One of the most common misunderstandings in the automotive world lately is what automakers are required or not required to do. For instance, a modern car almost certainly has to have a collapsible steering wheel and a catalytic converter. A passenger-side mirror isn’t required by the feds, nor is there any sort of federal EV mandate.
Lee Zeldin, the newest administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, tweeted yesterday that he wanted to kill “stop-start” technology. It’s just yet another intersection of politics and cars I’m going to try to tackle in The Morning Dump, though he sort of has a point. Or, at least, half a point.
That’s not all! Republicans in the House are working on both an end to the EV tax credit and the addition of deductibility of car interest. What survives and what doesn’t is all up in the air at this moment.
The economic picture is looking perhaps a bit rosier this morning as inflation estimates show that the economy is not getting cataclysmically worse, even though at least one car-related metric is trending in the wrong direction.
Nissan is also still trending in the wrong direction, so some tough decisions are going to have to be made.
‘Everyone Hates It’
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. pic.twitter.com/zFhijMyHDe
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) May 12, 2025
Does literally “everyone” hate stop/start technology as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claims above? No, but it’s true that many folks haven’t been fans of the tech, even though it’s gotten better over time. I’d say, on modern cars, I bet most people don’t care about stop/start systems, which shut off the engine when stopped for long periods of time to save fuel.
Personally, I just had a car with stop/start, and it would sometimes cause an awkward drop in brake pressure when the vehicle couldn’t decide if I was stopping or not. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it. The first version of it I experienced was on a Chevy Malibu, I think, and the early versions were quite bad. Additionally, almost every car with stop/start allows you to turn it off, but most make it a requirement every time you get in the car, as opposed to something you can just defeat permanently.
Why are carmakers doing it? Are the feds making them do it? Not quite. Let’s break down what’s being said here.
“Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy.”
The car doesn’t die, per se, but it does turn off. It can definitely be annoying! Hybrids, like my CR-V, and even mild-hybrids like BMW’s eBoost, offer a seamless experience because the vehicle can coast to a stop, which makes it less awkward. I doubt many BMW buyers even notice eBoost working.
The “participation trophy” is a reference to the fact that, while not required, automakers get credit (via the off-cycle credit program) for all sorts of things to weigh against both federal and CARB emission requirements. Some of these are legit, and others are, well, less legit.
As Jason Fenske points out in the video above, people who idle their cars often at stoplights likely see a real benefit from stop-start in fuel savings. One estimate shows that almost 10 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions are taken out of the environment every year by this requirement.
A “participation trophy” in this sense is trying to encourage automakers to do things that make cars more efficient, which is a net good thing. Stop/start is an easy target because many people do hate it for completely understandable reasons.
“EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it.”
This gets a little more complicated. Automakers like the credit because it’s a simple way to keep emissions in check, which, if California gets to maintain its waiver, is going to be important. If California loses its waiver and the government rolls back requirements, well, automakers might care a little less.
If “fixing it” just means removing the credit–and that’s the only thing it could mean–I doubt it’ll change that much automaker behavior. More and more vehicles are moving towards better mild-hybrid setups or full-hybrid setups that consumers like (or don’t even notice). Plus, most cars are designed for multiple markets these days, so the incentive to pull out stop/start probably isn’t huge.
This feels a bit like saying you’re going to regulate horseshoe technology in 1913, but for the people who still use the old-style horseshoes maybe it’s a compelling argument. This is a cautionary tale of the unintended consequences of regulation, wherein companies do something to check a box that ultimately serves its purpose while also pissing a not small number of consumers/voters off.
[Ed Note: I get why people dislike ESS; sometimes it’s unrefined, and the real-world fuel savings in terms of MPGs are often quite modest (though they can reach between 7 percent and 26 percent, per SAE, as Consumer Reports notes). To many consumers (like my parents), it’s not worth the tradeoff. Still, the concept is good, and modern 48 volt ESS systems are quite solid. -DT].
EV Tax Credit Dead (Maybe), Car Loan Interest Deductible (Maybe)
Now that tariffs are, slightly, on the sidelines, President Trump is working on his single big bill to codify many of his ambitions, including the continuation of his tax policy from his first term. Just to make it simple, I’ll refer to it as the tax bill.
In theory, via the Byrd Rule, any changes to the federal budget have to balance out in order to reduce the deficit. This rarely happens, but it’s a legislative hurdle. Again, in theory, most Republicans and Democrats want a balanced budget, even if in practice no party seems to have any sort of discipline in this regard when they’re in power.
Any continuation of tax cuts will have to be paid for, and one way to partially do that is to eliminate the EV tax credit and any EV manufacturing stimulus put forth by the Biden Administration.
Unsurprisingly, according to Reuters (via AN), that’s what Republicans want to do:
The proposal, set for a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on May 13, would repeal a $7,500 new-vehicle tax credit and a $4,000 used-vehicle credit on Dec. 31, although it would maintain the new-vehicle credit for an additional year for automakers that have not yet sold 200,000 EVs.
The president of the Electric Drive Transportation Association, Genevieve Cullen, criticized the proposal, saying that plans “to abandon U.S. leadership in energy innovation by gutting federal investment in electrification are catastrophically short-sighted.”
Hey, good news for Slate, as under this plan, the first 200,000 customers would get the tax credit. I’m open to the argument that there should be a cap on tax credits, as, once automakers are established as EV automakers, do they really need the discount? I’d make the number closer to 800,000 vehicles, given just how hard it is to make cars.
This would offset about $2 billion a year, which isn’t all that much compared to the scale of the federal budget, but it’s not nothing.
There’s another piece of this, though:
House Republicans also propose to kill a loan program that supports the manufacture of certain advanced technology vehicles. It would rescind any unobligated funding and rescind corporate average fuel economy standards and greenhouse gas emission rules for 2027 and beyond. That portion will be taken up by the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Among outstanding loans finalized in President Joe Biden’s last weeks in office are $9.63 billion to a joint venture of Ford and South Korean battery maker SK On for construction of three battery manufacturing plants in Tennessee and Kentucky; $7.54 billion to a joint venture of Stellantis and Samsung for two EV lithium-ion battery plants in Indiana; and $6.57 billion to Rivian for a plant in Georgia to begin building smaller, less expensive EVs in 2028.
Again, making cars is hard and expensive, and pulling potential plants that are already in the process of being established seems like a bad precedent.
This isn’t the only action, however, as one Michigan Congressman is putting forward the idea of making car loan interest deductible on America-built cars, as USA Today reports:
Huizenga, R-Holland Township, proposed the so-called Made in America Motors Act on May 7, saying it would allow consumers to deduct up to $2,500 in interest paid on a motor vehicle loan in a given year as long as the vehicle was assembled in the U.S.
No deduction would be allowed for any vehicle loan which is already granted a deduction, but the new deduction would be available to taxpayers whether or not they itemize on their annual tax forms. If approved as proposed, the deduction — which could potentially help spur auto sales of U.S.-assembled vehicles — would be allowed for vehicles purchased in calendar year 2025 or later.
This is obviously a way bigger deal for people who buy expensive trucks and other vehicles, as to get to $2,500 annually, you’d need to buy an $80,000 car with $0 down for a 60-month payment at a 5% interest rate, for example. Some people do that, but most do not. It’s good that this is outside the standard deduction, otherwise, it wouldn’t help anyone but the richest taxpayers.
Ultimately, though, you’re not getting $2,500 back; you’re just taking that off your taxes. Estimates show that most people can only expect to save under $150 a year, unless you’re in the top 1%, then you might save $500 a year.
Inflation Was Mild, But Car Insurance Went Up
For all of my talk about a potential recession, my longstanding hope is that this doesn’t happen and that a little bit of flexibility on tariffs can keep our otherwise resiliant economy afloat. The walking back of yesterday’s Chinese tariffs was a good sign that the current administration isn’t entirely inflexible.
The latest Consumer Price Index Summary from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that inflation remains neither great nor terrible. It’s as Mild as Taco Bell hot sauce.
Here’s where inflation went up, according to the BLS:
The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.8 percent over the past 12 months. The shelter index increased 4.0 percent over the last year. Other indexes with notable increases over the last year include medical care (+2.7 percent), motor vehicle insurance (+6.4 percent), education (+3.8 percent), and recreation (+1.6 percent).
Oof. Car insurance sucks right now and I don’t see cars getting any cheaper to fix, which just makes this number harder to bring down. There’s a way to look at this and see companies reluctant to raise prices with a huge tax bill floating out there. For instance, could Jeff Bezos stall price increases at Amazon in order to get a tax credit for 400,000 Slate EVs? It’s not impossible.
Nissan Increases Layoffs To 20,000
There’s no use building a bunch of copies of unprofitable cars, so Nissan is doubling its planned layoffs, according to the company. This is part of the “Re:Nissan” plan to fix what’s wrong with Nissan, and the aggressiveness is the point. One of the biggest critiques of the previous Nissan CEO was that he was slow to recognize the scale of the problem.
The new guy, Ivan Espinosa, clearly recognized the scale of the problem and had this to say:
“In the face of challenging FY24 performance and rising variable costs, compounded by an uncertain environment, we must prioritize self-improvement with greater urgency and speed, aiming for profitability that relies less on volume. As new management, we are taking a prudent approach to reassess our targets and actively seek every possible opportunity to implement and ensure a robust recovery. Re:Nissan is an action-based recovery plan clearly outlines what we need to do now. All employees are committed to working together as a team to implement this plan, with the goal of returning to profitability by fiscal year 2026.”
Practically, this means closing plants and cutting about 20,000 jobs, which is more than the 11,000 the company was previously planning. Additionally, the number of plants will be reduced from 17 to 10 as the company aims to hit positive operating profitability by FY 2026.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
This has come up before, but I think we’re all sleeping on Vanessa Carlton. She plays piano… on a truck! I love pianos. And trucks! Her parents have a sweet Taurus! Please enjoy “A Thousand Miles.”
The Big Question
Tell me all your feelings about stop/start. Do you love it? Do you hate it?
Top photo: Stellantis
Inflation statistics are a lagging, backward-looking indicator, so are not going to reflect any of the tariffs or other moves by this administration. These BLS results are really the last inflationary statistics of the pre “Liberation Day” economy.
The auto-stop system in the 2024 Chevy Trax LS is refreshingly unobtrusive. I thought I would be disabling it every time I started it, but I really do not mind it at all.
From the internet’s comments, I must be the only one who likes the auto start/stop system.
I remember having a 90s car idle at long lights and recall calculating the major MPG differences between sitting in traffic/cities vs. cruising constantly at 80mph. Yeah, I get that the A/C isn’t working nearly as well while it’s off, but it’s a few minutes, tops. I’ll take the fuel savings and crack the window.
It would be funny if the new Yugo had stop/start…they could label it:
YuStop/Yugo
You know what would be awesome?
Just thought of this…if there were more vehicles made like the Slate truck (the EV factor is more expensive, I’m thinking more on the side of just an ABSOLUTELY BASIC VEHICLE) so maybe a gas version of the Slate and/or a gas car version of the Slate- using that as an example: it could be any company making it from scratch) then it may be possible to have cheaper insurance to fight these rising rates? It would be great if it was possible due to lower repair costs; and if there was a decent insurance company out there who WOULD provide this; it’s just an idea though since they are all so greedy and such a hassle to deal with. I can’t stand all kinds of insurance.
Fuck insurance companies to hell
Start/stop sucks when you’re next in line in a roundabout waiting for an opening in traffic to dart in to. That and on my 2022 BMW it sometimes likes to stop before you come to a complete stop which is really unnerving. Disable start/stop is the first button I push after starting the car. I get that some people like it but the car should remember the last setting instead of enabling it every time. In hybrid or electric cars it makes perfect sense, not when you have a big V8 to restart at every stop light.
ESS is terrible 75% of the time in my 12V ICE 4cyl car. The only time it doesn’t suck is when I’m on a large (outer) suburban 6+ lane road with long traffic lights well spaced out, little traffic, and the temp is below 70ish degrees. If the engine stays off for a while, I can see the benefit. When you live in a major metro city or close-in suburbs with a lot of short distances between lights and stop signs coupled with traffic, it gets annoying very quickly, especially with un-smooth 12V architecture combined with a 4 cylinder car. My car also shuts off the A/C when ESS activates and the threshold to disengage ESS because it’s too hot in the cabin is high. I get worried I’m just draining the battery, killing the starter motor, and/or not letting the engine come up to temp on short drives on residential city roads and leave ESS off most times, at least until I’ve been driving 30 minutes or more. I definitely kill it if it’s hot out because I’m a temperature wimp.
My father has a current S-class with 48V architecture combined with a V8, and it is exceedingly difficult to tell when the ESS engages and disengages. It’s in that middle ground between ESS and a mild hybrid. The S-class ESS is quiet, smooth, engages and disengages the engine gently like a hybrid, and the A/C doesn’t stop like it does in my car. That sort of implementation is one I’d be willing to live with and not reach for the shutoff button constantly. But I ain’t buying a six figure luxury car any time soon.
I have a C class and my husband has an S class. I don’t notice it in the s class but my husband thinks that so many items are running in the background that the car doesn’t actually shut off much. My car is four years older and I hate Start Stop with the heat of a thousand suns. There’s too much lag on the throttle. I also think it’s hard on the engine to start off and on at every signal. There is a way to defeat it through the Individual setting (instead of economy, comfort or sport.). Otherwise I just turn it off every time I start the car. I would never buy a car where I couldn’t turn it off.
Im firmly against stop start just make it a hybrid if it’s really a problem. I’ve never met a stop start that not jaring and problematic. Hondas lastest implementation seem better then most but still couldn’t see using it. The increased wear to the the engine and possibly electrical system aren’t worth it. The Otto cycle engines can’t take it. I’ve never had a big problem with a hybrid they smooth the transition well sometimes when the older ones start the engine to idle on first start up it’s a little jaring but not more then any other. I can see having the feature for the minority that want it but mandate it be permanently disabled though a simple setting.
I was in the hate start/stop camp until I started driving an EV. Now I am jealous when sitting at a light next to an ICE vehicle and their car is completely silent. Meanwhile my EV sits stationary (with brake applied) making a federally mandated Death Star Hum for no logical reason.
I HATE that noise. If I ever end up with a car that has that, I’m ripping the speakers out. I don’t know why you can’t at least choose from a couple different sounds. That one resembles worn brakes from the driver’s seat to my ears, which is irritating on several levels. The mandate itself is just stupid, anyway. What’s it for, service dog-lacking, J-walking blind people who jump out from between parked vehicles? There are ICE cars that are quieter than the crunch of tires and they don’t have such stupid systems. I also feel like it’s a kind of sound that doesn’t telegraph a position very well, so while I might hear it, I can’t pinpoint its direction well (I do have some hearing nerve damage that makes it difficult to discern sound direction in multi-sound environs, so that certainly might be me, but the noise has a characteristic that’s like a variable approaching-receding Doppler effect that I imagine could have the same effect on others).
What I’m listening to.
I like the cover better
https://youtu.be/-RNG_tTXXcg?t=41
I hate stop/start! My wife, who primarily drives the vehicle we own with this “feature,” doesn’t care at all. She leaves that shit on like maniac!
I’ve only had it on rentals as all my cars have been manuals since 1994, but even. as someone who hates most of the electronic BS in modern cars, I don’t mind S/S where I’ll be sitting for longer periods, like some big intersections with long light periods, but it can be annoying in stop-and-go situations where you’re only stopping briefly. I just switch it off in that kind of traffic. What I like about hybrids is that they do this, but they also handle the stop-and-go traffic all on EV mode (unless the battery is too low), so there’s none of the annoyance of frequent engine off/on cycles.
My ’18 wrangler JL was a 6-speed and it had ESS.
However, the aux battery that the starter used when restarting died (I rarely drive more than 20 minutes) and I never bother replacing it… so that’s one way of permanently disabling the feature…
Oh, OK, I wasn’t aware manuals had them as none of mine have and nobody else I know drives a manual. The battery thing would be my one reservation. While they probably bump up the size (or use an aux battery) to compensate for the system, lead acid batteries seem to be shorter-lived than the past, though it’s probably more a combo of downsized batteries to save weight and money and more drains from all the electronics. Then again, with a manual, at least you can push/roll start it . . . or can you with these start buttons that might not allow it? I’ll have to test it out.
“Tell me all your feelings about stop/start. Do you love it? Do you hate it?”
I’ve run several real world tests on my commute which is the same M-F and 9 miles highway and 4 miles city each way.
2021 BMW M550.
1 week of commuting 20.5mpg NO start/stop
1 week of commuting 21.5mpg YES start/stop
and if one really go into the weeds and uses the BMW’s EcoPro drive mode in city traffic for 4 miles for commuting for a week and I get 23.1mpg with start/stop engaged.
and if I’m in Sport mode for commuting for a week without start/stop I get less than 18mpg. which is to be expected for a twin-turbo V8 with 523hp.
Generally the BMW start/stop is super easy.
I must say that unlike BMW’s start/stop, my wife’s Porsche Cayenne’s start/stop is AWFUL and should be banned as it locks up the steering when stopped and engages dangerously quick when coming to a stop. When I drive the Cayenne I just put it into Sport mode when I start the car as that disengages start/stop.
My little sedan has stop/start. However, I have concerns on its effect on the turbocharged engine. Say, for instance I get on the interstate, set the cruise control to 85, and listen to the Ramones for three hours. My exit comes up and I coast to the traffic light. Will the engine stop, preventing coolant and oil to continue transferring heat from the stressed parts? I know this is an extreme situation, but I’m sure there are lesser scenarios that cause stress.
“Tell me all your feelings about stop/start. Do you love it? Do you hate it?”
I think it’s a good cheap way to save a bit of fuel. Prior to owning my C-Max Energi, I drove manual cars… and I would turn the engine off at red lights essentially manually doing what stop/start systems do.
As is par for the course, the Crooked Trump administration manages to make yet another bad decision.
It’s like they couldn’t make a good decision if their lives depended on it.
I find it annoying and usually disable it when I get into my WL that has it.
Zeldin’s using it as a Trojan Horse. First he takes the Start/Stop away. Then diesel urea injection. Then cylinder deactivation. Then catalytic converters.
As for car insurance… Insurance companies in general may become unfeasible within the near future. Unpredictable climate disasters are burning through funds for home insurance and the market can’t bear any more rate increases. Renter’s insurance can’t keep up either because too many people are renting to keep that balanced anymore. And car insurance, well… We already know how that’s going, what with the minimum $1000 deductibles for even the basest of shitboxes and ridiculous part replacement costs. Either insurance requirements change or the insurance companies find further ways to subsidize their branches, else people will just be even worse about breaking the law and going without insurance.
I don’t give a major rip either way on start/stop, but I think it’s extremely funny that they’re trying to kill the one thing that is directly linked to money in the pockets of Elon Musk. See how they sell even fewer Teslas now.
I feel most of the complaints here are from people who abide by the no-cop-no-stop method of “stopping” at a stop sign and hate when their engine cuts off while trying to roll through.
Just let me set the default for ESS to off, or have it save my last setting. I know there are times I’d like the savings, and others where it’s an annoyance.
on my car its literally just a button to push
unless you’re a quadrapalegic its probably not that big of a deal to turn it off if its annoying you
Most other settings on a car stay where I leave them. This should be no different.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been in an I.C.E. vehicle with stop/start. They might be that undetectable to me.
My wife’s Hybrid stops the engine whenever it’s not needed: down hills, stopping, idling (until the puny battery runs out). And when starting to drive, the battery does a lot of the work so there is no hesitation from a stop. So, that’s a plus.
In my older, manual car, I am the stop/start. So, I love it.
I think the stop/start should be controlled by the driver for their specific situations and not by some engineer for general situations. I also think that the power steering and power brakes should be handled by the battery and that the battery should have its charge maintained by the brakes. Perhaps a second battery for non-engine-starting purposes?
Aw, just get an EV!
thats not how any of this works
Agree start/stop has gotten better. My 2013 320i 6MT was awful. If you were coasting near a stop in neutral it would shut off. Light turns green before you’re fully stopped, clutch in and the car kicked over like a mule. Couldn’t have been good for it.
I’m glad neither of my current cars have it.
why do you need to coast at a near stop in a situation where you cant simply turn it off, like multiple stop signs?
you could, you know, just come to a full stop like you’re supposed to.
I was coming to a full stop. The light changed before I got there. At that point I’d prefer to not get rear ended, so I start going again.
Im sorry BMW didnt consider that very specific scenario when designing their stop/start system
as Ive said many times before, if you need to, you can just push the button to turn it off so you can coast while the light is red
I have driven some cars with the first iterations of stop start and it was frustrating. But my spouse has a 2018 cruze with it and I have never complained, as I quickly learned to just let off the brake pedal a moment before I want to get going. Its easy since I actually pay attention to the road and traffic and account for what I need to be doing in a second or so in the future. We have definitely saved fuel even on our little 1.4L engine.
No automatic start/stop in my 2023 Kia Rio. There are a few blank buttons where the off button should be though. It is one of the features I actually wish I had, even if stop and go traffic might be worse. It is all because of Android Auto.
If I turn the car off when the wife is running into the store or when I am stopped for a long train, Android Auto stays connected. When I restart the ignition the computer resets and I have to click the screen to get back into the map. So fucking annoying.
Interestingly, the pioneer head unit in my Volkswagen stays on even with the key in the off position when I’m filling it up. My CarPlay stays going or the radio stays going and it doesn’t really matter. Sounds like that’s a ignition switch issue.
There has to be a way to reboot the computer to deal with a black screen. You don’t want it to turn off the music before the door is open in off or if the key is still in the accessory position, so the reboot has to occur when the key is in the ignition position. With start/stop I just think it would be simpler to hit one button next to the shifter than to turn the key and then hit a button on the screen.
1) Start stop has sucked in every rental I’ve ever had it in. It has turned off as I stop to get read to back in to a spot while parallel parking, its has truned the car off and on repeatedly while trying to do the molasses speed zipper merge from an on ramp during bad traffic, and it has also stopped during the slow moving line for school pick up drop offs. It either needs to be permamently disabled or automakers should figure how to program it so that it only stops after ‘X’ seconds to be applicable to stoplight intersections, which seems to be its primary intended use.
2) What on earth is that very left icon in the lead photo? Tri-beams? Or is it fog>low beams> high beams? You can’t have the fog lights on with the low beams then? Or is this some sort of brightness or angle control for the fog lights?
As you mentioned, they can all be turned off when you don’t want it to be active.
so that’s just user error pal
As these were all rentals in the last few yeas with no user manual included, turning them off is not a simple as button, which would be the best/most obvious way. I assume there was an option buried in the menus available on the screen. How intuitive the menus are designed will vary.
But what is really needed is a permanent ‘off’ option.
again, all you would need to do is a quick search online to figure out how to turn it off and you wouldn’t need to complain about it online for the next decade
its really not that hard to not be such an idiot
The cars I’ve been in it’s either an obvious physical button, or an obvious button the screen. Now I haven’t driven every new rental car lately of course, but it’s generally not that hard to find.
In answer to #2, that is a rocker switch for headlight beam adjustment so you can angle them down if the back of the vehicle is loaded up.
Interesting. I have not seen that before.
Love it in my Volt. Hate it in every ICE-only vehicle I’ve driven with it. Nice of Mr. Zelden to throw in that dog-whistle though. Make sure there’s no nuance to any discussion of the tech. Just “yeah this dumb ASS-thing is dumb”.
it sucks in cars when its hot out and it cuts the AC at a light, now that I have a mild hybrid that isn’t an issue since the battery keeps the AC going when the engine cuts off.
I don’t like it all the time, but in morning traffic it probably saves me a little gas
If my WL has the AC on it won’t stop the engine.
Uh… As a Volt owner… This doesn’t apply to the Volt. The wheels are driven by motors – not the engine. The engine being off has zero impact on acceleration from a stop. (Yes, I know, the engine isn’t completely decoupled in all circumstances).
I’m aware, but there is a gas engine running when the battery is depleted, and it shuts off most of the time at lights or when waiting in traffic without interruption. Just illustrating the best type of use-case (something with an electric motor and batteries in the equation). If he has the chance ‘ol Zeldon up there there will probably try and make the case that the gas engine HAS to be turned on when stopped, even in PHEVs.
I just had a Grand Cherrokee rental with this and it SUUUUUUCKED. Starter is loud, laggy, just an uncomfortable experience. With a hybrid where you can leave the starting line in EV mode and the engine can start and catch up before needed I think it would be better. But straight ICE and auto start can go to hell.
I hate to disappoint you but Jeep screwed that up on the hybrid GC too. Its very unrefined.
Brother in law had a rental Pacifica with start-stop; same problem. Maybe it’s more of a Chrysler/Stellantis problem?