Vehicle "Safety" Work Arounds

[SDMF]

wait a minute... shuts down at a stop light/sign?! so, you have to restart it to move? that's some crazy ass shit right there. reasoning? do they have 10-20 minute waits without movement in some places?

Fly-by-wire gas pedal restarts it automatically. Prius was one of the 1st to introduce this. The electric motor gets you going and about 1/2 way across an intersection you can feel the gas motor start and add power as well.

My biggest concern regarding start/stop would be all of the turbo options Ford has. Those turbos have to have lubrication to keep them cool. Can't be having a warm engine shutting down lubrication to a spinning turbo because you got to a stop sign. Starving turbo main-bearings at every stop sign is a recipe for Kersplosion.

 

[remm]

You guys and your fancy new cars with the push button starts and fancy gadgets. My truck still has the regular old key you have to turn to start, stays on running until I shut it off.
Would like to know how to permanently disable the goddam traction control permanently though, I can get stuck in wet grass if that stupid ass thing is on so the first thing I do when turning on the truck is press that dam button to shut it off.

 

[Ponyroper]

wait a minute... shuts down at a stop light/sign?! so, you have to restart it to move? that's some crazy ass shit right there. reasoning? do they have 10-20 minute waits without movement in some places?

My new Subaru defaults to the automatic engine shutoff at every start and I'm finally getting into the habit of hitting the button to shut off the auto start/stop each time I start the engine. Don't think there is a way to bypass it in the Subaru. The engine automatically starts again when you take your foot off the brake and it works so fast you barely have time to step on the gas and it's right there. Still a pain as some times it hesitates a tad and I don't like the idea of all the wear and tear on the starter. With the small amount of stop and go driving I do I don't see any real gas savings but I suppose if you drive a lot in heavy rush hour traffic where you might sit for 5 or 10 minutes waiting for the traffic to start moving again it might save some gas. Damn thing has so many doodads and gizmos I don't think I will use half of them. The automatic night dimming rear view mirror is nice as are the blind spot blinkers but the thing I like the most is the Sport mode button on the steering wheel. It's kind of like a tow/haul button on a pickup. It changes the shift points in the tranny and makes a hell of a difference when driving in the city. With the default economy setting it's like you are pulling a plow when you take off from a stop light but with that Sport mode it really jumps and you have better torque to merge into traffic coming down a ramp. It doesn't shift into overdrive as long as it's in Sport mode. Haven't tried the two X-Modes yet as they are supposed to be for better traction in slippery conditions and we haven't had any bad roads yet. Subaru's All Wheel Drive is supposed to be different than other AWD's in that it isn't a limited slip kind of AWD and I felt it 'walk' a bit when I was turning the steering wheel lock to lock trying to parallel park in a tight spot the other day. Supposedly their AWD will pull you off a rock even if only one wheel is on the ground. I saw it demonstrated on a You Tube video but I'm still kind of skeptical about that feature. Heater really roars when the fan is on high. Sounds like a jet airplane is landing on your lap.

The Subaru also has that annoying feature of only running for 10 minutes before shutting off when remote started. Dealer said it would run 20 minutes if you hit the remote start feature twice. Haven't tried that yet. Their advertising is a little tricky about the remote start feature. There is no remote start button on the wireless key, you have to download an app on your phone and then you can start it remotely and change the A/C and heater settings with your phone. The thing they don't tell you until after you bought the vehicle is that it costs about $30 a year for that feature. That really pissed me off when I found that out. Another nice thing is that the build in GPS will show you exactly where the vehicle is on Google Maps. I tried it on my home laptop and it showed the car parked right in my garage. Neat!

 

[deleted member]

Try $30/month for fucking onstar to remote start without an aftermarket. We only subscribe 3 months a year though

 

[bilbo]

Try $30/month for fucking onstar to remote start without an aftermarket. We only subscribe 3 months a year though

Chrysler does something similar. It's $150 per year for their Uconnect subscription that enables remote start through the phone bundled with a plethora of other useless features, like 'vehicle health reports.' They don't have just the remote starting ala carte so it's all or nothing. There's a button on the key fob but it's not very reliable or powerful, and no confirmation the vehicle actually started. I held onto it for a couple years after we bought our truck but then stopped. I didn't use it enough. We only use the truck for long trips and hunting; I drive a work beater most of the time.

All that said, it has saved me a few times. You can lock/unlock the doors with it using a phone provided the phone and truck have cell signal. I was out hunting with my wife and she put the dog in the truck and shut the door. The keys were lying on the seat. Of course the dog pushed the lock button. I ended up lucking out and getting through with the terrible cell signal we had and was able to unlock the doors. We were in the parking area on the South end of Indian Creek WMA if anyone knows where that's at. I always leave a window down when the dog's in the car and I don't have the keys. This wasn't the first time this had happened to me but it was for my wife. The $150 was worth it that year. I now also have a door key in the bed just in case.

 

[deleted member]

i subscribe to uconnect december through february or march every year too. half the price of onstar. totally agree that both apps, chrysler and chevrolet, are worthless. not sure why the don't spend some moldy $ on a first year college student to update their apps and software capability. you should be able to control temp, fan, seat heaters/coolers, run time, etc.. with them. i can't control any of that with the chevrolet app. i can set my dodge to have heat and seat heaters on when it autostarts from inside the truck. but, i can't "control" any of that stuff from the actual app.

 

[SDMF]

I'm still an "Astro-Start" guy for auto-starts. My wife has it in her car since '08 and it still works as it should. Had to replace the open-hood sensor 1x in 12+yrs. Hers is old enough to use AAA batteries. I need a new open-hood sensor in my pickup and a new battery for the remote but I have had trouble finding the battery. I need to call Astro and see if they'll sell me one.

I've started my truck from just over a mile away w/Astro-Start per the GPS on the boat.

I tried a cell-phone only start thingy in my Murano right after I bought it and it'd lose signal when it got much below freezing. Had it replaced with the plain old Astro-Start and it works great. 20Min idle time default from the get-go.

 

[bilbo]

i subscribe to uconnect december through february or march every year too. half the price of onstar. totally agree that both apps, chrysler and chevrolet, are worthless. not sure why the don't spend some moldy $ on a first year college student to update their apps and software capability. you should be able to control temp, fan, seat heaters/coolers, run time, etc.. with them. i can't control any of that with the chevrolet app. i can set my dodge to have heat and seat heaters on when it autostarts from inside the truck. but, i can't "control" any of that stuff from the actual app.

I didn't know they had it monthly, thought you had to buy the whole year. I will have to look into that.

 

[LBrandt]

We have a new Subaru Forester for the wife to take to work in the winter months. Like Pony said there is more "stuff" in the controls than I will ever learn how to use. The thing will drive it self down the road, spooky to say the least sometimes. LB

 

[That guy]

I guess I do not have anything new enough for that stuff. What is this auto start you guys speak of?

 

[snow]

Our 2019 Buick Enclave Avenir shuts off when at a stop light too and it sucks. Found on the Interweb for around 150 bucks you can buy something to plug into the wiring under the hood to stop this. Why do i need to pay another 150 bucks?????
Anyone know something different to fix this?

BB I checked with our service mgr(GM service) in regards to this,as you can purchase a moduel that plugs in to the ECM to by-pass the DOC (phasing out 4cyc) that stops the engine at a stop and also phases out the engine dropping 4cylinders at crusing speed,said bad idea from getting the injectors to quit hitting,oil luburcation,said it would create problems big time,shop claims this system wears out the 630 amp factory battery in a couple years from all the stop/starting but thats it.I suspect a wear on starter as well but not yet,system is to new yet

 

[SDMF]

BB I checked with our service mgr(GM service) in regards to this,as you can purchase a moduel that plugs in to the ECM to by-pass the DOC (phasing out 4cyc) that stops the engine at a stop and also phases out the engine dropping 4cylinders at crusing speed,said bad idea from getting the injectors to quit hitting,oil luburcation,said it would create problems big time,shop claims this system wears out the 630 amp factory battery in a couple years from all the stop/starting but thats it.I suspect a wear on starter as well but not yet,system is to new yet

I can't follow your post. Are you saying that the system that stops/starts/drops to 4-cyl is problematic, or, are you saying that defeating that system is bad?

Did you help your uncle Jack, off a horse? Or, did you help your uncle jack off a horse?

 

[snow]

Sorry I wasn't more clear,bye-passing this system is a bad idea,thats bottom line,sorry I don't have a uncle jack.

 

[johnr]

I try and bye-pass every system, it feels right.

 

[Wall-eyes]

My F150 has a button on the dash you can push to disable it but I think you have to do it every time you start the vehicle. Otherwise, don't wear your seatbelt and it won't engage (probably not the best fix) The autostart doesn't bother me with as little stop and go driving as I do with it so I haven't looked into it much.

yes this is how all mine work, turn off each time start vehicle.

 

[db-2]

As I come up to stop sign on my buick I pull shifter to put car in lower gear and then the motor does not shut down. Db

 

[WormWiggler]

BB I checked with our service mgr(GM service) in regards to this,as you can purchase a moduel that plugs in to the ECM to by-pass the DOC (phasing out 4cyc) that stops the engine at a stop and also phases out the engine dropping 4cylinders at crusing speed,said bad idea from getting the injectors to quit hitting,oil luburcation,said it would create problems big time,shop claims this system wears out the 630 amp factory battery in a couple years from all the stop/starting but thats it.I suspect a wear on starter as well but not yet,system is to new yet

color me surprised, a stealership says don't even look under the hood, it's too complicated gramps

 

[snow]

i subscribe to uconnect december through february or march every year too. half the price of onstar. totally agree that both apps, chrysler and chevrolet, are worthless. not sure why the don't spend some moldy $ on a first year college student to update their apps and software capability. you should be able to control temp, fan, seat heaters/coolers, run time, etc.. with them. i can't control any of that with the chevrolet app. i can set my dodge to have heat and seat heaters on when it autostarts from inside the truck. but, i can't "control" any of that stuff from the actual app.

Actually GM vehicles as long as driver has set his temp control on "auto" fan speed,temp thermosat,bun warmers come on with factory auto start,even the steering wheel heater....nice for this cold spell/deep freeze we're in