After reading the early posts on this popular topic I began to wonder what
would happen on my car (09 Nissan Murano) which has one of the magic key
"Start/Stop" buttons. I got on a country road and punched the start/stop
button while driving. Nothing happened. I shifted into neutral and tried
again..same result .the car kept running.
In later postings I read that if you held the button down for 3 seconds it
would turn off.
Someone suggested that if you left the car in gear after you turned the
engine off that the transmission would turn the engine over enough to keep
the power steering and brakes working.
Another post suggested that some manufacturers (I recall Nissan and BMW) had
a "fail safe" condition in their ECU that would not allow the car to be
accelerated if there was pressure on the brake pedal.
So, today I decided to test these out ( I sure hope this doesn't start
another "Myth Buster" thread!)
Driving on that same country road at about 35 I pushed and held down the
start/stop button for 3 seconds. The engine stopped and all of my
instruments turned off. I was able to steer the vehicle with what seemed to
be about the same effort. Also I had no trouble stopping. Unfortunately, I
couldn't verify that the engine was being turned by the transmission since
my tach was turned off. In any event, I had no problems controlling the car.
Next I tested the fail safe system. Driving about 35 I put my left foot on
the brake and pressed as evenly as I could while also pushing on the
accelerator pedal. For someone not accustomed to left foot braking, this is
not as easy as it sounds. I definitely was slowing down even though I was
pressing on the gas.I must say, I didn't "firewall" it but I think I was
pressing hard enough to give it a fair test.
So, I guess I am not too concerning about my car but I am going to keep my
eye on all of those Toyotas out there...
One other thing..if your car is accelerating madly, 3 seconds might seem
like an eternity.
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