What's stop-start technology doing to your car?
A look at the longer-term effects of driving a car with automatic stop-start
[T]he larger question among car nerds and the general public alike is whether these additional stop-start cycles hurt the engine.
That’s the question
Autocar asked in a recent
article about stop-start and the long-term impact on a car’s engine. According to their conversation with Gerhard Arnold at
Federal Mogul,
“A normal car without automatic start-stop can be expected to go
through 50,000 stop-start events during its life time.” But with
automatic stop-start that number can increase tenfold, Arnold says.
The root of the problem lies with the crankshaft making
metal-to-metal contact with the main bearings, which happens every time
the engine shuts off and stops lubricating those bearings with oil. That
causes wear. But as stop-start proliferates, so too do new materials,
technologies and lubricant additives that help engines withstand the
added burden.
The question remains whether the manufacturers
implementing stop-start are also adding these technologies to maintain
durability. Some may be doing it better than others. As Autocar states,
only time will tell. But in the meantime,
Autocar also reminds us that these systems do indeed reduce fuel consumption as well as the resulting emissions from that consumption.
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