If they can put it in a golf cart, you’d think they can certainly add it to a car…at least so it would seem.
But adding the so-called start-stop technology to all cars in Ford’s line-up won’t be as easy as it sounds because when you turn off a car’s engine you also turn off critical functions like cabin heating and cooling.
Ford’s automatic engine shutoff technology (which turns of the engine at stoplights or and/or when the car is not moving) is already available on the Ford Fusion Hybrid, the Escape Hybrid, and some several other Ford models in Europe.
Never-the-less Ford has just announced that it plans to be the first U.S. car manufacturer to add its Auto Start-Stop system to gasoline engined cars in the U.S….which Ford says will boosts city fuel economy between 4 and 10 percent…depending on traffic.
Ford is doing this in part to meet the new stringent fuel economy standards in the U.S. for 2016, and adding automatic engine shutoff to all cars that the company builds is great first step.
We think that most cars will have the feature in the near future.
“For the driver, Ford Auto Start-Stop provides extra fuel efficiency without inconvenience, as it works completely automatically,” said Barb Samardzich, Ford vice president of Powertrain engineering. “And, just like in our hybrid vehicles, the heater and air conditioner work as normal so drivers will not sacrifice comfort.”
Follow on twitter @TFLcar or watch latest car
review videos on YouTube.
