'Such Abuse On The Car': Doug LaMalfa Rails Against The Auto Off Feature In Vehicles

Forbes Breaking News

In remarks on the House floor last week, Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) spoke about auto-off features on cars.

Transcript

00:00The chair recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. LaMoffa, for five minutes.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

00:09Much regulations are being done so often in California due to CARB, California Resources

00:16Board, or even federally with previous iterations of the EPA.

00:21One of those features is the start-stop feature on newer automobiles, which when you stop

00:29your car, the engine shuts off.

00:32This is designed, in theory, to save gasoline or diesel, whatever your vehicle's powered

00:38by.

00:39But most drivers, the vast majority of drivers you talk to, you survey, they're really annoyed

00:44by this feature because they pull up to a stoplight, a stop sign, or just merely wish to

00:49stop somewhere for a moment, and their engine shuts off.

00:52Now you can point to this button bypass that many of the cars have.

00:58Some don't, that you can bypass and shut off the feature that shuts off your car.

01:05But a lot of people will forget to turn that off, they get it in their car, they pull up

01:08to a stoplight, darn thing shuts off.

01:10And they're really annoyed that their government treats them that way, that they can't decide

01:14on their own how to operate their vehicle.

01:17And so what you see is that the vehicles also have to build in extra technology and extra heavy-duty

01:24equipment in order to accommodate this.

01:26For example, when you stop and start your car all the time, you're going to wear out your

01:30battery more.

01:31So they have to have a battery with an extra heavy-duty build to it, as well as the starter

01:39itself in order to accommodate many, many more frequent starts using these systems.

01:45And then one of the things the mechanics will talk to you about is that when you shut an

01:48engine off, your oil pressure goes back down to zero.

01:52And each time you start your engine without the oil pressure, you gain a little extra wear

01:57on your bearings, on your crank bearings, your connecting rod bearings, and even in the cylinders

02:05because the oil has settled back down between starts.

02:08So there's a lot of extra involved with the engine wear, engine component wear.

02:13And then reading up on how the factory has to accommodate this so that it lasts 100,000 miles

02:19and doesn't become a warranty problem, they have to build in extra heavy-duty wiring harnesses

02:25so that the extra load from the starter, from the battery, all that can be accommodated

02:30over a longer period of time so the car will last longer.

02:33So when you have these systems in place, this adds to the cost of a new car by having to

02:39make heavier batteries, heavier starters, and heavier wiring harnesses on that, all for

02:44the concept that you might be saving a little bit of gasoline.

02:47Well, it's interesting, when you ride around here in DC, for example, you've got to take

02:51an Uber downtown to go to some meet-up or what have you, and by the time you get through

02:57all the blankety-blank stoplights in this town, and they're all on timers instead of even

03:02on sensors, like some of them are at home, that you're riding with somebody, you hear

03:08the car shut off, and then it starts up again two seconds later if the light happens to change.

03:13And for me, who's mechanically inclined, it kind of drives me crazy listening to that

03:17because it's such abuse on the car and the engine system on that, all because somebody

03:22dreamed up the idea, hey, if we shut off the engine at stoplights all the time, it might

03:26save a little bit of gas.

03:28Well, on some engines, it actually takes a little bit of gas extra to restart it versus

03:37just letting it run a few extra seconds.

03:39And so what it's seen is that statistically gets shown that maybe over the lifetime of

03:44a car, you saved a few gallons of fuel, but in that process, you've had to buy more batteries,

03:50replace starters more often, and build a lot heavier components, which are more costly, require

03:54more resources as well.

03:56So I'm really pleased that at the EPA, Administrator Lee Zeldin has called for changes to this feature.

04:05Since it may be perceived as a mandate, I know the auto dealers are afraid to shut it off.

04:10If you take it in and say, hey, would you just disable this thing for me?

04:13They say, well, you know, it's an emissions thing.

04:15Or if you don't like the gong going off on your seat belt all the time, they can't shut

04:18that off because, oh, it's a safety thing.

04:21So you don't really have the choice of how you can operate your vehicle.

04:25And for those of us that drive around in a rural area on our own, if you're a farmer

04:29on your fields and such, you have to listen to the gonging of the seat belt all the time

04:34or have this shut off every time you need to stop and irrigate in your field, for example.

04:40Or you remember to shut off with the silly button.

04:44But I understand there's bypass systems that you can get for that if you want to bootleg

04:49it a little bit.

04:50I understand that if you open the hood on certain vehicles, it disables that.

04:53So they have like a little hood bypass mechanism you can get to bypass that.

04:58Or maybe you just don't need to put this stuff on to begin with and let people decide for

05:01themselves.

05:02Do I want to shut my car off at the stoplight every time?

05:06So what do you get?

05:08When you stop at the light, you get a hesitancy to go again.

05:11So you can read anecdotes how people are getting ready to pull out into traffic.

05:15But the car stopped on them so they lose their opportunity.

05:18They lose their moment to pull out and they've got to wait longer.

05:21So the silly mandates that come along, people generally don't like them, such as the auto

05:26start-stop feature on automobiles.

05:29And so I'm pleased and will continue to work with Administrator Lee Zeldin on things like

05:33that to give people more car choice on what they want.

05:37I yield back.

05:38Time has expired pursuant to clause 12A of rule.

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