It’s an interesting thing to observe that while literally no one seems to have wanted what is styled automatic stop-start “technology” almost every new vehicle made over the past five or so years came with it as standard equipment.
ASS – the acronym is magnificent because for once it is accurate – is the “technology” that causes a vehicle’s engine to automatically shut itself off pretty much every time the vehicle isn’t moving. While it’s off, engine-driven accessories such as the AC stop working (well, the AC stops cooling) and other electrically powered accessories such as the fan and stereo and the LCD touchscreen are powered by the battery, which of course gets depleted during this time because the engine-driven alternator that normally generates the electrical power to power these accessories isn’t running, either. And by dint of that, it isn’t keeping the battery charged up, either.
When the driver wants to drive again – when he takes his foot off the brake pedal – ASS automatically restarts the engine. But not as quickly as would have been so if it had not been shut off in the first place. There is a slight but perceptible lag in between these stop-start cycles and there is also a slight but perceptible sound/sensation accompanying the restarting.
This is done – ostensibly – to “save gas” and to reduce the “emissions” of the gas that doesn’t have anything to do with pollution. The “gas savings” are trivial – perhaps 1 mile-per-gallon overall, so trivial a difference as to make it impossible to tell the difference, from the standpoint of the vehicle’s owner.
The decreased “emissions” of the dread gas that doesn’t cause or worsen or even affect air pollution in any way whatsoever are irrelevant.
Put another way, there is no benefit to the vehicle owner to have ASS installed in his vehicle and much that is not to his benefit, including the annoyance of all that engine stopping and re-starting (and AC not cooling). There is also the increased wear on engine parts such as the starter – which has to restart the engine many times more often than it was designed to do. As well as accelerated aging of the starter battery, which is discharged more heavily and frequently. The alternator will likely have a shorter service life, too since it must work harder to try to keep the battery charged up.
And the engine probably isn’t being done any favors by being shut off a dozen or more times each time the vehicle is driven. Because whenever the engine is off, so is the engine’s oil pump. At each restart, oil pressure has to be built back up to normal from zero.
You can see why no one – I defy anyone to find even one person – would willingly pay extra to have ASS. Most people would pay extra to avoid ASS. But they cannot avoid it – because the government demands that the vehicle manufacturers comply with federal regs that demand ever-higher gas mileage and ever lower “emissions” of the gas that has nothing to do with pollution.
Put another way, ASS is a compliance cost – paid for by every person who chooses to buy a new vehicle.
This brings us back to Trump’s EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin – who said the other day that “everyone hates” ASS and that “we’re fixing it.”
Well, how?
Is the EPA being disbanded? Are federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) “standards” (that is, imposed requirements) to be eliminated? Will the vehicle manufacturers no longer have to worry about the “emissions” of the dread gas that does not have anything to do with pollution?
It does not appear to be any of those things. Trump said a couple of weeks ago that he wants to “get back” to the CAFE “standards” that existed in 2020. Those “standards” imposed a “fleet average” 35 MPG requirement and that led to “technologies” such as ASS becoming standard equipment in new vehicles years ago – before Biden replaced Trump. Indeed, when Trump was president the first time around.
How will “getting back” to those standards “fix” ASS?
Will the EPA go back to concerning itself with emissions that have something to do with pollution? Of course not. Because those emissions are no longer of any meaningful concern and have not been since the late 1990s. To admit this would be to concede that there is no longer any justification for the EPA at least insofar as vehicle exhaust emissions are concerned. That is why carbon dioxide – which has nothing to do with pollution – became an “emission.” It gave EPA a new mission. As the “red legs” Union officer in the Outlaw Josey Wales said, “doin’ right ain’t got no end.”
And there’s no sign of any of this ending, either.
ASS is a manifestation of compliance pressure, just the same as micro-sized engines and ten speed transmissions and “mild hybrid” drivetrains. These things will not go away until the pressure to comply does.
Wil Zeldin’s EPA order the vehicle manufacturers to stop resorting to ASS to comply? Then they will find another way to comply. A way just as obnoxious and expensive as ASS. Maybe more so.
Because they still have to comply – and Zeldin isn’t talking about “fixing” that.
. . .
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I drive a 2014 Jaguar F-Type which I bought used nearly nine years ago. It has (had!) ASS like all modern Jags, the early version with two batteries where the secondary smaller battery powers the accessories when the ASS has shut the engine down, so as to not strain the main battery when it starts the engine again. Around 2016 Jag changed the system to a single battery with a large capacitor. On my very first drive the ASS annoyed the bejesus out of me so the very first thing I did when I got home was to research how to permanently disable the ASS so I didn’t have to toggle it off every time I got in the car. Turns out it was a piece of cake, all I had to do was disconnect the earth lead from the secondary battery, a five minute job. Then a few years later I completely removed that secondary battery from the car, zero problems either way, the only result was to permanently disable the ASS with no effect on anything else. On the later single battery Jags all that needs to be done to permanently disable the ASS is to unplug a single electrical connector in the boot/trunk.
My point is that many modern cars, not just Jags, have a quick, easy, simple, risk free and cost free way to permanently disable ASS so do your research and see if you can do this on your car!
Top shelf, Kim!
Thank you for letting everyone here know about this.
Lee Zeldin, another jew, imagine that. Anyone expecting ZOG to somehow improve their life, should have their head examined.
Still loving my 2001 Anniversary Edition Nissan Maxima SE. Just had the under carriage rebuilt for $6800 and it was worth every penny. Driving it is a dream.
It’s high time to get rid of mpg requirements. It’s not 1973/1979 when there were oil price fixes and resulting oil shortages. I guarantee if mpg requirements were eliminated, there’d still be plenty of high mpg vehicles on the market abd plenty of people would still buy them.
My current company clunker Ram 1500 (which I absolutely loathe) does the ASS thing regardless of if I hit the cancel button.
The coolest “feature” is that about every 4th or 5th time, it decides to tell me “vehicle not in park”, and refuses to move until I shut the key off, wait a few seconds and try again. Loads of fun in traffic, especially during rush hour. It’s been in the shop a dozen times, and nothing they’ve “repaired” has ever made a difference.
Thankfully driving an old truck today, old 3406 Cat and 15 speed make a mechanical symphony that no “tech” can replace.
Ram’s and Jeep’s Hemi V8 engines do not have ASS, and why I seek them out. They canned them last year or so, but they are coming back, hopefully without much of the current emission crap.
I’ll be glad to see ASS get lost in the trash heap of history.
For those saddled with this “technology,” simply get used to tapping that ASS button when moving your hand from the ignition to the shifter. We’re all already comfortably ingrained with a behavior of finger swishing and thumb diddling a dinky little display at the demand of the surveillance capitalists. Don’t get me started on that left-click, right-click mouse buttons forced on us back in the 80’s…
FYI: ASS is disabled at lower speeds (among 12 other conditions, like on a hill or grade) when the A/C is running on my 2024 GM cage.
This is just the start, a lot more is going to come beyond just getting rid of ASS. Gotta remember, a lot of sleepers and saboteurs in these agencies that need to be gotten rid of, why things seem a bit slower than expected.
Still, feel soon Lee will hollow out the EPA, just like a lot of these appointees will. Its only been 4 months, a lot of things happening fast despite how slow it all feels.
I hope so, Carmelo… we’ll see.
Republicans are democrats, just moving slower. I would love to see ASS disappear, but I suspect, they’ll compromise with the democrats and simply have it kill the engine on every second stop and call it a successful reform.
That’s right, government moves in one direction only. Sometimes it slows down a bit and people like us get excited, but in the overall scheme of things, progressivism is the word.
The government is not going to dismantle itself.
Yes it is. Only not that way. It is going to collapse under its own (prodigious) weight.
Isn’t he the head of the EPA? It’s pretty awesome that he even said it.
He’s a smart guy and almost beat the witch in NY. I think nefariously.
He knows what that the problem is, CO2 regs. He’s just gotta get the narrative started.
Let’s hope he delivers.
I believe there were 4am ballots that allowed the low IQ witch to win, just like how Murphy beat Chittaralli in NJ (Not gonna bother spelling it right) when I saw he was up all night until 3:30ish am.
Regardless, glad he’s mentioning it. Easy to forget the Admins only been around for 4 months now, a lots going on behind the scenes, lot of groundwork and foundation building. Feel soon, they’ll be where we want them to be, just gotta clean house of any sleepers and saboteurs hanging around
A non-governmental way to end this kind of crap would be for buyers to refuse such vehicles. Imagine if, say, 8 out of 10 potential buyers who went into a dealership refused newer vehicles and asked to see older used models. Salespeople would see their commissions drop and new vehicles would pile up on lots. Automakers would be forced to either drop prices or not put all of that crap in new cars, or better yet, both.
But sadly there are a lot of stupid people out there who will pay good money for crap. I see tv ads all the time touting all sorts of “assist” features on new cars all the time. Who on earth would find that desirable? Do they ever market test their ads? I find practically none of these new car ads the least bit appealing, even if I had the money to buy.
Tell that to the fleet buyers. Enterprise, Hertz, etc.
Lee R: “Who on earth would find that desirable?”
All the Whiz-Bang addicts, which make up 95% of the “stupid people” you mention, which make up 50% of the population.
…and if only everyone refused to wear a mask during “the pandemic”…
I learned a lot about my fellow countrymen during those dark years. A whole lotta them are stupid cattle that will trip over themselves (and step on us) to do what they are told to do.
Me also, Philo –
I realized just how bad and deep the rot goes. But I also found out there are a few stalwarts out there still. I remember exchanging knowing glances – and shaking hands – with other face-showers during the worst of it. Better to be alone than in poor company.
@Eric – I saw a newish looking Toyota truck with a “Hilux” badge and Mexican plates in front of me at a light in Austin this morning.
Unfortunately, since I do not live with my sail phone in my hand, I was not quick enough on the draw to get a pic.
At first glance, I thought it was a previous gen Tacoma since it was roughly that size.
If we get the name on a vehicle in North America, I doubt it will be the $16k platform sold elsewhere.
Toyota has a lot of problems building the current gen Tacoma in Mexico so it wouldnt surprise me if the previous version is kept for that Market,
Unfortunately there is a large and likely majority of the new car buying public that LIKES this crap.
As bad as the EPA is, and is much as I’d like to see it shut down forever, the crap foisted by the NHTSA and NTSB is far worse. From their propaganda signs paid for by ever larger doses of stolen taxpayer dollars to their agitating for seat belt and helmet laws, and mandatory air bags, to the 30 year ongoing
DUI scam and witch hunt, everything they do is coercive corruption aimed directly at the rights of the people.
ASS might actually be a desirable feature if it were easily enabled and disabled with a mechanical toggle switch, and had its own line item option on the order/build sheet.
The 3rd brake light (CHMSL) was maybe not strictly necessary, but kind of helpful. Removes a little potential ambiguity when driving at night. (Yes the brake lights are brighter than the tail lights but I can see how someone might fail to notice that.)
Everything since then…completely unnecessary.
Yes, I’ve grown accustomed to the CHMSL.
Also a good change: Collapsible steering columns.
If I get that 1950 Chevy that needs paint, I would definitely see about retrofitting one.
GM introduced those in 1967 and I don’t know when the regulators caught up, but that one saved a LOT of fatalities.
[…] Guest Post by Eric Peters […]
ASS was so bad for BMW rod bearings that they began coating the uppers starting on the B series engines with a much harder composite. Turns out that starting up an engine with tight bearing tolerances and zero oil pressure is not good. Thankfully BMWs have a button that disables ASS and you don’t have to push it every time you start the car. Oil film is not bearing protection without the oil pressure to create the pressure wedge that keeps bearings from touching. Scored bearings won’t cause issues until the warranty expires especially with the special coatings they have had to use to limp them over the line.
I still think cars are breaking down when someone’s ASS kicks in at the stoplight! That was bad juju in the before times for your car to die at the light. PTSD inducing for this car lover.
The sound of cars stalling at stop lights reminds me of when I first started driving back in the 80’s (and riding with my parents before that). You’d hear a car cut out and look over and see the driver trying to re-start it before the light changed. Otherwise, they’d have to get out and push…
To hear that sound in recent years is quite bizarre, to say the least. Especially when the car next to you is much newer than the decade+ old model you are driving! I thought for sure that some major mechanical defect was in play.
‘when he takes his foot off the brake pedal – ASS automatically restarts the engine’ — eric
This inherently describes a vehicle with automatic transmission, which is 99 percent of them these days.
But what about with a manual trans? On a flat surface, you can take your foot off the brake, maybe defeating ASS with fast footwork.
On a hill you could use the parking brake while stopped… oh wait, they replaced mechanical parking brakes with stupid e-brakes.
Okay, here’s the plan: just keep it in gear and slip the clutch as needed to remain stationary on whatever grade. When the clutch wears out prematurely, bring it in for warranty replacement and then sell the p.o.s.
Message to auto makers: we hate you.
I remember as a kid my mother used to hold her car at a red light on a hill by slipping the clutch. When I finally learned how a clutch works (and wears) I insisted that she stop the practice. I still have nightmares of burned clutches to this day (clutch-hang PTSD, if you will).
ASS is not possible with a manual transmission.
Wrong
ASS in manual is clutch acctivated. Put it in neutral and let the clutch out. Restarts when you mash the pedal. Mine has a toggle off swith by the gear lever, it’s habitual now to disable ass when starting the engine.
A while back I bought a Ford Maverick Trucklet for a business i was running. It had ASS, and I asked the sales guy if it could be permanently disabled and he asked me:
“Why on earth would you do that?”
I made the usual points but emphasized the additional wear and tear on the starter and battery. He told me the starter was designed and built to be more reliable to accommodate the increased usage.
This is the kind of shit that offends me as a consumer. Firstly I don’t want ASS, and secondly – I do want more reliable components. So it takes regulations to drive innovation these days? I mean if what the sales guy said is true…
The Maverick got unloaded after a year and some change because the rear diff on the AWD system was making a racket and their “fix” was to replace the fluid to quiet it down.
The Maverick. Fine Hecho en Mexico quality.
I’d look at one if I could get a normally aspirated 2.5 L gasoline engine with a manual transmission, but I wouldn’t trust workers in Mexico to build something like a modern 4×4 system or a hybrid drivetrain.
The upside of ASS in the vehicle is that the quality problems will get spotlighted faster.
I believe the manufacturers have a way to permanently disable ASS in all of the vehicles produced with the “feature” in case of a SHTF scenario where stop/start suddenly falls out of favor in a dramatic way or produces even more catastrophic mechanical wear in practice than discussed in theory in outlets such as this space.
A quick way to check if the starter was upgraded is to see if the starter is the same part number for the engine without it, if it is I’m thinking nothing was upgraded.
Hi Mike,
It’s true the manufacturers have added heavier-duty starters (and even 48 volt electrical systems with belt-drive starters) but how – again – does this benefit the owner? Also, there is no getting around the decreased service life of the 12V starter battery due to heavy discharge/recharge cycling. And then just the unpleasantness of the stop/start cycling …
I used a software program called Forscan to edit the “as built” data in my Ford truck to disable ASS permanently. Funny thing after the free trial ended and I went to pay the license to the software creator ($10) I was blocked because he is Russian and paying him wasn’t allowed due to our American free market.
America, land of the free, home of the tax slave.
I tried to buy Rubles on Forex when it tanked after the war broke out too. I knew even then it would rebound and I would have made a mint too because it did. Wasn’t allowed.
Another thing to consider that as cars are designed for multiple markets all the technology is built into them whether needed or not such as daytime running lights. In other words if a different market requires ASS cars here will still have ASS even though it has not been enabled.
Rolling the regulations back to 2020 was a mistake. I say roll them back to 1920, call it a success and lay every one of them so that they can get honest jobs. Pollution can be handled by lawyers and bad publicity now.
That will never happen. The leeches at the EPA will never….ever proclaim that their goal of vehicle emissions has been met and then shut down the offices and go look any other jobs. It is no different than the American Cancer Society one day making headlines proclaiming that effective treatments and cures have been made. My feeling is that such a thing does exist but is only offered to the upper crust in society. They would be out of business because how do you rake in money for “researching for a cure” when you already have a cure? The Gipper said it all when he said “The closest thing to eternity on earth is a temporary government program”.
In the editors column of Analog science fiction magazine around 1970 the editorial mentioned a cancer cure that had a high cure rate. It was apparently un-patentable as it was based on a natural soil bacteria; it was pulled due to side effects, saved terminal cancer patients but they did not mention the side effect. Side effect- Not dying?
I sometimes wonder if it would ever be possible to inculcate ethics and morality into society. I really don’t think so. Everybody wants to live at the expense of everybody else, even if that results in the death of everybody else. It seems to have gotten worse lately since everybody can just hide behind a social media persona. It’s quite depressing.
They need to be slapped down hard by the courts declaring them abjectly beyond the specific limited privileges granted to the government(s) by the constitution(s). Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen as the judges are all part of the system of tyranny and illicit authority.