[Quietcars] How will the Start/Stop system affect blind pedestrians?

[Robert Wilson]

Hi Jewel,

GM was particularly notorious for these "micro hybrids." Retired in May, both the "Start/Stop" models and GM manager Bob Lutz, his hubris about fuel efficiency and hybrid chauvanism marked GMs efforts for the past decade. Sad to say, one diesel manufacturer, VW, continues to share this bad attitude.

VW claims they have "clean diesel" until we look at their tested emission numbers from the California Air Resources Board Certifications. VW's cleanest, diesels are 5 to 10 times worse than a Prius. A manufacturer who tells their customers their emissions are "clean diesel" will not hesitate making inflated claims about "Start/Stop." 

I am no fan of the "Start/Stop" or micro hybrids so I would have no problem if the noise maker said, "sucker, sucker, sucker, . . . "

Bob Wilson

> Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:21:34 -0400
> From: herekittykat2 at gmail.com
> To: quietcars at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [Quietcars] How will the Start/Stop system affect blind	pedestrians?
> 
> It sounds like the start/stop system is much less benefit than they
> think it is, and much more disadvantage than advantage. Is there
> someone  you can report these findings to, to help keep the start/stop
> system from being implemented?
> 
> I remain very concerned that if the start/stop system is implemented,
> there will be trouble for pedestrians who cannot hear idling cars
> sitting in driveways, in a parking space behind a larger vehicle, or
> at a traffic light or stop sign  where the view is blocked. This would
> not affect just the blind pedestrians who would not be able to hear
> the idling cars nor see them, but would also affect sighted
> pedestirans who are less than religious in thier safety precautions.
> 
> On 10/8/10, Robert Wilson <bwilson4web at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Your article got me curious so I did some measurements and found our Prius
> > and Echo burn about 0.15-0.17 gallons per hour at idle. These cars use the
> > same engine block and because the engine idle rpms are in the same ratio
> > 700-900 rpm, they are functionally identical. To put this in perspective, at
> > 0.15 gallons per hour, it would take six hours and forty minutes to burn one
> > gallon.
. . .