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Eco start/stop?

14K views 24 replies 16 participants last post by  pounce 
#1 ·
Hi all,

Hoping anyone has some info on this. We bought our 2018 Metris Passenger in October. When we bought it, the sales guys swore up and down that the van had eco start/stop even though no "cancel eco start/stop" button on front center panel (below radio). It's on our window sticker, but car doesn't sound like it shuts off and on. We have a battery under the passenger seat, is this the buffer battery or the main battery?

Any experience or knowledge is appreciated.

Jamie
 
#2 ·
The big battery under the passenger seat is the main battery. The start/stop is not always active due to certain driving conditions. When it is active, you should see a green A in a circle light up in the instrument panel. Even when active, it is possible to stop and not shut off the engine if you don’t press the brake pedal down far enough. It is obvious when the engine is shut off.
 
#6 ·
Econstart stop

Honestly, the first thing I do every single time I start my van is manually turn off the eco start stop. It is a habit now. I don’t do much stop and go driving, So am unsure if it really would save gas or the environment or not...I know on a hot day with the ac running and the engine turns off at a stoplight, the ac also goes off and the van heats right up. I do know how to not depress the brake pedal all the way to avoid the shut off, but then why use it? I wish my van did not have it personally.
 
#9 ·
I'd be glad to not have it. I specifically looked for a van without it when buying mine. Consider that just replacing the eco start battery will buy the equivalent of 80+ gallons of gas even at current prices....thats a LOT of engine idle time.

Eco stop never pays for itself. Purely a gimmick. If they wanted to make the metris more fuel efficient they should have offered it with the OM651 diesel...it gets better mpg's driving like a leadfoot in the city than the metris gets on cruise on the freeway.
 
#10 ·
Pray that it does not have eco jerk. That would be a blessing. Sadly, I doubt it.

I think we calculated this a year or so ago and decided it might save an average rush hour commuter $78 per year against unknown wear and tear and jerky start ups. These things usually work their best on a newish car. Not necessarily so well on a 10 year old car with a couple hundred thousand on the clock.
 
#11 ·
I'm not a mechanic or engineer... but can anyone comment on the extra duty cycle a typical starter motor would deal after 5 or 10 years with one of these systems.

Just doing the math tells me it would age out pretty fast. Consider that you may start 30 or 40 more times in a single day compared to a car without.

Scares me.
 
#12 · (Edited)
What I find most revealing is that there seems to be no actual reliable test data on something being installed on lots (million?) of Mercedes cars.


The actual test data would seem to be remarkably easy to generate by simply slapping fuel monitors on a few dozen cars and randomly driving them through a few thousand starts and stops in traffic and out. Where is the test data?


A lot of "engineers" (read automotive commentators) "estimate" (read guess) "potential" savings (read it ain't gonna happen unless you drive like they say you should ) . . . but that and $4.25 will get you a cup of latte.
 
#13 ·
These small DI engines use such a small amount of fuel while at idle it doesn't amount to much. Our traffic around here is too stop and go....you come to stop and the pack moves up 20 more feet. It's nice to slide off the brake and let it creap and stop creap and stop.

A buddy just bought a new ford truck, it's the first thing he did, disable stop-start.
 
G
#15 ·
I know that when we purchased our 2016, we specifically paid an additional small charge for it. The salesperson stated that some people want it taken out of the system later and charging for it was the way they made sure we knew it was there and wouldn't complain about it later. I know it saves gas, but it really is a pain in stop and go traffic. Be happy you don't have it. If you paid for it, go back to the dealer and get credit for it!
 
#16 ·
Despite liking the ability to disable the eco stop/start, I am liking the feature more and more. The jolting complaints can be avoided easily by two-stepping your start from a dead stop. First release the brake pedal allowing just a split-second for the engine to start. Second, THEN apply pressure to accelerator. I don't mean to be rude, but the only way I can imagine a jolt is if you are leaning on the accelerator pedal hard immediately after releasing the brake. YMMV
 
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#18 ·
Our 2018 passenger van came with Eco start on the window sticker but not in the car. I asked about it and was finally told that Mercedes screwed up the stickers on some units.

I decided that this was a “feature” that I neither needed nor wanted. Ultimately, not having it allowed me to install a multi channel amp/DSP unit along with a hi-res player under the driver’s seat where the Eco stuff would have been.
 
#22 ·
Thanks for all the replies! So, actually, my last volkswagen had it and I didn't love how obvious it was at stop lights and it would make the car lurch forward if you didn't let it go easy off the brake.

When we bought the Metris, I asked them if it had it because it didn't act anything like what I was used to. They even called over a "specialist", who assured us it only turns on if all of the right pieces were in place and we wouldn't hear it, but it was "definitely" on the car.

I actually didn't even want it, but I did pay for it according to my window sticker under the packages, and I don't like paying for things I didn't get!!! I would've just liked the price adjusted thank you very much.

The car also had a small dent in the door and they said oh no problem, we'll send someone to Ventura to have them come fix it. We called and e-mailed 7-8 times. After a call to MBUSA customer service, I finally got a reply back offering to fix it but I have to take it to a dealer near me because the guy they used to use doesn't travel. So we'll see how soon it is actually taken care of, but I'm not letting it go, Downtown MBZ!

3 lessons learned:

1. Get it in writing.
2. Get it in writing.
3. AVOID MERCEDES BENZ DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES if you value your sanity. Worst sales and customer service I've ever had. And if i wasn't set on a lift gate, which was only available there, that day, I would've given them a big "number one", and walked right out. Intuition is always right.

Thanks everyone.
 
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