Quote:
Originally Posted by exmpa
Alex I see it as an application of technology. I was trained to fly in the 1960s, the technology was pretty much WW2 and even aircraft with fairly simple systems had separate switches and gauges for everything. The result was a crowded ergonomic slum. By the time I retired the flight deck of even quite complex aircraft looked decidedly sparse. There were still buttons and switches but in the main their function was to reconfigure systems after a malfunction. If they were used routinely it was usually a case of switch on before start then leave them alone.
Now, it has effectively been decided for us by our elders and betters that the default setting for Stop/Start is On. If we are perverse enough to want to disable the system it is still positive do so by entering the command via the centre screen. We are permitted to do this “pre-flight” . So, why is it necessary to access control of the system “in flight”? It saves money to delete a physical switch that only signals a processor anyway, it doesn’t signal the ECU directly.
I’m probably conditioned by my background as I went through enormous change in my working life. We have really only started down this path in cars in the last 10 years. A prime example is the way an Airbus cons you into thinking it’s a conventional aircraft when you go into the landing flare.
You mention the car failing to start, I would suggest the incidence of this is low and non- critical. Electronic parking brakes have been known to fail “On” but manufacturers haven’t left a mechanical handle in place as an option.
I’m afraid that like it or not it’s “Progress “
Exmpa
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The removal of stop/start off is most likely due to the Government emission tests which keep changing .. if they had put that function in on that model year you would have been in the higher tax band no doubt .
That is why the early stop start cars never had an OFF button to keep the car within the tax band, it was that marginal . some of the earlier cars with an OFF provision were probably well within the emission limits and had room to spare .