Acura Brings Honda Stop/Start System to North America

MIDDLEBURG, VA – Honda will offer stop/start in North America for the first time, with the debut of the '15 Acura TLX sedan next month.

Honda already has stop/start, which shuts down a vehicle's engine at rest and restarts it when either the brake is released or accelerator pedal pressed, on some models sold in Japan and Europe.

Acura decided to pluck the technology, dubbed Idle Stop, off Honda's shelf for the TLX as a fuel-saving feature for the new sedan's heaviest variant, the all-wheel-drive model.

"Obviously every manufacturer has to improve fuel economy because of (U.S. CAFE) regulations, and we had to do something about that," Mat Hargett, chief engineer for the new TLX tells WardsAuto here at a media preview for the car.

By pairing stop/start with the AWD system, customers "don't have to sacrifice" fuel economy, he says.

The '15 TLX with Acura's 3.5L V-6 and torque-vectoring Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive system will achieve the same EPA-estimated city fuel economy, 21 mpg (11.2 L/100 km), as the front-wheel-drive, V-6 TLX.

Because some manufacturers’ stop/start systems have drawn complaints for the rough way the engine shuts down and restarts, Acura made its active control mounts do double duty.

The hydraulic front and rear engine mounts primarily are employed to dampen vibration for the 3.5L's cylinder-deactivation system, which can shut down three of the six cylinders to save fuel.

But by also using the mounts in conjunction with Idle Stop, Acura says peak vibration at engine startup is reduced 27%, and vibration dissipates faster than the same type of system in BMW's 328i.

Acura is not ruling out expanding Idle Stop to the FWD TLX variants, which include the 3.5L and a 2.4L 4-cyl. model, but it first wants to gauge the response of TLX AWD buyers.

"Honestly, we weren't comfortable with putting it on 100% of the TLXs from launch, because we weren't sure how the public was going to receive the technology,” Hargett says. “(But) is there a possibility to expand it to the rest of the TLX lineup, or other Acuras? Yes there is,"

Stop/start largely is employed by German luxury brands in the U.S., but some automakers have been hesitant to introduce the technology to Americans.

A Porsche official told WardsAuto in 2012 the automaker was worried poor reception of stop/start by U.S. customers could negatively impact the brand's quality ratings, and parent Volkswagen has shied away from bringing the feature to the States with its other brands. But more recently, all the German automakers, including BMW and Mercedes, have worked aggressively to smooth stop/start functionality.

Kia, up to now the only Asian manufacturer to offer stop/start in the U.S. in non-hybrids, went back to the drawing board, delaying the technology’s introduction on some of its U.S. models for roughly a year, after media complained shutdown and startup was too jarring in pre-production '12 Souls.

Many automakers in the U.S., Kia included, offer stop/start as part of an option package, but the TLX will have it as standard on the $41,450 '15 TLX Tech grade, on sale this month.

Chevrolet offers the feature as standard in the base Malibu and will do the same with its larger Impala sedan equipped with General Motors’ 2.5L engine beginning the ’15 model year.

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