Auto stop/start when towing with an automatic
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As with others I tow with a Touareg. When they have a factory fitted towbar the Stop/Start is automatically disabled when a trailer is attached. Mine has a retrofit towbar and the vehicle was coded to the fitting instructions which also disables Stop/Start with a trailer attached.
I'm not sure of the reason but suspect it's to do with battery drain when a trailer's attached, especially if it has any loads running off the cars 12V feed when stopped like the fridge.
As an aside, I've re-coded my car so it remembers the last manual Stop/Start selection made by the driver as I'm not a fan and got fed up with turning it off every time I started the car.
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I can't see it can be argued "Stop start" is a healthy thing of any ICE but undoubtedly it is for the local environment and I am sure that is the motivation for its adoption.
In most normal situations the vehicle will be already in a low power generation state, before stop starts becomes particularly active, i.e. into urban slowing traffic as opposed to be at full tilt then abruptly be stopped.
So, as said, in that situation even if not desirable mechanically, it is less of a "big problem".
Towing must change things in a negative direction, as the machinery will always be lugging near twice the solo use mass. A spin off is this there will be twice the waste heat to dissipate, from the cooling, from components, out of the turbo and from the exhaust. At the same time there is no change in the ability to dissipate this ( e.g. no road speed), only calling in the fan or fans.So in most vehicles without electrically pumped cooling systems, when we stop the engine the blocks heat soaks as do other critical things, here particularly the turbo's hot end bearings. Plus the transmission, in the traffic will have been in slip mode, not locking up so again getting quite hot, and with a stopped engine without a means to shed much of that.
Things are much worse if the engine has been really pulling and then goes into stop mode, e.g. hauling up a hill then running into backed up traffic or a "tee" junction where the vehicle stops moving.
Overall I don't see Stop start as a mechanically healthy thing to be doing, and towing it just gets worse.0 -
Agree with the Above.
As has been said , the problem with it , is, if Towing. fridge and leisure battery charging is interrupted, if a turbo diesel, overheating of Turbo bearings and overheating of Transmission fluid all of which can be which can be very expensive. Turn it off, if it doesnt turn off automatically because you are towing. Common sense really.
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In my opinion the system is badly thought out, it should only activate when the handbrake is applied. This would alleviate the annoying habit of idle drivers sitting with their foot on the brake dazzling the driver behind at night because they are too lazy or ignorant to use the handbrake as required.
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How would redesigning Stop start to work via the hanbrake alleviate drivers holding on the foot brake?
That bright brake light issue is a feature of using an automatic, surely.
However, I can't ever see that going away, many will feel safer to be themselves holding the vehicle, and others never thought of its side effect.
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"That bright brake light issue is a feature of using an automatic, surely"
Why do you think that? Autos have handbrakes just as manuals do and they have a 'N' position.
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Why would you keep your foot on the brake if the handbrake is on? The fact that it is a feature of using an automatic does not mean that you cannot use some common sense and good manners by not dazzling the driver behind and complying with the Highway Code.
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Because so many driving an automatic leave it in "D" with a foot on the brake, for traffic lights, bumper to bumper driving.
Not that they have to, but very much what I observe happens. Sit in bumper to bumper moving traffic, it appears all but endemic that is the adopted driving style where a move is thought immenent. Otherwise would Vulcan have raised it as an issue?
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Your first para applies equally to drivers of manual cars but they keep two feet on the pedals.
Vulcan did not raise the issue specifically in respect of auto drivers but about lazy drivers in general. The auto aspect is your take on things.
I drive a manual and an auto and treat them both the same. Handbrake on and gear lever in neutral/N.
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I am saying they do keep a foot on the foot brake, as is evidenced by the brake lights, even those you know the car features an auto parking brake.
Rerurning to the point you made that I can't grasp. How would redesigning the stop start integrated with the parking brake, alleviate the brake light issue?
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"I drive a manual and an auto and treat them both the same. Handbrake on and gear lever in neutral/N."
So do I, my observation though is about others, seemingly many others, by the wreched amount of times I sit flood lit by brake lights.
Our manual does the parking brake without any intervention from us, both on and off.
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My findings as well, Ocsid, but they aren't predominantly auto drivers in my opinion.👍🏻
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So do I, my observation though is about others, seemingly many others, by the wreched amount of times I sit flood lit by brake lights.
IMO then you are driving too close, I have an auto and the last time i used the handbrake was probably when we returned from Spain last year on the ferry
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Okay, let my clarify the point, auto drivers don't have to touch any gear selection facility from that done during starting a journey and finishing it. Though some like us, do choose to get ourselves involved. They sometimes never need to touch the parking brake year in year out either, it all happens magically.
Therefore, I have reason to believe many auto drivers do nothing but hold on the foot brake, even those whos cars could well have applied the parking brake for them.
The issue I can't see, relates to this thread where stop start and autos are involved and the suggestion that integrating it with the "handbrake" would alleviate this glaring brake light.
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No clarification necessary, Ocsid.
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I take your point Ocsid, maybe I assumed that many people apply the footbrake specifically in order to activate stop start, in that case if it was activated by the handbrake that would alleviate the problem. I have to concede that I can't think of a solution for the less intelligent drivers in your second paragraph.
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