EPA is planning to get rid of Start-Stop feature in cars because 'everyone hates it'

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to get rid of the Start-Stop feature in cars because ‘everyone hates it’.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wants the feature axed, branding it a ‘climate participation trophy’ for automakers.

The technology has been subsidized by the EPA since 2012, but those days may be numbered.

In fact, the EPA’s just made a big admission about the feature.

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The EPA is planning to get rid of the Start-Stop feature

Have you ever been driving a gas car and it turned off during a red light stop?

That’s the Start-Stop feature, brought in to cut fuel consumption and emissions.

The EPA began subsidizing it back in 2012 with credits to manufacturers, and it’s implementation has skyrocketed since.

According to data from the EPA Automotive Trends Report, more than 75 percent of internal combustion cars come with Start-Stop technology.

Many studies have found that the technology does lead to fuel use reductions of between 5 to 10 percent.

In fact, one study found that start-stop saves fuel when the engine is off for as little as seven seconds.

But Lee Zeldin, the current Administrator of the EPA, wants all of that to change.

Back in May, Zeldin tweeted: “Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy. EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it.”

Fast forward two months, and the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ was signed into law.

Contained within that legislation was forgiveness of penalties to automakers who hadn’t met fuel economy targets since 2012.

That’ll be good news for companies like Stellantis, who paid $190.7 million in civil penalties last year for failing to meet fuel economy requirements for 2019 and 2020, Reuters reported.

This begs the question – if there’s little benefit in continuing with efficiency technology like Start-Stop, will manufacturers continue?

A lot of car features come and go over time

Whether or not this is the end of Start-Stop for good, remains to be seen.

After all, governments come and go – maybe the next administration will want to bring it back.

At any rate, this wouldn’t be the first time that we saw a car feature fall out of fashion.

Crank windows are effectively extinct in the US now, leaving electric windows as the default.

And that’s not forgetting all the other features from bygone eras that would shock Gen Z – cigarette lighters and CD players, for example.

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