Car features so bad they should just go away.

[john70t]

The engine auto on-off feature.

I once was driving in the beautiful twisty two-lane hills of southern France in an Opal manual rental.

I tend to leave it in neutral when going downhill.
It saves gas. Negates other factors on steering. No valve guide oil bypass leakage.

I found out the hard way that coasting out-of-gear kills the engine.
And power steering.
And power brakes.

Not a good situation..
Especially when a bus suddenly rounds the next mountainside corner and pulls across both lanes on the turn, and you are already at downhill speed with full load of passengers.

[daepp]

Originally Posted by ramonesfreak

see here. disables it by plugging into data connector. $90

https://www.autostopeliminator.com/

Good to know. Another claimed it was buried so deep in the OS that it couldn't really be diabled.

FWIW, I get in and 7/10 of a mile and one stop light later I'm on open freeway all the way to work (30 miles against traffic). I get that it might help mpg in stop and go driving, but the additional wear and tear just doesn't seem worth it.

[ramonesfreak]

supposedly the starters are designed to handle this on/off. i don’t know if true but i won’t use it. i refuse to sit stopped with engine off.