Turn it off
In London you can be fined for it.
Just one in every 1,000 drivers reported for unnecessary idling of their engines were fined in central London, data has revealed.
Toxic air pollution kills about 4,000 people every year in the capital and councils have targeted parked drivers who do not turn off their vehicles.
In Westminster, more than 70,000 idling drivers have been reported since 2017 via the council’s “report it” website. But only 63 fines of £80 were issued and just half of these were paid.
Damn I wish we could report it here. People do it more than they used to rather than less.
Air pollution may be damaging every organ in the human body, according to a comprehensive 2019 review, and is particularly damaging to children. A recent study found that switching off an engine for even 30 seconds cuts pollution by half compared with idling.
But it’s so much more fun to leave the engine running for no reason.
A big reason that I bought a hybrid was so that the engine wouldn’t idle at stoplights and while on a “rush hour” freeway.
It turns out that even now, many non-hybrid vehicles stop the engine rather than idle. I was talking to a friend on Saturday who just bought a Ford Pickup and he says it has that feature. So now, even the “More Power” dudes who find their manliness in their trucks have the opportunity to help cut down emissions.
Except that the constant stop start function wears down engines, despite what the mfrs claim. Just another piece of too complicated too fragile technology. No independent mechanic thinks those systems are a good idea.
I’ve worked in the automotive industry from both independent shops as well as dealerships for the better part of thirty years. One of the things I have learned is that mechanics don’t think anything is a good idea, because they end up fixing things. Which would make sense, because they see bad results, but it also calls to question their biases. One of the funniest things I ran across is that in dealerships, the mechanics don’t buy cars from the make that they work on most. Ford mechanics think Fords suck, Pontiac mechanics think Pontiacs suck, etc etc. By and large they tend to be a cynical lot.
But one of the keys to the automatic stop-start vehicles is that while not in motion they are not getting as much oil to the cylinders because the sending units mostly rely on the engine running. However, the recommended oil for them is either synthetic or synthetic blend, which helps protect the cylinders and pistons. Here’s a review from Motor Buscuit dot.com, with references:
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/cars-start-stop-system-hurting-long-run/
There’s give and take with every innovation. A car with stop-start tech has fewer revs than one without, which cuts down on wear. Does that offset the added wear at starting each time? This article says it does.
The engine doesn’t actually stop every time you stop…at least not in the ones I’ve driven with that feature. You seem to need to get the car up to a certain speed before it will consider turning the engine off when you stop again, presumably to try to prevent damage from driving in “stop & go” rush-hour-style traffic.
My own car is electric so I don’t know more detail than that, but I don’t want people to get the impression that these things are “constantly” stopping and starting either.
What’s the environmental cost of replacing the starting motor (etc.) over the lifetime of the vehicle, vs. the emissions from idling?
I have a car with that feature. I like it a lot. But it is a driving feature, not an idling feature. It is mostly for turning the engine off at a stoplight, then on again when the car proceeds. If the car is parked, and the driver intends to stay there for a while without turning off the engine, I suspect the driver will be using electric power, and thus will want the alternator (and thus engine) running so as not to drain the battery too much.
The cars that I have driven with automatic cutoff rely on you putting the transmission into neutral and applying the handbrake/parking brake. Simply stopping has no effect.
It’s not just London: it’s illegal anywhere in the UK to sit with the engine idling for an “excessive period”.
Not that it’s ever prosecuted…
I wish that were true here. I don’t think it can be, because people do it for literally hours.
If I sit in the car for a while with the system on, it turns off and restarts at intervals, just to keep the battery at a certain level. If I turn the car off, I will get reminders that I could drain the battery. One of the appealing feautures of this car, as someone once prone to draining the battery and needing a jump, is that if the litle battery is drained, I have the way to jump it from the big battery.
Colin @ 6
My car (a Kia) cuts off when stopped, with no other action necessary. People not yet used to it think the car has stalled.
Michael @ 9
The same with my car; if turned off and the door has not been opened, the car display and certain electronic functions continue to operate, but a short while later the car reminds me that it needs to be fully turned off (by opening a door) to avoid draining the battery. It’s a good reminder, but slightly annoying that the final step has to be opening a door.
I concur with Michael.
I have a new Renault Arkana with that feature, and it is activated by the amount of pressure I apply to brake pedal while stationary. The transmission remains in D. Obviously Renault believe they have engineered a tough car as this has the longest service interval I have ever seen, 12 months or 30,000Kms (18,600 miles). So, not only am I using around 40% less fuel than my last car, I also have less waste oil to have dumped.
One saving grace, with temperatures in mid 40’s (110+F), the auto shut off prioritises cabin comfort and keeps engine running.
Priuses have proven to be reliable, long-lasting cars, and they turn the gas engine on and off all the time, over and over, so either this is just not true at all or it can be overcome with good design.
This really needs to be a feature of all cars. People just won’t do it otherwise.
Really? Why? In traffic jams?
People sit in parked cars for long periods with the engine running, listening to the radio, charging phones, and keeping the temperature comfortable. I do this myself for short periods, but I, too, have seen people in parked cars for well beyond 30 minutes, sometimes into hours, and I agree that’s ridiculous.
I can almost kinda sorta understand people waiting in a drive thru lane for food or for picking up school children, but that’s not what is being talked about anyway.
Skeletor @ 12 yes really, and I don’t know why, that’s one reason I keep bringing it up. They do it all over my neighborhood, especially at viewpoints but not just there. It doesn’t have much to do with temperature or the radio from what I can tell, because they do it in all weathers, often with the windows open. I’ve passed cars parked that way and gone for an hour-long walk and come back to find the car still there, engine still running. More usual is probably half an hour or so.
How odd. I don’t think I’d be too excited to go to a viewpoint and sit in a car with the engine running.
Same. I want to be out there in the open air with nothing between me and the view. I just was there in that manner.
This viewpoint:
If they are not using the car to create an indoor environment, then I give up, I have no idea what they think they’re doing. There’s a small possibility they are charging phones, but that seems unlikely without the rest.
To put it mildly, I’m not an outdoor enthusiast. I don’t like the windows open in the house, and I’ll spend days at a time without leaving the house for more than a few seconds. I enjoy the outdoors when I’m there, but not enough to seek it out regularly. But I can’t imagine going to a viewpoint and seeing the view from inside a car.