Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
I don't know what chevy did but some non-hybrid economy cars sold in japan as early as the mid to late 90s have had auto start/stop. It sounds like it works almost as seamlessly as what you described.
Glad to see GM finely catching up to late 1990s Japanese tech.
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That's hardly fair...
GM has been doing start-stop in Europe for years, and non-hybrid Japanese cars really didn't have it here in the states until recently either. NHTSA specifically put the kibosh on Honda's idle-stop back in '01 because it had a tendency to lurch and was deemed unsafe. EPA only recently changed rules that allow start-stop benefits to affect their ratings, before that it wasn't counted. Between that and resistance by consumers, nobody was putting it on cars. Why add cost that wouldn't help ratings or improve sales?
I drove a Malibu that had it. The Malibu was GM's first to have it as standard equipment in the states, a year before the Impala. It was mostly seamless and it's clear GM put some effort into making it that way. There is even an electric pump in the tranny to keep the pressure up so it's ready for acceleration immediately on start up of the engine. I did find a couple times where I wanted the car to get moving and the engine had to catch up and it lurched slightly, but it was minor and probably had more to do with me playing around with it to get an idea of how it worked.