Your vehicle's new tech

[Lamb]

If you've bought a new vehicle in the last 5 years, you may have some new technology that is a little intimidating. Do you know all the features your vehicle now has if you've bought recently?

 

[Josiah]

Yeah, our 2023 Subaru Forester Touring has a LOT of tech.... most appreciated and helpful, but one is very annoying, so much so that I disconnected it.

I think this is a requirement on all US cars (maybe just in CA?) but it has a "start/stop" feature. The engine shuts off if you're at a stop light, stopped in traffic, etc. - even for a very short time. Then when you press on the gas, the engine starts up again. All this takes time.... and the restart is a bit loud and shaking. All this is suppose to save lots of gas, but it's so short and of course re-starting requires a lot of gas so I doubt it really saves anything. It;s hard on the battery and starter. It's REALLY annoying in stop-and-go traffic that is so common where I live.

I could not actually disconnect it, but there is a device (for $100) that circumvents it. Works perfect.



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[tango]

My car is old so a lot of the technology in it is pretty old. I went for a ride with a friend today in a brand new car and the super-cruise mode on it was impressive. We pulled onto the expressway, he activated the super cruise and let the car drive itself. It kept in lane, took corners, maintained a steady speed, automatically slowed when something in front slowed. It was impressive. Apparently it will also overtake if it's safe, if something in front is going slowly, but that was automatically disabled because he was towing a trailer. I guess the car knows how big it is and can tell whether a space is suitable but doesn't know how long the trailer is.

It also has a rear camera, which was handy because once we'd strapped everything down in the trailer he could use the camera to keep an eye on it to make sure it didn't move more than was acceptable. It's pretty neat to be able to see from a camera if you need to re-secure the load.

 

[Lamb]

Yeah, our 2023 Subaru Forester Touring has a LOT of tech.... most appreciated and helpful, but one is very annoying, so much so that I disconnected it.

I think this is a requirement on all US cars (maybe just in CA?) but it has a "start/stop" feature. The engine shuts off if you're at a stop light, stopped in traffic, etc. - even for a very short time. Then when you press on the gas, the engine starts up again. All this takes time.... and the restart is a bit loud and shaking. All this is suppose to save lots of gas, but it's so short and of course re-starting requires a lot of gas so I doubt it really saves anything. It;s hard on the battery and starter. It's REALLY annoying in stop-and-go traffic that is so common where I live.

I could not actually disconnect it, but there is a device (for $100) that circumvents it. Works perfect.



.

How do you hook up the device to deactivate the start/stop feature? That feature is by law in place, but I am not happy that I'll be forced to have it on my next vehicle.

My car is old so a lot of the technology in it is pretty old. I went for a ride with a friend today in a brand new car and the super-cruise mode on it was impressive. We pulled onto the expressway, he activated the super cruise and let the car drive itself. It kept in lane, took corners, maintained a steady speed, automatically slowed when something in front slowed. It was impressive. Apparently it will also overtake if it's safe, if something in front is going slowly, but that was automatically disabled because he was towing a trailer. I guess the car knows how big it is and can tell whether a space is suitable but doesn't know how long the trailer is.

It also has a rear camera, which was handy because once we'd strapped everything down in the trailer he could use the camera to keep an eye on it to make sure it didn't move more than was acceptable. It's pretty neat to be able to see from a camera if you need to re-secure the load.

That's pretty cool! As long as it doesn't malfunction, right?

 

[tango]

That's pretty cool! As long as it doesn't malfunction, right?

A lot of technology ends up being a bad thing when we rely on it too heavily and assume it will always work. His car has a few sensors so that if you're not looking ahead for more than a few seconds it will beep or buzz or something, and it only works on expressways. I'm not sure how it knows when it's on an expressway, or how/whether it would cope with things like lane closures and merging traffic.

I must admit it was cool to see it working. I'd probably use a lot of it on long drives. When I first had cruise control (the original kind, that would simply maintain a set speed) I used it a lot on longer drives when the traffic was light. My next car didn't have it, so when I got it back I got out of the habit of using it. Most of the driving I do now is sufficiently local it doesn't offer any useful benefit, although I might be more inclined to use adaptive cruise control.

 

[Josiah]

How do you hook up the device to deactivate the start/stop feature? That feature is by law in place, but I am not happy that I'll be forced to have it on my next vehicle.

I found a device for about $100. It just plugs in. Took 5 minutes to install. Works perfect. It doesn't remove the feature, it's just that the feature has a "turn off" that removes (circumvents) that feature for the rest of that trip. But when the engine is off for an extended period, it ends that and resets the start/stop. What the device does is just resets the "circumvent" or "off" feature every time you start up the car. You COULD do that every time yourself, but this does it automatically so that the feature never operates. It doesn't, technically, remove the feature it just automatcally engages the "not this trip" feature every time. Effectively, yeah, it circumvents the feature while not removing it. These devices are available for all cars.


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[Lamb]

I found a device for about $100. It just plugs in. Took 5 minutes to install. Works perfect. It doesn't remove the feature, it's just that the feature has a "turn off" that removes (circumvents) that feature for the rest of that trip. But when the engine is off for an extended period, it ends that and resets the start/stop. What the device does is just resets the "circumvent" or "off" feature every time you start up the car. You COULD do that every time yourself, but this does it automatically so that the feature never operates. It doesn't, technically, remove the feature it just automatcally engages the "not this trip" feature every time. Effectively, yeah, it circumvents the feature while not removing it. These devices are available for all cars.


.

That's ingenious!! Does it plug into a USB port then?

 

[Josiah]

That's ingenious!! Does it plug into a USB port then?

Kind of. Where you plugs in depends on the car. In mine, it (very oddly, I admit!) plugs right into a port in a small black box under the driver's seat. Very easy. Different cars (even with different equipment) have different installations.

 

[Lamb]

Kind of. Where you plugs in depends on the car. In mine, it (very oddly, I admit!) plugs right into a port in a small black box under the driver's seat. Very easy. Different cars (even with different equipment) have different installations.

Ahh..good to know. It doesn't void any warranty does it?