Mk7 Stop/Start System - Issues and Questions

[DV52]

RTFM - Read the manual, there is a list of requirements that have to be met in order for the blue motion to work. If it's hot in the cabin, AC on high, heaters on high, battery voltage, moons of jupiter in alignment……...

FactoryFit is entirely correct. The VW manual quotes about 18 different preconditions that must be satisfied before the Start/Stop will work correctly (including the driver wearing his/her seat bealt). Unfortunatley in my case my Golf has always fullfilled every condition (damn!). I think Stop/Start is an accident waiting to happen - particularly when completing a RH turn against oncomming traffic.
The manual also explains when the car's air conditioning will interrupt the operation of ths Start/Stop function. For cars with climatatronic, the manual says that Start/Stop only operates when the vehicle is within the pre-set temperature range. Makes sense that when the inside temperature is at the preset setting, turning the engine off will have minimal effect on the airconditioner (and as well, the compressor load on the engine is smallest).

[Guest001]

When you stop, apply the brake only hard enough to hold car in position and usually engine wont stop.

Normally takes a firm application to make the stop start work

[AJD]

Sorry, obviously not clear in my explanation - I drive through the city every day, sometimes when the traffic is inching along I turn the stop/start off, when the traffic frees up, I turn it back on while the engine is running and I get the message "engine must be switched on". The stop/start does not reactivate until the ignition has been turned off with the key and then restarted. Undoubtedly I will be told it's a battery charge issue or the car is running the DPF process or even the air con.
As for the amount of brake pressure, when the stop/start on mine is operating, bringing the car to a stop on an incline is sufficient to have the engine switch off (no, the auto hold is not engaged).

[angelus512]

I'm sure you guys already know this but on the really off chance somebody doesn't you all know that putting your foot down "lightly" on the brake will bring the car to a stop and the engine will continue running.

Pushing harder will see the engine shut off. I just mention this because lots of people complain about BlueMotion but it can be controlled at will without having to turn the function off near the shifter.

[Guest001]

I'm sure you guys already know this but on the really off chance somebody doesn't you all know that putting your foot down "lightly" on the brake will bring the car to a stop and the engine will continue running.

Pushing harder will see the engine shut off. I just mention this because lots of people complain about BlueMotion but it can be controlled at will without having to turn the function off near the shifter.

Yes I do know that and have in fact mentioned it several times.

I use it like that when the delay is only short.

I did nearly get caught the other day when I lifted my foot to go and the car in front didn't . I hit the brake a second time and the engine shut off and it nearly caused the car behind to hit me cause then I couldn't take off fast enough.

Was a lesson learned not to anticipate what a half asleep driver didn't do.

The secret is to push hard enough to fully disengage the clutches and hold the car still.

Not hard enough and you may wear the clutches out.

[DV52]

Yes I do know that and have in fact mentioned it several times.

I use it like that when the delay is only short.

I did nearly get caught the other day when I lifted my foot to go and the car in front didn't . I hit the brake a second time and the engine shut off and it nearly caused the car behind to hit me cause then I couldn't take off fast enough.

Was a lesson learned not to anticipate what a half asleep driver didn't do.

The secret is to push hard enough to fully disengage the clutches and hold the car still.

Not hard enough and you may wear the clutches out.

Hillbilly: Sounds like you were lucky to avoid a nasty accident (this time)! I've also managed a near miss when completing a RH turn against oncomming traffic because of the delay in my car's response (due to the stop/start function). Scared the SH#t out of me!

My advice, get into the habbit of turning stop/start off every time that you turn the key. Life's too short to be second guessing the Golf's stop/start capabilities against another's driver's reaction time!

[Guest001]

Hillbilly: Sounds like you were lucky to avoid a nasty accident (this time)! I've also managed a near miss when completing a RH turn against oncomming traffic because of the delay in my car's response (due to the stop/start function). Scared the SH#t out of me!

My advice, get into the habbit of turning stop/start off every time that you turn the key. Life's too short to be second guessing the Golf's stop/start capabilities against another's driver's reaction time!

My take on that is learn how to drive it in the situation you are in. In my case it was my fault not the cars.

I don't, apart from that one instance have a problem with the stop/start and never turn it off As I said on a short stop just don't hold the pedal down so far. Works for me.

[angelus512]

Reading some responses in this thread is interseting. Sounds like u guys have wayyyy different experiences to me, although I will admit I stumbled across a USA forum to pickup this. Which for whatever reason I'm not sure you guys are noticing.

Assuming you drive a DSG model the stop start function can be controlled at will 100% of the time without having to turn it off. You come to a halt after braking and just apply small force to the brakes and the auto-hold will kick in and the green P will light up on your center dash. At this point u dont even need your feet on the brakes.

Should you wish to shutoff the engine just push the feet down harder. Done.

[Eaglehawk]

I think you're missing the point of the previous posts. It's situations where you NEED to brake heavily, but then you WANT to accelerate almost 0.5 secs later does the Stop/Start will almost kill you. That split second delay as the stop occurs, then restarts, will catch out most people out by surprise.

What you've described is what we all experience, but it's when you don't WANT it to activate but it does is when we have our close calls.

Like many others have said, we turn our Stop/Start system off when we start the car...and perhaps activate it when we know we are at a long wait intersection.

[DV52]

I think you're missing the point of the previous posts. It's situations where you NEED to brake heavily, but then you WANT to accelerate almost 0.5 secs later does the Stop/Start will almost kill you. That split second delay as the stop occurs, then restarts, will catch out most people out by surprise.

What you've described is what we all experience, but it's when you don't WANT it to activate but it does is when we have our close calls.

Like many others have said, we turn our Stop/Start system off when we start the car...and perhaps activate it when we know we are at a long wait intersection.

Eaglehawk: Eloquently said! Driving is a very unpredictable activity with many of the variables beyond the control of the driver. It's likley that most (if not all) of us will have no trouble at all with the stop/start function for 99% of the time. But that remaining 1% could be...... catoastophic.

Those that haven't yet had a close-call with the stop/start function have simply been luckier than those of us who have expressed some reservation with the facility (as a result of our near misses). Of course it could be argued that the reason for the near misses is just because we are worse drivers. I don't mind this conclusion, but I still believe that it is safer to turn-off the stop/start function.

[Eaglehawk]

I'd also like to add a positive reason for the stop/start system.

If it wasn't for it today, I might have been hit by a red light runner. The slight delay in the start meant I managed to stop before the collision would have occured. Who would have thought?

[jayburls]

My stop/start has a mind all of its own. Some days it works regulary and other days nothing. Under the Car status auto start/stop it says power usage is too high. I've tried all different scenario's a/c off/on, radio, media off/on with no real luck. It seemed to work more when i had less than half a tank of fuel.
I mentioned it while i did the 5000km inspection service and was told that nothing showed up abnormal with battery or computer diaginosis. Strangely though since that inspection it seems to work more often on a full tank of fuel and not less than half a tank.

Go figure? But there's nothing wrong. hmmmm

[Guest001]

My stop/start has a mind all of its own. Some days it works regulary and other days nothing. Under the Car status auto start/stop it says power usage is too high. I've tried all different scenario's a/c off/on, radio, media off/on with no real luck. It seemed to work more when i had less than half a tank of fuel.
I mentioned it while i did the 5000km inspection service and was told that nothing showed up abnormal with battery or computer diaginosis. Strangely though since that inspection it seems to work more often on a full tank of fuel and not less than half a tank.

Go figure? But there's nothing wrong. hmmmm

Well mine works without problems and the aircon and radio are always on. Have two crash cams going all the time as well and I don't know if the electric seats draw any . Fuel level makes no difference. It could be differ net weight on the brake pedal as if you don't hold it down reasonably hard it wont stop the engine. Weight of fuel shouldn't make the slightest difference .

[DV52]

My stop/start has a mind all of its own. Some days it works regulary and other days nothing. Under the Car status auto start/stop it says power usage is too high. I've tried all different scenario's a/c off/on, radio, media off/on with no real luck. It seemed to work more when i had less than half a tank of fuel.
I mentioned it while i did the 5000km inspection service and was told that nothing showed up abnormal with battery or computer diaginosis. Strangely though since that inspection it seems to work more often on a full tank of fuel and not less than half a tank.

Go figure? But there's nothing wrong. hmmmm

Jayburls: A couple of folk have mentioned a peculiar and inexplicable behavior in the operation of their stop/start function. Well, there is a way of finding out what's actually happening with stop/start in your car. In the mk VII, all the stuff that causes stop/start to not-operate is recorded in real-time on the "Car" menu. The good thing is that these records are easily accessible by the driver using the following steps (My apology if you already know this stuff);

1. With the car running, press the "Car" button on the side of the Discover Media panel.

2 The following screen should come-up. If you get this screen, press the area of the screen circled
.

.

.
.

If the screen above does not appear when the "Car" button is pressed, then you will probably get something like the following screen
.

.

If this happens, press the "View" panel at the bottom LHS (you can just see it in the pic) and then press the "Vehicle Status" panel that I have circled (with a rectangle) . Then go to step 2 above

3. After Step 2, the following screen appears showing why stop/start is not working. What's great about this screen is that the entries update in real-time (well almost real time - it actually updates after a scanning period)!
.

.

For the sake of this post, and for the pic. in step 3, I deliberately didn't put-on my seat belt and I turned-on the air conditioner to demonstrate the stuff that can be recorded here. Notice the "little-man" symbol at the start of the last two entires -which means (I think) that these are human activated inhibitors.

The first entry "Power consumption is high" is interesting (notice, no "little-man" symbol). I think that this message is a result of the VCDS tweak that I implemented to disable stop/start (it's earlier-on in this thread). I'd would be interested if others who have tried the tweak get a similar message. If so, I'd welcome your view on why this message appears.

Incidentally, if you turn-off the Stop/Start function using the button on the center console, there is only one message on the screen in step 3 - which says something like "stop/start is deactivated".

Again, My apology if you already know this stuff

[Eaglehawk]

Sorry, obviously not clear in my explanation - I drive through the city every day, sometimes when the traffic is inching along I turn the stop/start off, when the traffic frees up, I turn it back on while the engine is running and I get the message "engine must be switched on". The stop/start does not reactivate until the ignition has been turned off with the key and then restarted.

Since learning to show the status of stop/start, I've been monitoring the status. The above happened to me the other day. (Engine must be switched on). It's not a killer, it does reset after ignition off/on. But it could explain why people are having issues with this feature.

The other one that seems to explain why it won't turn on is "steering angle is high". This one is interesting, because as previously discussed, people have had close calls at intersection, and this feature should disable stop/start when at intersections. I've got to do more testing to see how much angle is required to flag this status, and whether it's settable.

Thank you for pointing out this menu option! It's been fun seeing what is stopping it from working.