Transmission Confusion - Auto Idle Stop and Park - Counter Intuitive
 

New to Auto Ignition and Electronic shifting. Less than a week in the car.

When I pull into a parking space or garage and come to a stop the car often shuts the engine off before I hit the park button. Once I hit the park button the car restarts for me to then just have to turn the engine back off! This is a bit annoying! Tonight pulling into the garage I just didn't bother with hitting the park button and turn the car off. Any problems doing that? This is just very outer intuitive to me. If I do not bypass "park" the re-staring of the engine is just excessive!

Am I missing something?

You are correct, this functionality was not thought out sufficiently by the engineers at Acura. I've heard some folks suggest simply hitting the ignition switch (i.e. turn the car off again) after it turns itself off in your scenario. I've tried this but then it leaves the car in an accessory mode and demands I press the button a couple more times to properly shut down. Instead I do one of two things. Feathering the brake pedal (press very lightly) will not allow the car to shut off by itself when you come to a stop. Then shut off as normal. Alternately just cancel the auto shutoff when you know you are about to park. The button to do this is just right of your right knee.

Since day two, I have just pushed the Start/stop button when parking...the car automatically goes into Park, and shuts off...if the auto idle stop has engaged, the engine stays off. this is very simple, and easy.

I have the same issue with auto shutoff and my wife "accidentally" found the Start/stop button option. Its hard to unlearn putting a car in Park. I also turn off auto shutoff when parking the car in the garage since I always have to move the car a few times. My GLC300 does the same thing, but I need to test the Start/stop option to see if it goes into Park. I find myself not looking over my left shoulder when changing lanes because of Blind Spot. We are safer with all of these "nannies" but I fear lazier.

I forgot to mention, of course, that my foot is on the brake while doing this.

Don't do that. Before parking or entering your garage, just turn off the idle stop button. Same thing with Brake Hold.

Just press the idle stop button to turn it off when parking. Same thing with brake hold.

1) First turn off idle stop and them 2) Park and 3) turn off engine

You have the right sequence.

This is what I have said: I pull in the garage (or any parking space) with foot on brake. When I stop in the right spot I press the start/stop button. Engine shuts off and car is in park.

I don’t know if US builds have auto lock. If you shut down the car without first putting it in Park, it will put it in Accessory mode and won’t auto lock. If you manuall lock your car, maybe not so important.

auto lock feature works fine without putting it in Park first. I just stop, turn off the engine, and walk away. And it’s locked

I turn off auto-idle stop every time I get in the car. At least they make it convenient with the button location. If I forget, I'm reminded the first time I stop at a light. I just wish they'd make the setting persist like the brake hold.

You can also control when this activates based on how far down you press the brake pedal, if you only press it half way then it won't activate. Although I find in my MDX i'm better about controlling this on the road then when parking, when parking i almost always push down too hard accidentally and it activates which is annoying. It's also annoying to have to remember to turn it off. So many manual steps each time you get in the car, the user experience is a pain. You have to turn on/off heating windshield (MDX), heating steering wheel, auto idle start/stop, lane keep assist, brake hold just to name a few. Too bad they don't allow you to set a default setting for things like auto idle start/stop so you don't have to do it every time. That, or come up with some better way of knowing when you are stopping to park vs stopping on the road and not turning on the auto idle stop when you are parking.

Or at the very least they could easily update the software to not turn the engine back on as soon as you take your foot off the brake if the vehicle gear selector is in Park. With everything else in the car on you'd still have to push on/off to turn it off but won't waste extra start strain on the battery by starting the ignition only to immediately turn it off again by turning the ignition off.

I really don't mind the Auto Engine off when I'm driving roads now that I have got used to that. It really bugs me that when parking the car it is so quick to turn the engine off maybe because I break harder pulling in to park then I do on the road. I just cannot seem to get used to turning it off without going into park! I have started to learn to turn on the camera's when pulling into the garage and parking spots - wish that was enough intelligence to tell the car to give me a few extra seconds before shutting the engine off! As I started this thread, it is just so COUNTER INTUITIVE to not shift into park when PARKING! I love this car but this one feature is driving me crazy! I won't disable it either because looking at an orange warning light (as if something is wrong) when it is not is even more annoying! Orange lights mean trouble! Really Acura? :)

I agree it's the parking experience that's the biggest problem with the auto idle stop/start feature. Specifically when you park and press the brake too hard (which happens almost every time i park) it turns off the engine, you put the gear selector in park, then as soon as you take your foot off the brake it turns the engine back on again only to force you to immediately turn it off again. Unecessary strain on the battery and starter which will no doubt shorten their service life I would assume.

I agree it should be a relatively simple fix (when you put vehicle in park then they should assume you are "parking" and not turn the engine back on when you take your foot off the brake), but I wouldn't hold your breath for Acura to change it, it's been this way since they rolled it out on the MDX years ago. Only hope is the more people that complain about it to their dealer and Acura then maybe after enough people complain about it they'll consider addressing it. Maybe not in our vehicles but if they even listened to customer feedback to improve future products for future customers that would be beneficial.

I don't think Acura has a very good feedback loop with customers to gather actual customer feedback and actually implement improvements to address that feedback. The customers who drive their vehicles every day are the best source of information regarding what works/doesn't and what would meaningfully improve the user experience.

Heck, Acura should give their engineers free lease vehicles for the most current model year of whichever vehicle they focus on. If an engineer drove the vehicle every day they would likely see the same pain points that us users complain about and they might actually do something about it. You can't tell me anyone who drives with auto idle stop/start that would think the current parking experience is logical and/or makes sense from a user experience perspective. That's just one area, same would apply to all the other nuances/complaints people have with their new Acura products.

If engineers drove new Acuras daily, they'd quickly experience the same pain points we do and that might lead to Acura actually making meaningful improvements to their products. Not all of which need to be big or expensive to make a huge difference in customer perception and satisfaction. If I felt Acura quickly took action to consistently improve their products and addressed my concerns even if there were issues I'd rank them very high from a satisfaction and reliability perspective. I imagine others might as well

I must say again, when I park, I pull into my garage, gradually applying the brakes (to keep from running into the wall of the house), and when I have stopped at the right place to stop, I push the start/stop (ignition) button, which puts the car into Park and shuts off the engine...If it already turned off due to idle/stop, that's it! I open the door, and get out. I'm not sure what the issue is you are discussing.

I'm not arguing that there isn't a workaround, which turning off the ignition while the vehicle is still in gear is. Even if it ends up in park without restarting the engine it isn't intuitive and isn't recommended even to rely on a fallback safety feature just to get around the way auto idle engine stop works.

Why get so upset with people making legitimate complaints about how the current functionality is designed?

After all in what other vehicle would it be logical or safe for you turn off the ignition while the vehicle is still in gear?

Perhaps I didn't express myself well.

I'm sorry. I do get passionate.

All I am saying is this how I have been doing the shut down since the second day I owned the RDX, and it seems perfectly normal, easy, and safe...and I wanted to share this easy way. May I suggest that you try it in a safe environment and see for your self?

From what I understand, you are saying that if/when the idle stop shuts the engine down, when one is parking, then it starts back up... this is unsafe? If so, then the way I do it is very safe. Please, find a safe place and try it.

I think Acura has designed it to be safe, as it will also engage Park if you open the driver's door when the engine is running.

I understand what you are saying. My argument is that Acura putting the car in Park if it's still in gear when you turn off the ignition was designed as a fallback/contingency safety option. It definitely is NOT SAFE PRACTICE to solely rely on software safety features, software can have hiccups from time to time. Especially if you have little kids, all it takes is once for an accident to become tragic. Yes it works and by all indications it will always go into Park if you turn off the ignition while still in gear, but software is controlling this and software isn't perfect.

The only way to be 100% certain the car goes into Park every time is to manually do it yourself.

In any event my intent wasn't to argue with you. It's a free country, you are free to do whatever you want. I personally would not recommend to others to rely on this method and certainly wouldn't want to give others the impression it was "perfectly safe", as Acura certainly wouldn't recommend this approach. If one person had an accident that led to injury or damaged their vehicle that would be terrible.

All I was saying was if Acura had spent some additional time on the design to distinguish between when a driver is actually parking vs coming to a stop on the road, they could have designed it in such a way that it either wouldn't turn off the engine when you came to a stop to park, or after you park it wouldn't restart the engine automatically. If they had designed it with parking in mind we wouldn't be here talking about ways to circumvent this functionality.

OK. I realized it appears that you do not own a 19 RDX, so you CAN'T test what I am saying, it seems you are just being argumentative. I have no idea how the MDX functions when stopping and parking, as I don't have one, so I can't comment on that.

You originally stated "..the biggest problem with the auto idle stop/start feature. Specifically when you park and press the brake too hard (which happens almost every time i park) it turns off the engine, you put the gear selector in park, then as soon as you take your foot off the brake it turns the engine back on again only to force you to immediately turn it off again..."

I simply stated that the way I do this in my 19 RDX, it is not a problem. My foot is on the brake, the engine is off, and does not restart and it is not unsafe. Over and out.

I own an RDX and you should always manually put your car into park before shutting down. If you turn it off without putting it into park, it may go into accessory mode and drain your battery, I would recommend that all RDX owners follow the procedure recommended by Acura, put in park first and then shut down,

To restate the problem with auto idle stop/start: when parking with auto idle stop engaged, once you press the brake pedal down to the point the engine turns off, you next put the vehicle in park and as soon as you place the vehicle in park it automatically starts the engine immediately, forcing you to immediately turn it back off again. Unnecessary wear and tear on the starter and battery because it's a wasted start that serves no purpose. This functions exactly the same in the RDX as well as the MDX.

As I understand, what you were saying is that you have your foot on the brake, auto idle stop turns off the engine, and while it's still in gear you turn off the ignition. The vehicle then automatically goes into "Park" because you turned off the ignition while it's still in gear. By doing this you prevent auto idle start from restarting the engine because you didn't put the vehicle in park (which would cause the engine to turn back on automatically). If this is correct, then the RDX and MDX behave exactly the same in this regard, and what you describe does circumvent having auto idle start automatically restart the engine as soon as you place the vehicle in park.

My only argument was that by assuming/expecting the vehicle to automatically go into park, this is risky and could potentially cause an accident if for some reason it didn't function properly. All it takes is one time for a child to be injured or killed because the vehicle didn't do what it was supposed to do and that would be terrible. If you want to be certain the vehicle goes into park the only fool proof way to guarantee this is to manually select park yourself instead of trusting the vehicle to do it for you. That's all.

I use idle stop along with brake hold (sometimes). Turning the engine off when idle stop is engaged is absolutely dangerous for the reasons stated above. Just follow what Acura suggests in the manual and you won’t go wrong.

Back to the original point of this thread, if you agree that the auto engine idle stop/start doesn't function intuitively when you are parking the vehicle, definitely voice your concerns and displeasure to both your dealership as well as Acura. The more people who complain about this means a better chance Acura eventually catches onto the fact it's a source of dissatisfaction, and perhaps they alter the programming/design to address it. Even if they don't retroactively do anything for current owners, if at the very least they changed the design for future vehicles that would still be a positive outcome for future buyers. If Acura doesn't know people don't like something they have no inclination to spend any man hours on a change and this same behavior will be in every Acura for years.

Against my better judgement, I will post on this subject again........

I NEVER use brake hold, so that is not an issue, and I agree that does present a potential problem.

If you have an RDX, I ask you to at least try what I am saying in a safe place. With "brake hold" OFF, and idle stop engaged (not disabled) go to an empty part of a parking lot, pull in as if to park, foot on brake. When car is fully stopped, keeping foot on brake, turn the ignition off by pushing the engine start/stop button.

Post back what you experience. Believe me, I would not ask you or anyone to do this if I wasn't sure it is safe. I do this 5 or 6 times a day, almost every day.

The E brake will also automatically engage.

Again, no one here is arguing with you that what you state above isn't true and won't work. What you say is EXACTLY what will happen, same thing happens in my MDX. This isn't in debate.

The ONLY point of argument here is around turning off the ignition while the transmission is still in gear. Doing this is absolutely dangerous and NOT SAFE, regardless of whether Acura has a safety feature built in to put the vehicle in park for you. Don't you recall the actor from Star Trek Anton Yelchin who tragically died a few years ago when his vehicle wasn't in park and he was pinned and crushed to death? This is why you should not be telling people to do what you do in order to circumvent the engine turning back on again and stating that you are sure it's safe. Acura, the company who built the vehicle, stresses over and over again to always put the vehicle in park yourself and not trust or rely on a backup safety feature. What you describe is absolutely dangerous, not safe, and not recommended by Acura.

I find the idle stop feature very intuitive and see no circumstance where I would put it in park when idle stop was engaged. Maybe I’m not understanding but it just makes no sense to do what you suggest.

I started this thread and am disappointed its getting augmentative. :) We all experience things slightly different. I have a 2019 RDX. In my most frustrating case (at work) the parking lot has a downward slope so I cannot "gently ease on the brake" I have to full brake! So the car turns the engine off BEFORE I have time to put the transmission into park. I am only talking about 2 to 3 seconds of braking before the engine cuts off. I'm still checking my surroundings with my foot on the brake, I am not ready to park! Heck I may need to back up a little because of the curb and the hedges but the DAMN car has shut off the engine! Most of the time I do intend to park, not adjust my alignment - thus why my pause with my foot on the brake! So yes, I can just hit the button to turn off power and yes the transmission then goes into park. But 46 years of putting a transmission into park is the intuitive process. Its a hard habit / intuition to stop and by hitting the park button while my foot is still on the brake the engine starts again and then I am hitting the ignition to turn the engine back off! It is too much on the starter and battery! Eventually I will realize and bypassing will become the new nature - all I said originally is this is not INTUITIVE!

I wish I could disable this feature but I'm not going to stare at a glaring yellow warning light in the instrument panel. That is also not intuitive! Why should not wanting to use a feature be a warning color?

Consider the following scenario: After the daily commute either into work or home, when you reach your destination you park the vehicle and turn off the ignition. With auto idle engine stop/start enabled, once you get to work or pull into your garage, once you press the brake pedal past the point where it engages auto engine idle stop, the engine turns off (which is fine as you are parking anyway). Next you put the gear selector in Park, so you can exit the vehicle for the day at work or to go inside your home. The second you press Park on the gear selector the engine turns back on again (which is unnecessary because you were already at your destination and would be turning it off anyway). Typically once you put the vehicle into park after reaching your destination you turn the ignition off shortly thereafter. Because auto idle engine stop/start automatically starts the engine back up once you put it in Park, this means you have to manually turn it back off again.

The complaint is around the fact that you were planning on turning the engine off anyway, that's what people do once they reach their destination and place the vehicle in Park, and auto idle stop already had the engine off (which is what should happen). The part that doesn't make sense is when the system turns the engine back on again once you press Park, it would make more sense for the engine to remain off after you press Park because that's what you'll be doing anyway. It's a wasted cycle of turning the engine on for no reason putting strain on the starter and battery unnecessarily.

You are missing my whole point. ARGH!!! This is EXACTLY the reason Acura has built in the feature to engage PARK when the engine is turned off. In fact, it may be one of the reasons many manufacturers are going to electronic shifters) It will also engage PARK if the driver's door is opened while the engine is on. AND the parking brake is also automatically engaged to add even MORE SAFETY.

To present this in a different way, one last time....(I promise!!!) let me ask you this...what happens when you push the electronic Park button? Will you agree that the transmission goes into park, and the parking pawl engages? This is the same thing that happens when you push the engine start/stop button, with the additional action of the engine shutting off. Electronically, the result of pushing Park is the same as pushing start/stop, except the engine/ignition also goes to OFF when pushing the start/stop button. How is this unsafe?????. AND as I have previously stated the Parking brake also self engages.

I will continue to do as I have been doing, knowing that I am acting in a very safe manner. Again, and for the last time, I will suggest that anyone who doubts what I am saying should please try this...you will see. The first couple of times I did this, I was skeptical as well.......All our lives we had a mechanical lever to engage Park, this is no longer the case.

To the OP, I am sincerely sorry this thread got off track. There is no doubt that the idle start/stop feature is a real divisive feature.

EDIT : to add a reply to this quote "...the complaint is around the fact that you were planning on turning the engine off anyway, that's what people do once they reach their destination and place the vehicle in Park, and auto idle stop already had the engine off (which is what should happen). The part that doesn't make sense is when the system turns the engine back on again once you press Park, it would make more sense for the engine to remain off after you press Park because that's what you'll be doing anyway. It's a wasted cycle of turning the engine on for no reason putting strain on the starter and battery unnecessarily....?

This is exactly why I use the engine start/stop button rather than the park button, the engine DOES NOT restart!

ARGH!! JB in AZ you are missing the point. The whole point is you are advocating intentionally NOT putting the vehicle in park manually yourself because you EXPECT the vehicle will do it for you automatically. Yes this is how it works and was designed by Acura, and I'm sure it works just fine. What about the 1 time that it doesn't work because the system has a brain fart or some other problem? Things don't always work as designed 100% of the time indefinitely, especially in the case of computer controlled behavior (just like automatically putting the transmission in Park because the driver forgot to).

It's dangerous advice to recommend everyone to intentionally not put the vehicle into Park because it will happen automatically. All it takes is for it to not function as designed 1 time and someone could get seriously hurt or killed.

The reason this has gotten argumentative is due to the fact you are giving advice to other people to do something that Acura goes out of their way to tell you not to do. Having the vehicle automatically shift to park when you "forget" to do it yourself was designed as a fallback safety feature, but not one you should get into the habit of solely relying on 100% of the time you park your vehicle. The Idle stop/start feature itself is not divisive. I agree with the OP that it's behavior doesn't always make sense. I believe you agree with that also.

I assume there are several conditions that cause the vehicle to go into P automatically. I work with a guy who just got a Passport. After gassing it up for the first time, he got back in the car and every time he put it in D, it went back ito P immediately. He was freaking out that there was something wrong with his new car until he noticed on the instrument panel that his door was still ajar. I haven't tried it with my RDX but I'd assume it's the same. Can't drive with the driver's door open. I don't know about the other doors. And I would hope that's not the case with the tailgate. You might need to drive with the tailgate open partially if you're hauling something long.

And I don't get passionate. I GET PISSED OFF!! :pissed:

I have a 2016 MB GLC 300 and my wife has a 2019 RDX Tech. The GLC 300 when parking in the garage will engage auto stop and immediately turn on the engine when you hit park just like the RDX. I believe the restart is a safety feature so people don't put their car in Park with auto stop engaged and forget to turn the engine off. At some point auto start with start the engine and you would have carbon monoxide issues in the garage. The GLC also automatically engage the electronic parking brake when you put the car in Park (P). It disengages the electronic parking brake when you hit the accelerator (or push the button) in D or R. The GLC will not automatically go into Park if you turn off the engine, but will engage Park (P) when you open the door. So the car can roll with you in it if you take your foot off the brake. My wife's RDX does not automatically engage the electronic parking brake nor is it required to be engaged when starting the car. You can start the car in either P or N with your foot on the brake. Depending on the type of driving I don't automatically turn off auto stop/start, but have that habit when parking from the GLC. I watched my wife park one day without selecting Park, just turned off the engine and it immediately went into Park. I told her she should always select Park manually since it was safer. I have not tested whether the Acura will engage Park automatically if you open a door. Letting the RDX automatically select Park by turning off the engine is less safe, but not necessarily "dangerous". If you read the manual Acura has this feature in the Emergency section when you have to turn off the engine while driving When the vehicle comes to a stop it goes into Park and Off. Canada requires additional button pushes to go Off. Unless my wife's Acura has a fault, it not automatically engaging the electronic parking brake is a potential safety issue. Before automatic transmissions became the standard we were taught to leave the vehicle in gear when parking, engage the parking brake and if on a hill with a curb turn the wheels so the curb would stop the car. We also learned or were taught that leaving the parking brake engage for a lengthy time was not recommended because the pads would stick to the drums. Today's car with crush zones, seat belts, air bags, blind spot, lane keeping and more are clearly safer. As I have stated before blind spot makes me lazy about looking over my left shoulder and hopefully I will manually engage park, but if the technology is in the car people will use it. Lastly as I stated above I believe the restart is a safety feature to prevent vehicles restarting in a garage because they were not turn off when in auto stop. Just like "Sudden acceleration syndrome" or "Wrong pedal idiot" which now requires your foot on the brake time will tell.

Of course, out of curiosity I had to try it. Not the same as the Passport. I can put my RDX in D with the driver's door open.

Calling the thread “argumentative” when some disagree with you is not how to have a respectful discussion. What I object to is the suggestion that others complain to Acura assuming they will be in agreement with how you shut down.

hey....Acura could add a physical shift gear stick to the car....just an idea
they could even have 6 gears and a clutch as an option

I think part of the problem by a few is that they have always done things a certain way. I’ve seen this even by some reviewers, usually older ones who have developed muscle memory with a shift stick and then claim it is not intuitive. Those without a long history with a shift stick seem to adapt much faster.