IMHO, all gas-powered SUVs should be hybrids, especially since the EPA mandates stopping the engine while stationary. A hybrid would significantly reduce the pedal-to-wheels latency and keep the A/C running at stoplights.
I've saved considerably more time (maybe like 20-30 minutes?) in just a few months of having my new Subaru.
It was a somewhat stressful experience, but I guess I saved ~10-15 seconds of idling trying to leave work?
That's what internet searches and fuse pullers are for.
"but I guess I saved ~10-15 seconds of idling"
That's where the calculations get tricky. There's usually a time limit for which it's less efficient to stop the engine (about 4-7 seconds). So to calculate fuel savings, you actually should only count idle fuel rate times the number of seconds above that cutoff, then you also have to account for less efficient stops under that rate (maybe just subtract them from your seconds above so you get a net seconds beyond breakeven mark). I'm not sure any the systems track it that way, it's just how much overall time the car spent in the stopped mode.
Stop-start just doesn't seem worth it.
Hybrids where you can travel kilometres in stop-start traffic over the course of an hour every day without using the engine at all, now that seems super worthwhile!
Honestly I think it's pretty cool, and you get a more reliable starter as a bonus.
My commute, the stoplights alone would easily add up to that every day.
If you're idling for more than around 7 seconds at a time, stopping the engine makes sense from a gas perspective.
We had to take it in to the dealer for servicing because the car battery died and wouldn't hold a charge.
Turns out it was a known problem covered under manufacturer warranty, that the battery was specced too small for Outbacks equipped with idle stop and couldn't handle drawing so much power so often.
Incidentally, the properly specced battery and associated parts that would need to be replaced would have cost around $400 if it wasn't covered under warranty.
The vast majority of hybrids don't have or need starters, because they can start by backfeeding power from the drive motor(s).
City cops are the big reason we need PHEVs with 50 mile all-electric ranges. They would probably do 90% of their shift on all-electric, and the gas motor will recharge what they don't need.
In a parallel universe, Gore won the 2000 election, and got legislation through that forced PHEV technology to virtually all consumer segments within a decade. By now we would have electrified 70-80% of daily driving miles, cut emissions, and probably had cheaper cars in the process, and bankrupted the Saudis and Russians.
There also were various patents around inside-out rotaries and other compact higher-output engines about 10 years ago that would have made perfect recharger/range extenders for a PHEV.
How could they use AC and heating with traditional cars, when they had to stay stationary for a long time in summer or winter?
Edit: It's not strictly mandatory. See page 3 of https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2014-title40-vol19/p...
My understanding is that if the automaker uses it during the EPA fuel economy test, it must be enabled every time the car starts. If not, the automaker can choose to have it remember your preferences.
Warming up the truck in the winter isn’t an issue, it starts and runs like normal.
It also strikes me as a sub-optimal greedy optimization. If every car has this feature, then overall takeoff time in a long line of cars at a light should be expected to increase, and I would imagine the accordion gets worse and congestion gets worse. I wonder if anybody has studied this tradeoff.
Edit: it may be that people who drive a car with this feature overcome the delay by taking pre-emptive action (I have only driven a car like this as a rental), but it would still be interesting to see a study.
This is completely 100% solved by modern hybrids and PHEVS where the electric motor is directly on the axle or on the transmssion - the car starts moving instantly when you press the accelerator with zero delay. I strongly encourage trying a model like that for yourself - it literally makes this entire system finally work as it should.
Calling it the "dumbest most annoying" feature when touchscreens in cars exist is just weird.