In reply to Boost_Crazy :
3% is a change OEMs would saw off body parts for. Like anatomical, not fenders.
And like a lot of stuff, it may be lost in the noise on one vehicle, but can be a meaningful impact on hundreds of thousands or millions. Catalytic converters might not be a big quality of life thing for one person and their car, but we're sure as heck not going back.
Like a lot of stuff, I think most automotive appliance owners don't care, and the number of us who find our particular implementations annoying can happily disable them without skewing the numbers. Hopefully the implementations generally get better; I hate the one on our manual Mini but don't mind the Q5, which fires up smartly as soon as you start reducing brake pressure. Mercifully, the Mini has a switch and doesn't reset itself.
I wonder how the dongle for the OP's application is suppressing the CEL, and whether it's got the same problem as always having a CEL minus the light staring at you... Is it smart enough not to suppress all CELs/only clear its own error?
If you leave a dongle/retune on the vehicle, something detonates, and you try to do a warranty claim, good luck. They will tell you where to stick it.
In reply to Jesse Ransom :
I get that, but I'd be surprised if the cost/benefit to get that 3% is the best use of that money. And if the Edmunds's article is true, that savings isn't even accounted for on the window MPG sticker, so it appears the automaker isn't even getting the credit for it, unless they are getting something on the back end. If not, it's for the consumer? Also remember that 3% is gross- depending on the weight of the car, the extra components could be costing some mpg (they estimate 1-2% per 100 lbs.) by just tagging along, whether the system is active or not. Plus charging the battery isn't free. It seems like a lot of effort to get some people some payback some of the time, Vs. investing in something like more efficient tires instead.
In reply to Boost_Crazy :
Sounds about right. Really cost effective for 1-3%.
The actual cost is a upgraded starter and upgraded battery, which is probably well under $100 for the pair increase.
Do you have a plug for trailer lights? If so you can get one of the little trailer light testers and leave it plugged in. On my 2019 Ranger that is enough to turn off the auto start stop. The truck thinks it's towing a trailer so no start stop.
We have it on our '23 Forester. I'll be disabling it with a bypass plug. The shudder is annoying, and the delay between foot-off-the-brake and actual forward movement is excessive.
I supposed it saves me a gallon or three of fuel a year. When the starter wears out and needs to be replaced prematurely, my savings are gone.
And yes, some manufacturers install an 'upgraded' starter, meaning it'll be 50% more expensive when it needs to be replaced.
alfadriver said:
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
The curious thing to me is that the FTP tests are run with the hood open. The US06 isn't, but it's almost never stopped, too.
I recognize this, but it's the same reason I was told why they don't do things like use GPS and topo map data to know when you are going to start going uphill and pre-downshift the trans, shifting proactively instead of reactively. Because the GPS would affect the way the engine runs, it would potentially affect emissions, so they'd have to monitor it.
I realize given your career this probably sounds like mansplaining 
You can already fail emissions for a failed muffler noise flap actuator. (Had this happen on a Camaro! "Sir, and it pains me to say this, you have a bad muffler bearing..." actually it was just road debris had ripped the connector out, but a fault code's a fault code) Imagine a world where your car fails emissions because your map data is a year out of date or something.
Back to the Traverse, they don't set codes if you start them with the hood up. They don't set codes if you disconnect the battery and reconnect the battery with the hood up. They probably monitor the state of the switch and apply logic to the problem, and the code eliminator just makes sure to open and close the connection at appropriate times to make the algorithm happy. That, or there may be a resistor across the switch to ground so that it is never fully "open", so the resistor pulls the sense wire down to 2.5v or something when it is "open" and rails it to ground when "closed". An eliminator would just be a resistor.
I know what I'm going to be looking into tomorrow at work.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Given the accuracy of some gps, I'm glad they don't use it. Otherwise it would be downshifting thinking you are driving in the dirt next to the road a lot. Can't imagine what it will do if it thought you were driving in water.
triumph7 said:
Do you have a plug for trailer lights? If so you can get one of the little trailer light testers and leave it plugged in. On my 2019 Ranger that is enough to turn off the auto start stop. The truck thinks it's towing a trailer so no start stop.
May not be that effective- start/stop works when we are pulling a trailer in our Escape.
