If everybody turned off the engine while waiting at a red light

[George P Burdell]

Do you think it would a negligible number, or a lot?

 

[HaxorNubcake]

I'm thinking gas would be wasted

 

[2Xtreme21]

Doesn't it use more gas to turn your car on?

 

[50cent1228]

Originally posted by: HaxorNubcake
I'm thinking gas would be wasted

yup imagin all the gas ur waisting turning your car on all the time

 

[Bootprint]

Great big traffic jams, you'd get someone who takes a bit longer and holds up everyone else. Now they have to wait for another light and so begins the cycle.

 

[EagleKeeper]

It used to be that a vehicle had to idle for more than 45 seconds to compensate for the fuel required when starting the vehicle

 

[Zero001]

Like some of the others are saying, it waste more gas to start-up the car then to idle. I don't remember the actual idle time that equaled start-up, but it's not worth it.

 

[johnnq1]

you would definitely save money...if turning your car off and risking getting pulled over by the cops is worth it to you, nobody is stopping you.

 

[Tiamat]

idle cars dont burn much gas. Its the start up that burns a good amount of gas initially.

 

[Jawo]

Originally posted by: johnnq1
you would definitely save money...if turning your car off and risking getting pulled over by the cops is worth it to you, nobody is stopping you.

Yea...I'm pretty sure that it's illegal to shut off your car at a red light. But I did read a "Maxmize your fuel economy" article where this was one of the tips :Q

 

[Flammable]

dont cars in japan have this feature or something around it?

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

None. You waste more gas turning on your car then an average idle.

 

[silverpig]

They made a law here whereby you can't idle your engine for more than 5 minutes. Kinda dumb IMO.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

Originally posted by: Flammable
dont cars in japan have this feature or something around it?

You're probably thinking about hybrid cars switching to the electric engine when at a standstill.

 

[TheGizmo]

Approximately how much gas does it take to start a motor? My brother once told me that it would take more gas to start the car than it would to leave it park/idle for 10 minutes. Is that a good number to go by, or should it be less time like say 5 minutes? Just curious... i've also been going by the 10 minute rule. But if its really 5 minutes well then it seems I may be wasting gas! then again its not like this situation happens everyday.

 

[krunchykrome]

We would waste more gas. Starting a car use more gas than you think.

 

[Kelemvor]

I've heard that you'd have to be idling for more than 30 - 60 seconds for shutting off the car to have any affect. Only time I do it is if I'm stuck at a train because very few lights actually last more than 60 seconds.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
Doesn't it use more gas to turn your car on?

No.

Takes more gas to idle a car for more than 15 secs than it does to start it up.

I believe it was on Car Talk on NPR that I heard that one.


And, fyi:
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2000-07/964541362.Eg.r.html

 

[Pacfanweb]

That's old news about taking more gas to start the car than to leave it idling. With today's fuel injected cars, this really isn't the case....that was most certainly the case back when everything was carbureted.

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: silverpig
They made a law here whereby you can't idle your engine for more than 5 minutes. Kinda dumb IMO.

Doesn't it get cold enough there in the winter where you might want to warm up the car with a remote starter before getting in?

 

[gsellis]

New cars start leaner. BUT, now everyone is stuck at the light because that one car would not start again. Minus profit.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

I shut it off at railroad crossings. We have some trains that last longer than Freebird and Stairway back to back.

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: Flammable
dont cars in japan have this feature or something around it?

I think you're right. I saw a video of a city bus that automatically turned the engine off when the bus stopped, pressing the gas again started the engine.

 

[Jeff7]

"Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the new law requiring drivers to shut off their cars at traffic lights. In other news, sales of car batteries rose 15,000% this past year."

 

[MotionMan]

How much would we all end up spending on starters, alternators and batteries, to name a few?

MotionMan