GM Extended Parking Feature Shuts Off Engine: Feature Spotlight
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With nearly every automaker under the sun now offering active safety and advanced driver features, there are a few more common sense features that get left out of the spotlight. GM Extended Parking is one good example of that.
Born out of necessity in the age of the keyless electronic ignition, this General Motors safety feature will automatically shut off a vehicle’s engine after a certain amount of time while the vehicle is parked, reducing emissions and preventing potential carbon monoxide poisoning in the process.
Interestingly, the purpose of this feature was never explicitly stated by GM, but its purpose remains clear all the same. The risks of a keyless ignition include accidentally leaving the engine running in an enclosed space, which could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, not to mention unintentionally burning through a tank of gas, though that’s a much smaller risk than the former. The GM Extended Parking feature helps to alleviate those issues.
The GM Extended Parking feature automatically shuts off the engine when the vehicle is parked for 20 minutes without the key fob present, or after an hour when the key fob is present.
GM Extended Parking was first made available in 2013 on select 2014 model year GM vehicles. As of this writing, the feature is standard on 2019 model year and newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models with keyless ignition, also known as push-button start.
Some manufacturers are moving towards the implementation of their own systems similar to the GM Extended Park feature, but regulation on the issue is still murky, as it’s difficult to determine a specific standard time period to switch off the engine.
What’s more, the implementation of a system standard comes with its own unique risks. For example, some drivers will leave pets in the car with the A/C running on a hot day while attending to some errands (something we don’t recommend doing), while other drivers will leave the engine running while they sleep to keep the climate control active.
Nevertheless, current model year GM vehicles will now shut off after a certain period of time when left in park with the engine on. GM’s cross-town rival, Ford, also implemented its own safety feature similar to GM Extended Parking in 2013, while Toyota has announced that 2020 model year vehicles will feature automatic engine shutoff as well.
All told, we think this is a safety feature that makes a lot of sense, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see some kind of industry-wide standardization in the next few years – regardless if those drivers are catching a few z’s in the parking lot.
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This is more likely some liberal bs that got voted through. They should get trumped.105 degrees f. Brand new Escalade, we left dachshund in amazing cold ac while shopping. Came out to the dog on the floordoard. Can’t fix stupid and this is $&$$$&$ stupid.
This feature in combination with the auto start/stop feature is the reason my next purchase will not be a GM product. I buy 2 new trucks every year for working on job sites in remote locations. The people using these vehicles use them like a office. Having to restart them every 30 min to 1hr is a pain not to mention on cold days is their only heat source. As far as it being a safety thing, if your dumb enough to not know if your vehicle is running or not in a safe environment then your not smart enough to be operating such products in my opinion. Dodge is probably loving you for their increase in sales due to them not having these features.
Just traded my 2020 duramax for a Dodge. Thats right. I said it. I work on the pipeline. Had no clue about the idle time shutdown. Stupidest thing they have ever done. I will decide how long my truck idles, not them.
Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of… just bought a 2020 3500HD for hauling travel trailers commercially. I sleep in the back seat area and do hauls through North Dakota and Montana…. can’t sleep safely with no heater so I am forced to use on 2004 Silverado when doing hauls our west in the winter… GM needs to make an update to fix this or I’m trading in for a 2021 Ram
Well, after stopping in North Dakota for the night hauling a travel trailer, I forgot to set the brake and put the truck in neutral when I climbed in the back seat to sleep for the night. I was down to my boxers and woke up shivering and extremely cold, it was -24f outside. I had to climb out half naked to the front seat to restart the truck in this extreme cold. I’m just glad that I actually woke up. This could of been a very different ending… after this haul I plan on speaking to my lawyer about this problem and also checkout my local Ram dealership, seeing that GM is not interested in correcting this dangerous issue.
Agree with you Charles.
Recently purchased a 2021 Yukon.
Was unaware of the 15 minute shut off and
quickly found out after leaving my dog while shopping.
We live in SC and certainly need our ac.
Now I leave my second key fob in the car,
which extends the run time to 30 minutes
which is still unacceptable.
GM needs to issue a fix because this is plain old stupid!
Is it possible to override or disable this?
Anna,
To the best of my knowledge…no.
We need to keep complaining and possibly GM will issue a fix for those wishing it.
Not a fan! I wish I could disable this ridiculous option!
I am in an unmarked police narcotic vehicle (Acadia) in the South. I have a K9 that stays in the vehicle during the shift to include when I’m in the office, during hours of surveillance, and in court. I have spent hours on the phone with GM and dealerships, sent emails, and lost my mind trying to stop this. I should not have to worry about my K9 dying in a vehicle because it turns off. To top it off, this was not a feature they discussed in the features when purchasing the vehicle. I am at a loss how to fix this.
K9 officer also with 2020 Suburban
I set the emergency brake and leave it in Neutral. It will run all day at training and can be locked I also recommend a K9 heat alarm with a stall application
Also one of our Ford’s has this feature, and a plug in is made for Ford products that will override this Extended Park, unfortunately they are not making one for Chevy, hope they will in the near future.
I sympathize with all of your problems. Not being a police officer but owning a best friend dog, I have the same problem in the south with my 2021 Yukon.
I tried the parking brake in neutral thing but still my car shuts off after 15 minutes. Then I read about leaving the second key fob in the car in the car. Doing this you can still lock your car…..A N D IT WORKS….by extending the run time to 30 minutes. Still….I can’t understand why GM engineers do not give us a way to fix this very stupid shut off problem. If its liability issues…we all could sign a waiver form or something like that.
This is horrible. I live in a cold climate and a diesel doesn’t warm up in 20 minutes even when plugged in. And it only lets you start it twice. For 80+ grand I should be able to turn off this feature. Pissed
Put the truck in nuteral set e brake then set cruise for fast idle. It will stay running all day.
Does leaving the suburban in neutral with parking brake on actually let the truck continue to idle , for an unlimited time. I have heard yes and no. Steve F.
I’m a pipeliner and I have a 2020 at4 3500 and I have it idling 13 hours a day with e brak and in neutral.
I would like to turn this option off on my 2021 gmc at4 diesel. This is dangerous for pet owners that want to insure their vehicle is cool while they have their pets
There needs to be an override feature to use when needed. I leave my dogs asleep in their crates in the car when at a dog event or to run a a short errand. I shouldn’t have to worry the vehicle will shut.
who sells real lab yested cbd eliqued
i have a 2021 suburban….. the reason we have this big vehicle is we travel a lot and always take our dogs with us,,,,, we have had 5 suburbans previous to this 2021 suburban….. when we leave our vehicle when traveling we have to leave it running for our pets….. now GM tells us we can’t leave our vehicle running for more than 30 minutes…. what gives GM the right???
tell me who to contact to overide this overreach … and PLEASE don’t tell me my local dealer or even worse, the “salesman” that sold the vehicle to us… HELP
Push and hold doesn’t work on 2020 Silverado. Put in neutral and set parking brake works, though dangerous. Thanks GM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I found if you leave the vehicle in neutral with the parking brake on it will stay running I have no problem as I have always done it with my stick shift car as there is no park on manual vehicles some people may not like to leave there vehicles in neutral but hey it works
ask your gm dealer to recalibrate the vehicle to disable the auto engine shut off. refer to bulletin #21-na-056. be advised there will be a charge for this software change.
may i ask,, does the bulletin refer to the “auto shutoff” (when it shuts the engine off at traffic lights ] or does it refer to “auto shutdown” where it shuts down the engine after extended parking time,,,??? do you know which the bulletin is referring to?
Thanks
GM bulliten #21-NA-056 information on vehicles engine shuts off after 30 or 60 minutes of idling – (Mar 17, 2021) . just the shut off for extended idle, this has no effect on the auto start – stop function that turn off the engine at stop lights etc.