# Engine Start - Stop Safety Incidents with my Atlas



## Watchie (Oct 13, 2019)

Okay, both these two situations happened to me over the past week, and bothered me quite a bit.

First, I ran my Atlas through a car wash (please don't beat me up for this...), and of course put it in neutral as it worked its way through the washing. Behind me wash a large pickup. At the end when the light turned green it attempted to drive off and... got nuth'n. Desperately hit the start switch to no avail. Car said to put the trans in "park" and restart." That I quickly did, all the time watching the truck behind me get nearer and nearer. Made it out, but not by much. I get that the start stop is there for fuel savings and can live with it (and know I can shut it off). But for the car not to restart if it shuts off while you have it in neutral is insane.

Second incident happened today. I found myself at a stop light and needed to get my phone out of my jeans. To do that I had to take off my seatbelt, all the time keeping my foot on the brake. Seatbelt reapplied when the light turned green I attempted to drive off and again... nuth'n. I hit the start switch and as before was directed to put the car in park in order to start it.

This, IMO, is wrong. And dangerous. If the car shuts down due to auto start/stop kicking in it should restart immediately once my foot is off the brake. If the car is in neutral it should not shut down, or at least restart with a push of the button without having to go into park.

Yes, if I ever again go into a car wash I will shut off the system, but...

Thoughts?

(BTW, my F150 had auto start stop and I never had this problem. This is my first real concern with the engineering of the Atlas.)


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## Veedubin02 (Mar 26, 2002)

No modern cars will let you start them if the auto transmission isn't in park. Your issue is going into complete shut down and you should take it to the dealer. This has never happened with my Atlas. It only completely shuts down if the car is put into park with auto stop start on, granted I don't think I have ever had the car in neutral much less for an extended period.

When you stopped to get your phone did you put it to park then try and put it into drive not realizing that it had shut down l, this forcing you to put it back into park?


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

Watchie said:


> Okay, both these two situations happened to me over the past week, and bothered me quite a bit.
> 
> First, I ran my Atlas through a car wash (please don't beat me up for this...), and of course put it in neutral as it worked its way through the washing. Behind me wash a large pickup. At the end when the light turned green it attempted to drive off and... got nuth'n. Desperately hit the start switch to no avail. Car said to put the trans in "park" and restart." That I quickly did, all the time watching the truck behind me get nearer and nearer. Made it out, but not by much. I get that the start stop is there for fuel savings and can live with it (and know I can shut it off). But for the car not to restart if it shuts off while you have it in neutral is insane.
> 
> ...


No maker can design a system for idiots like you.


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## Watchie (Oct 13, 2019)

Veedubin02 said:


> No modern cars will let you start them if the auto transmission isn't in park. Your issue is going into complete shut down and you should take it to the dealer. This has never happened with my Atlas. It only completely shuts down if the car is put into park with auto stop start on, granted I don't think I have ever had the car in neutral much less for an extended period.
> 
> When you stopped to get your phone did you put it to park then try and put it into drive not realizing that it had shut down l, this forcing you to put it back into park?


Thanks for the posting. The first event the car was in neutral the whole time. Maybe I just wasn't aware that things had changed, but all my prior cars would start in either park or neutral. I am going to test this on the Atlas and will follow up if indeed I can get it to start in neutral, but based on your post I am now doubtful. Lesson learned.

As to the second incident, the car was in Drive the whole time (foot on brake). The only thing I did that may have affected the loss of auto-restart was disconnect by seatbelt for a moment. I am going to test this too.

Will advise.


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## RCDheliracer (Jan 7, 2012)

Watchie said:


> Thanks for the posting. The first event the car was in neutral the whole time. Maybe I just wasn't aware that things had changed, but all my prior cars would start in either park or neutral. I am going to test this on the Atlas and will follow up if indeed I can get it to start in neutral, but based on your post I am now doubtful. Lesson learned.
> 
> As to the second incident, the car was in Drive the whole time (foot on brake). The only thing I did that may have affected the loss of auto-restart was disconnect by seatbelt for a moment. I am going to test this too.
> 
> Will advise.


The car wash thing happened to me. It's definitely annoying and I don't really agree how they coded it but it is what it is. I just shut the SS off for that. For the second incident, Did you fully lift yourself off the seat to get your wallet out of your pocket? If so, you likely triggered a safety as the vehicle thought you got out of it without putting it in park and shutting the ignition off.


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## Chris4789 (Nov 29, 2017)

Interesting problem. My 2018 SEL-P will start in Neutral. 
-The first test was to start up the vehicle, shift into neutral, turn vehicle off (foot on brake), restart (no problem). Turned vehicle off.
-Next I tried starting up the vehicle, shift into neutral, put parking brake on, turn vehicle off, exit vehicle (to remove any seat pressure), restart (no problem). It beeped a lot asking me to shift into park.


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## SPAAtlas (Jun 25, 2019)

Chris4789 said:


> Interesting problem. My 2018 SEL-P will start in Neutral.
> -The first test was to start up the vehicle, shift into neutral, turn vehicle off (foot on brake), restart (no problem). Turned vehicle off.
> -Next I tried starting up the vehicle, shift into neutral, put parking brake on, turn vehicle off, exit vehicle (to remove any seat pressure), restart (no problem). It beeped a lot asking me to shift into park.


Try the second test without the parking brake, and don't turn the vehicle off. You don't even have to get out, just lift completely up off of the seat. I would go do it myself, but it's my wife's ride and she at work tonight.


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## Watchie (Oct 13, 2019)

RCDheliracer said:


> The car wash thing happened to me. It's definitely annoying and I don't really agree how they coded it but it is what it is. I just shut the SS off for that. For the second incident, Did you fully lift yourself off the seat to get your wallet out of your pocket? If so, you likely triggered a safety as the vehicle thought you got out of it without putting it in park and shutting the ignition off.


Hmm. I may indeed have raised up from the seat. Nice catch.


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## Watchie (Oct 13, 2019)

Went to a car wash today. SS was DEFINITELY off...


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## Tim K (Jan 31, 2001)

I get annoyed at how quickly the whole system will shut off in park but never had the problems you described. I did the carwash last week and had no issue. I'll try forcing both scenarios today and see what happens.


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## Galionpd418 (Apr 11, 2021)

I cannot comment on the phone incident as with android auto and Apple play on most Atlas models you should be hooked up anyways and not have your phone in your pocket.

On the car wash part I can shed light on what is going on that no one else has pointed out and I know is the issue as I have an 18 SEL 4motion. The parking sensors on the outside of the car think there is or was an object in your path and forces you to not restart your vehicle, but simply. Lightly press brake and shift to drive. I agree 100% annoying. But when u hit the start stop you did shut the vehicle off. At that point it says shift to P, but you can restart in N as long as brake is depressed.

Hope that helps. Just plug your phone in and when going from neutral to drive in a car wash lightly depress brake to shift.


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## kocyk123 (Mar 23, 2021)

Why mess with it during the car wash? I would not bother trying it work or not at the car wash. I would simply disable it for the duration of the car wash and you don't have to worry of getting stuck. I personally hate the start/stop feature and I disabled it with OBD11 right away. I did the same thing with my previous Q5 and never had to worry about it ever again. The technology is great but we have to keep in mind that it is not perfect and unfortunately, there might be some case scenarios that were not taken into consideration when these features were developed and that is why we run into issues of that nature.


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