to turn it out manually if we decide. But is it really interesting?

The start & stop and the breakdowns

As we say, this option to save fuel is something that we have living together a few decades, so the system has been refined. At first it was slow and abrupt but especially since the arrival of microhill with 48 volt batteries has been refined and is now much faster.

Despite this, there are still doubts about whether it can affect the reliability of the car.

It is what holds one of the Ebenezer workshops mechanics. One of its mechanics explains on its social networks (more than 300,000 followers in Tiktok) that it is advisable to deactivate the system in summer traffic jams since it generates too much stress in mechanics and can cause expensive breakdowns.

First, the mechanic offers a purely practical motive. When the car stops the engine, we will continue to receive air because the car fan remains active but we will lose cold air. But, in addition, we play some breakdowns according to their experience.

They point out that stopping and starting constantly generates stress in the starter and battery engine. A battery that, as the companions of Motorpasionit is not especially cheap in these systems since the agm or EFB is used that are differentiated “from those of a lifetime” in which “they have a more advanced technology, endure more cycles and have good performance in adverse conditions.”

But the matter goes beyond substitutions within minimal maintenance. According to the mechanic, with the active system the temperature increases because if the car is in the idle, the water pump moves, helping the cooling of the car at a time when it does not reach a clean air in motion and the air conditioning system is increasing the temperature. The Start & Stop helps to raise the temperature in these conditions.

However, electric water pumps They have mitigated this problem and some others that are mentioned in the mechanic’s video. Over the years, systems are more and more complex to reduce the risk of breakdowns And, now, they can keep the water pump active to guarantee the engine refrigerated but also a concrete position of the cylinders in the off so that when the march is resumed they are already in their ideal position.

In spite of everything, there are still reluctance. In Motor.esfor example, they gave the reasons why they recommended to stop the off and ignition system with each stop. The reasons were more or less the same: greater stress, premature substitutions, loss of effectiveness in the air conditioning or greater risk of mechanical breakdowns.

But they gave a fact that can help you decide for the shutdown. Although manufacturers use reinforced alternators and starter motors with these systems, some studies suggest that engine lit during the life of the car can pass from 50,000 to 500,000 occasions.

To all of the above you have to add a greater concern for the turbo, since this system suffers especially with abrupt stops. That’s why, explain in the same mediumthat Start & Stop systems take into account the motor temperature Before activating and if this is not high enough they do not go out to avoid possible breakdowns.

In summary, the current Start & Stop systems that assemble new cars have been widely developed and now take into account many factors when they are launched. Despite this, it is normal to have certain reluctance to its use, both for the feeling of continuous stop and starting a risk of breakdown. By itself, it should not generate a breakdown but deactivating it will only make that at the end of a jam you have consumed a somewhat higher amount of fuel totally assumable if that guarantees some mental tranquility.

Photo | Audi

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