On my 2008 HCH which I've owned for less than a month, the auto-stop works almost all the time (except sometimes it takes a couple of minutes when the engine is cold, which I understand is normal). However, last night I was caught in total grid-lock traffic in S.F., literally inching along at 1 to 3 miles per hour, and the auto-stop only went on about three times in a 45 minute period. I happened to notice my MPG plummeting during the idling. Is there a way to force the auto-stop to work during such situations?

It's designed to work that way. In such driving conditions the battery pack is limited in what it can or should be doing. You're not regenerating lost energy.

I just noticed that in the manual it suggests switching to Secondary in stop-and-go traffic.

There are 2 things you may want to do:

- "Pace" your moving forward every other second autostop. In other words, don't always remain glued to the bumper in front of you and it may be possible to advance forward while picking up enough speed to get to 7MPH (12KM/h) before stopping again.
- Switch the transmission to N while idling at a stop. This will literally cut the fuel usage rate in half, especially when Autostop is not available. For longer waiting times, simply turn off the gas engine after switching the transmission to N.

In longer and tighter grid-locks I don't recommend FAS as it not only resets and delays the next autostop occurrence, but also puts a higher strain on the pack due to high drain restarts.

Cheers;

MSantos

Thanks, guys. It's nice to know that I can always count on my Canadian friends.

dude bop, what the heck was up with traffic last night. I've never seen it that bad. I left work at 7:30 and it took me an hour to go 22 miles. Sorry for the offtopic. Santos, are you sure that putting it in neutral will cut fuel usage? Doesnt the engine spin in neutral as well?

LOL ...You wish.

Nope, that is not what I was saying.

What I said was: If you are stopped and idling you can cut your fuel usage rate in half if you place the transmission in "N".

This does not cut the fuel totally but the penalty for idling when on "neutral" is MUCH lower than most people know.... typically at the rate of 0.5 to 0.6 liters per hour.

Cheers;

MSantos