Would like to know as well.

Mr. Wolfe

 

If you don’t press the brake pedal all the way down the auto start doesn’t engage.

 

Can't be disabled permanently. You can push the button as you do, or put the car in power mode, which disables start/stop.

 

put the car in power mode, which disables start/stop.

appreciate that answer even if it's the millionth time



In another thread where you gave that answer I indeed found that indeed works so Thanks. My question is are others that do this seeing the start\stop indicator when selecting power mode only ?
In my case I now engage power mode as my first step before moving which also disengages start\stop but the start\stop indicator does not light. Completely fine with that if that's the norm !

 

after a half dozen or so threads on the subject, still the same answer...

 

Yes I was asking myself that question?? Maybe magically it will disable itself after the millionth time asked. I guess it is hard to maybe just look not even 3 pgs here to find out the answer. Its easier i guess just to ask n wait. lets see how many days will pass by before someone else rewords the same question for the same answer.

 

In certain braking situations, you can not depress the brake firmly which will not activate the start/stop feature.

 

I have a question...seriously. Why does the stop start thing bother so many people? It works pretty darn good, it saves gas, and quite frankly if you know how to drive with it, it only shuts off when you WANT it to. Worried about extra wear? Sorry, ain't any. Why? Read up on it, the engineering on this one is rock solid. Europe has had these for 5-10 years, and this will be standard on all cars soon. Everything is heavy duty to handle it. Perhaps people thought the same when electric starters first replaced hand cranks on engines.....imagine a battery? a key? switches? wiring? a starter motor, a solenoid? a gear that has to mesh with a bigger gear and then release in microseconds when the car starts??????? oh my a hand crank would be so much better. and nothing to go wrong!


In all seriousness, I've had my Highlander a month and have fought it until lately. My field is mechanical engineering and I know you're not saving anything by NOT using this. Like others have said, if you don't want it to shut off, don't push the brake pedal so hard and it won't! Get used to it....this one is not going away...soon they won't even have a button to ever shut it off

 

Because it gives them something to bitch about, everyone who has bought a 17 HL knows about the start stop from the stealer. I love how its about oil and metal on metal. No one does research anymore.

 

Yeh not sure why so many people hate it when you can easily control it with your foot. I love being able to engage it when I know it's a longer stop light, long slow line at the drive thru, etc.

 

^ this

 

:smileyvault-popcorn

 

How much gas does HL burn per minute while sitting idle?

Does Toyota have a specification for this?

 

dchobo...think of it this way. If you could do it with a hand crank, how hard would it be for you to keep all those pistons rotating about 700 RPM for that minute, just by cranking it by hand? That's 700 times around in one minute....you would be very very tired. You probably couldn't do it. It's a LOT of energy wasted for no reason, and that's why these systems are never going away. It's also one more minute of wear on ALL your engine parts, water pump, alternator bearings, idler bearings, compressor bearings. It adds up over time.

 

Craig, I'm with you 100% on this one. My mechanic of 30 years said almost exactly what you said regarding wear on various components. I'll continue to hit the power mode button right after I hit the start button. The Highlander has more pep in its step with that setting anyway.

 

Ever since I had my software updated with the TSB for 2017s, my car rides awesome. I simply just don't stomp the pedal and auto start/stop never engages.

 

I also don't have issues with this, maybe people who do are all heavy footed heh.

As for how much it saves, technically here are the numbers:
"The estimated fuel consumption of an idling engine is 0.6 litres / hr per litre of engine displacement. This means that an idling 3.5 litre engine consumes more than 2 litres of gas per hour."
http://www.ecomobile.gouv.qc.ca/en/ecomobilite/tips/idling_engine.php

It's not a whole lot, maybe gives me an extra couple tanks over a year's time. But hey, one less tank is one less tank, more money in my pocket.

Now as to people who still want to turn this off, I don't have exactly how-to, but I have a thought.
There are a number of conditions which prevents the SS from engaging, maybe there's a way to tap into one of those.
For example, I've noticed there are times the SS won't engage due to "Battery Charging". Maybe there's a sensor to see how much voltage the battery is giving out, and disables SS when it's below a level?? If you can trick that sensor, then SS will never start (but you might get annoyed with all those messages you see on the screen).

 

...
As for how much it saves, technically here are the numbers:
"The estimated fuel consumption of an idling engine is 0.6 litres / hr per litre of engine displacement. This means that an idling 3.5 litre engine consumes more than 2 litres of gas per hour."
http://www.ecomobile.gouv.qc.ca/en/ecomobilite/tips/idling_engine.php ...

Thanks for the link. This translates to about 0.01 gallon per minute of idle for our 3.5L engine.

The website you linked suggests shutting off the engine for stops longer than a minute - this is what I normally do. If I come to a stop anticipating a long wait, I will depress the pedal harder to activate the stop engine.

 

how long does the engine have to stay off to make up for the extra fuel dumped to start it back up?

 

I read before that starting an engine is equivalent to 10 seconds of fuel use.

 

The way my Toyota batteries last in my Camry 2-1/2 years on average can't wait to see what the Highlander does with the stop start feature. Sorry until it's in writing the fuel savings with this feature in dollars and cents over a period of time versus battery or starter cost I think it's just the manufactures way to improve their overall gas mileage ratings for the government at our expense. I turn mine off at start up.

 

I think it's just the manufactures way to improve their overall gas mileage ratings for the government at our expense. I turn mine off at start up.

Your probably right. Epa-carb & cafe r definitely involved. POTUS DT wants to change how all those regs work, but may, maynot happen? Anyhow ss feature (for now) is up to user.

btw...also new V6 D-4 S + 8spd a/t for better mpg.

 

The battery in the new Highlander is not your Camry battery. It is a `marine type' battery made for this purpose. Go look one up at Autozone if you don't believe me. Most other sites don't even have a battery listed yet for our cars BECAUSE it's now a different battery. The starter is also upgraded and heavy duty for this purpose. There's absolutely no question that stop start saves gas, AND you get a better battery and starter out of the deal! Why are all of you complaining??? Do you really think Toyota, the car company you chose BECAUSE of its design and reliability, would use a standard battery, and start motor for this system???? These systems have been in use in Europe for 10 years already, so they're proven. The engineering is Rock Solid! Case closed. Have a nice day

 

You have a point... but then how do you explain recalls?? Sometimes they do get it wrong...

 

We got an email for a survey that was just about the Highlander Start / Stop from Toyota yesterday. Not sure if they are gathering information because of complaints or just general feedback.

 

I actually was hoping to save on battery-related expenses with the start/stop system because I never seem to know when my battery is about to go until I can't start the engine. Half of the time I'm not anywhere that I can get at convenient jump so I end up calling a service. The start/stop system seems to monitor the charge and won't stop the engine if the charge is low and pops up a notification.

 

Start/Stop should also engage after a period of time(30 seconds) when the car is idling in park. Kick engine on/off when it need. Save some gas for those like to sit in the park card with engine on.

It would be nice for car able to hold break after Start/Stop is on. Hold break is a nice feature on Merced Benz.

 

One thing that bugs me is how when I'm parking, the car's stopped, SS kicks in, but when I change gear to Park, it starts the engine again, only to be turned off right after.....

 

Yeh that's annoying. I've learned to hit the Auto SS off button when I am near home.

 

I didn't say Toyota was infallible. These start stop systems, however, are not new, as they have been used in Europe for quite a while. I would HOPE the bugs are out of these systems because of that fact. Jason does have a point though. In the situation of parking, it's quite possible to shut the car off when you don't want to. This is the time I actually do disengage stop start so that problem goes away.

 

My guess is that start/stop isn't activated in Park so that there is no danger of accidentally unintentionally leaving the engine on. If you take you seatbelt off or open the door, it also starts back up. If you're sitting in your car in Park and the engine shuts off, most people would just get out of the car without turning off the ignition.

If you're sitting at a drive-thru and decide to put it in Park, is there any difference between start/stop engaging and simply turning the engine off?

 

Another feature that can fail and be expensive to repair

 

Another option is to simply act as if it doesn't exist. Seriously, if you don't pay attention to whether the engine is on or not, does it make any difference in the way the car drives? In the 1/2 second it takes to move my foot from the brake to the accelerator, the engine has started. I never disable the system.

When start/stop was announced last year, there were people saying that it would make left turns across oncoming traffic more hazardous. Of course, this is ridiculous because you know way before you need to accelerate and have your foot off the brake already.

OK, once I was at a stoplight in a spooky dark deserted town on a foggy night and would have preferred that the engine stay on rather than sit there in the dead silence for a couple minutes.

As far as a stop start cycle requiring more fuel than keeping the engine going, sometimes, I'm with Newton on this one. There is an energy price to be paid for starting a stopped engine due to his First Law, although, the short length of the time an engine keeps going absent any combustion would argue that momentum isn't much of a factor.

 

In my 2017 XLE there is just a single button for on/off SS, whereas power mode has to be activated and deactivated via menu in the centre dash. The SS button is the easiest IMO, compared to taking ones eyes off the road and navigating a menu with, at best, 3 button presses depending which home screen your centre info screen is set at.

Pardon my ignorance, but would not PWR mode use up the saved gas of SS mode? Retired Mech Engineer, maybe my Brian has got dull in retirement ?

 

Since Toyota has now introduced the twin-turbo V6 as their premiere engine that requires a low viscosity oil - would not the extremely hot turbos (900 degrees) more rapidly wear out due to oil draining from them and back into the oil pan during the stop/start interval. Turbos not only require warming the engine before driving - but also strongly suggest a cool down period before shutting the engine off . . . especially after aggressive turbo engaged driving. It seems the meager fuel savings gained from Start/Stop might not be worth the loss of engine oil flow cooling the turbos - even if for only a minute or two during a stop. The argument could be made that the carbon generated to work to afford, purchase, manufacture, ship and install new turbos unnecessarily early could far outweigh any SS fuel savings.

 

Regarding the European development of S/S, I would venture to say that the US has astronomically more stop lights than Europe. Consequently, more S/S engagement in this country.
The issue here is the morbid fear of the one time it wouldn't restart and the potential consequences of getting rear ended. We had a 2014 MB with S/S and I can tell you that the disengage button got pressed every time the car was started for just this reason. Just another way for government imposed technology to take away human control. As for fuel savings, maybe those who are concerned should have sprung for the hybrid version of the HL.
Thank goodness my 2015 HL doesn't have S/S.

 

Instead of getting a 2017 in December, we got a late 2016. As much as we liked the styling upgrade of the '17, start stop was the deciding factor to stick with the 16.