Mailbag: Can The Stop/Start System In The 2014 Chevy Malibu Run Out Of Power?
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When it launches in the fall of 2013, the refreshed 2014 Chevy Malibu will be the first sedan in its class to offer a stop/start system as standard equipment in the United States. To conserve fuel, the system shuts off the 2.5 liter I4 (LCV) engine when the Malibu comes to a stop, with all electric accessories, such as air conditioning, radio, and lights, among others, continuing to work via the auxiliary battery. As soon as the driver lifts his or her foot off the brake pedal, the powerplant springs back to life.
Since learning about the system, several GM Authority readers have written in asking about the behavior of the stop/start system in the event that the auxiliary battery doesn’t have enough power to continue running the air conditioning (or other accessories), and how the system works in stop-and-go traffic. So we reached out to Chevrolet spokesman Chad Lyons for clarification, who was kind enough to provide a great explanation of the logic employed by the stop/start system. In a word, the setup as seen in the 2014 Malibu is smart, and won’t let you down. Here are the details.
Battery Charge
By far the most common question we’ve seen thus far as it relates to the stop/start system in the ‘Bu concerns its functionality during a state of low battery charge.
As it turns out, the Malibu monitors the state of charge to determine whether or not it should shut the engine off. If the battery cannot maintain the car’s current accessory load (AC speed, other load) for at least 2 minutes, then the engine won’t be shut off. Furthermore, if the electric load increases when the car is already stopped and the engine is off, and the system determines the battery state of charge will reach its threshold, then then engine will turn back on.
To note, the auxiliary battery only powers electrical accessories momentarily during engine cranking (AutoStart).
Stop and Go Traffic
The other common question about the Malibu’s stop/start system surrounds its behavior in stop-and-go traffic.
To that end, the system is smart enough to monitor inputs like vehicle speed, the operation of the climate control system, and the force a driver applies to the brake pedal to determine whether it is efficient to shut off the engine in certain driving conditions, like during stop-and-go driving situations.
Vehicle speed is another factor that’s taken into consideration. In a situation like stop-and-go-traffic, for instance, a vehicle will usually stop, then move slowly, then stop again. The Malibu’s system monitors speed to understand that the vehicle is in stop-and-go-traffic, and that the engine should not shut off.
The result isn’t only a stop/start system that’s smart, but one that delivers 25 MPG in the city, 36 MPG on the highway, and 29 MPG combined — a rather noteworthy accomplishment since the 2.5 liter engine is one of the more powerful base engines in the U.S. midsize sedan segment.
The GM Authority Take
That’s some great stuff, Chevy! In fact, we can already see an ad for this, with the outro tagline saying, “That’s American ingenuity to Find New Roads.”
Plus, we’d love to see the technology be added to more Chevrolets, and GM vehicles in general. The Buick Regal and Cadillac ATS seem like worthy candidates.
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I just got done renting a 2014 Malibu and the stop/start feature was a major annoyance. The car shakes when it turns off and it shakes when it starts. It has very hesitant acceleration and it made emergency acceleration risky and dangerous(Potential rearend accidents). The A/C blows warm air when the car shuts off!!! That’s right, warm air in a hot texas summer! I have no idea what Chevy was thinking but this is the worst driving experience I have had in decades. It felt like driving an old carbureted car that would stall every time you came to a stop. And to top it off there’s no air conditioning when the car shuts off!! It’s one thing to have a herky jerky car that feels like it stalls when you come to a stop but it’s also a major inconvenience to be sitting in your car for up to 2 minutes with warm air blowing on you during the heat of summer! terrible car, avoid at all costs. Buyer be ware.
I have a new 2015 Malibu, i found out that by just pumping the brake once before coming to a complete stop will keep the car running and the stop start will not activate. If you have this technology just experiment with lightly releasing the brake and the engine will remain on, if done properly it’s a safe practice….at least for me…..remember give yourself room and be aware of the traffic/cars around you.
Anybody that thinks this is advantageous to have if fooling themselves. It’s been known for years that starting an engine takes more gas in startup than any other time. How much faster will the starter wear out and if your in heavy traffic in a big city and the car doesn’t start up again, then you are screwed. I think this has gone a little too far unless of course that did like Audi and allowed you to turn this process OFF! I drove a Malibu with this setup and I hate it!
Wife and I were looking to replace her 99 Monte that we bought new and love..with a Malibu until seeing not being able to turn off the auto stop feature…POOR choice GM…A blower motor running in the high humidity summer heat will NOT replace conditioned air. Folks will be VERY uneasy when in some of the undesirable areas of many inner cities with their engines NOT running.
Being an auto tech for too many decades now…I wonder if the rear battery was disconnected….that would shut down the auto start but what other repercussions would occur afterwards?
Battery and starter replacement costs DO NOT overcome this poor feature IMO
It won’t stall on the highway. Gm has already said that it will stay running because your moving. The system works. It freaked me out for about a day and I love it still. But hey how are ppl that don’t like change supposed to act. Its new to us. Been around in Europe for years.
I own a 2015 Malibu LTZ and I also own a 1987 K5 Blazer. Well all I have to say is its pretty sad when I would rather jump on the old K5 opposed to my brand new Malibu. Would give it back if I could!!!
Just got the 2015 Malibu LT. It now has 750 miles on it and the auto stop stopped working. And it was shutting the car off every single stop. I thought first of all, how can it be efficient, and second of all, how long before the mechanism breaks. Googled it for the first time just now and sure enough, lol. I’m glad. It is a lease and covered bumper to bumper, but I don’t want it corrected. It was not behaving as intended. Most likely the brake pedal sensor. Battery is full and it stopped working a few days ago. I’m very happy with the car otherwise. Great pick up with the 2.5 at 196 HP and awesome entertainment package with wifi.
I for one, do not want or need this idiotic feature. All it will do is cause the owner to spend more in
vehicle repairs, both to the engine and also the starter motor, which will fail sooner than it would
in normal use. Not to mention there is now another computer or code to do this crap. More junk
to fail. And who takes the blame when you get into an accident ? ? Say you see a car barreling down
on you and IF YOU CAN MOVE OUT OF THE WAY YOU CAN AVOID BEING HIT ? But what if the system
does not start fast enough or not at all ? ? Now your car is wrecked, you are injured, for something
you may have been able to avoid. This system is USELESS and must not be allowed to continue.
Why does my radio / cd player turn off when i release the brake when my 2015 Malibu is
in the Auto stop mode
Just bought a 2015 malibu. Paid alittle over 20,000.00. Driving it in town it dies. My husband goes to restart, it fires up. Got out of town stopped at train track it dies, he goes to put in park to start got to neutral it restarted. Had I known this car did this I would NOT of bought. It worries me now on parts wearing out. And summer time when it’s hot having air on is it going to do the same? The car will get hot!!!. I’m stuck with it would of been nice if salesman would of told us about this feature. I am so disappointed in the car and now stuck with it.
We finally talked to someone and they told us how to disconnect t auto-start stop. There is a wire by the hood latch by the radiator. ( took us a while to find wire) but like I said a wire down in the hood latch hole. Disconnect the wire. It will take a screw driver. Now with that being said, I was warned by the dealership that my remote start may not work if I disconnect but I don’t care. I agree this start stop will eventually cost us money and I want it off. So it worked. Now another draw back an orange engine light came on. Orange doesn’t hurt anything g but was told to take it back to dealer let them reset the code and see if that helps. May also help with remote start. I don’t care like I said my start stop is off. Mine is 2015 malibu lt. Let me know for you all.
I also hate this.
I asked my dealer to see if it could be bypassed or disconnected and they looked at me like I was nuts.
Ill be buying a new starter before long.
Anyone Please advise !!!
Hey, Rich
What did the dealer say after looking at you like you were nuts? Did they claim to be unable to disconnect stop/start or just unwilling?
Not sure, but I suspect there is a very easy way of disabling the auto stop/start. Disconnect the auxiliary battery. No battery to operate the accessories!
I have 2014 Chevrolet Malibu, had it for 3-1/2 years bought brand new. Now I neeed to replace auxiliary battery to the tune of $300.00. Anyone out there replaced the auxiliary battery?????
We bought my son a 2014 Malibu. A light came on and Auto Zone used their tester to advise that the battery in the trunk was out? Do we have to replace it? Will the car be safe w/o and not cause anything else to break?
Yep. Welcome to the wonderful world of auto start/stop. Not to be mean, but did you save $300 worth of gas considering that’s what you will be paying for your new auxiliary battery? And that’s not the main battery either. Just think the value of pre-auto start/stop cars and trucks just went up.
I am sure some of the car computer programming companies can come up with a way to disable that garbage.
The option is somewhere in the engine computer ECU .. On some GM just disconnect the switch at the hood latch
but this may set a check engine light. Thankfully on my 2016 Cadillac ATS 3.5L AWD there is a switch in the center console to turn that feature off. Perhaps a look at the Cadillac wiring diagram will show how the switch is connected and maybe, the same wire is in your car and just not connected to a switch.
GM has moved on with their start/stop system like the one in my son’s ’16 Malibu. My new tech ’18 Traverseincludes a new high tech starter motor with needle bearings, an accumlator in the tranny, new engine mounts and sensors to fire on TDC on the first cylinder. And no more second battery either, a 94AGM quality long life, glass mat, different chemistry, deep cycle battery with DC-DC invertor to maintain constant voltages when engine is in off cycle. Info contained at:
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1109687_dont-start-stop-systems-wear-out-your-cars-starter
In addition, the new system on the Traverse operates on an improved algorithm that will deactivate in stop and go traffic and can recognize garage entry/exit situations. You don’t even hear a crank restat when you easy the brake but a quiet almost imperceptible bump (if you are looking for it) – seems like the engine catches on the first cylinder that fires -have to look at the tach to see if the engine is running. If the stopped engine annoys you, a quick double tap on the brake starts the engine and it will stay on…another trick is to turn up the HVAC two degrees up or down and the engine will run and not auto stop.
As opposed to the Malibu, barely notice it on the new gen ’18 Traverse/Equinox/etc systems
Or GM could stop trying to reinvent the wheel and leave well enough alone? Perhaps putting all that effort into a better all-electric vehicle. And what happened to the hydrogen powered cars that were all the rave two years ago?
GM has moved on with their start/stop system like the one in my son’s ’16 Malibu. Sort of change my opinion on the Start/stop, not that I dislike it, but that if it has to be there, at least GM made it tolerable. My new tech ’18 Traverse includes a new high tech starter motor with needle bearings, an accumulator in the tranny, new engine mounts and sensors to fire on TDC on the first cylinder. And no more second battery either, a 94AGM quality long life, glass mat, different chemistry, deep cycle battery with DC-DC inverter to maintain constant voltages when engine is in off cycle. Info contained at:
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1109687_dont-start-stop-systems-wear-out-your-cars-starter
In addition, the new system on the Traverse operates on an improved algorithm that will deactivate in stop and go traffic and can recognize garage entry/exit situations. You don’t even hear a crank restart when you easy the brake but a quiet almost imperceptible bump (if you are looking for it) – seems like the engine catches on the first cylinder that fires -have to look at the tach to see if the engine is running. If the stopped engine annoys you, a quick double tap on the brake starts the engine and it will stay on…another trick is to turn up the HVAC two degrees up or down and the engine will run and not auto stop.
As opposed to the Malibu, barely notice it on the new gen ’18 Traverse/Equinox/etc systems
My 2014 Malibu has got to where when u stop and get ready to turn of car by pushing button it won’t turn of..it will say need service and I will have to start it up again and try…it will shut of u think but it’s actually still on..any help