Yes, 4-5 bars seems to be the baseline with the steering acting the way it is right now. We will see what happens next week when the new rack is installed.

Hi OE... I'd think being in SF you would never have to turn on the A/C and only use the fan only (with display showing AC OFF)! Now if you go outside the city to San Jose or anywhere East of Oakland, then yeah you may have to use the A/C. But I wouldn't just leave it on Auto when you can blow cool air in using just the fan. This would also save your SoC as well. I notice when the family is in the car and they have to have A/C, my SoC is used up about 10 times faster than just being alone in the car using only the fan.

Aside from the A/C, for the car not to AS very often, your mileage seems very good (51.1 based on your sig).

I get so frustrated if I ease on the brake coming to a red light, have the AS engage when I drop below 7mph, then as I coast to the line I press the brake to stop completely... BUT misstep on the brake (or start to go slightly backwards) and the ICE starts back up again. At this point it will never go back into autostop while I'm sitting at the light . If I know it will be a long light (more than a minute or two), I drop it in park and turn off the engine. I'd rather do this than watch my mpg drop while sitting there with the ICE running!

I often force the car to NOT go into AS (by shifting to S) when coming up to a stop sign or when I know I'm coasting up behind someone, the light turns green but I will end up going below 7mph (but not stop completely or not be stopped for more than 10 seconds) before the car in front starts moving.

I also get frustrated when coming to a red light, having it autostop, ease off on the brakes too far and having the ICE start up again and then stay running
the whole light.

In those instances, I just put it in neutral and key it off until the light's about ready to turn again. Don't forget, it won't start again when you turn the key if you've got it in Drive instead of Neutral or Park.

Cheers --
Doug

2007 HCH: lovin' every minute of it

Well, I had an unexpected AutoStop today. The car was warmed up and I was in a drive thru. I did an AS at the order speaker. I normally wait until I have enough room to do a quick jump to 8mph then brake so it will go back into AS. Well this time I misjudged and only got up to 5mph and had to stop, and of course, no AutoStop. So I'm sitting there debating on turning off the key. I am in a drive thru that is slow. I sit for about 2 minutes and watch my mpg drop by .2 and am getting pissed off. All of a sudden, AS engages! So is this another situation for AS to engage... when sitting still for 2 minutes? I never keep the car running for that long while stopped. If I know it's going to be a long wait I'll turn off the engine. So has anyone else noticed the AS happen sitting for about 2 minutes?

Angelo:
Sometimes fluctuating the brake pedal or shifting to neutral will engage autostop. Did you do either of these?

Nope.. no adjustments, no shifting. Just sitting there in the drive thru with steady pressure on the brake, listening to the radio.

I have tried in the past to push the brake pedal all the way down several times to try to get it to go back into AS while sitting at a light, but it has never worked so I don't do it anymore. I will have to try the shift to N trick and see if that works.

I myself am a little skeptical of the fluctuation trick. I have just heard about it and may have done it. I know that the neutral trick works, as I have done it for sure. The fluctuation may be just coincidence, as sometimes it shuts off when I do not fluctuate and sometimes if I do, it does not shut off. If anyone knows what's really happening let me know.

"I have just heard about it and may have done it. I know that the neutral trick works, as I have done it for sure. "

What? Switching to neutral makes the HCH go into AutoStop?

Only when you are idling at a stop and autostop won't engage in D.