UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I have a 2021 Polo 110bhp. I’m finding the stop start doesn’t kick in reliably. I’ve had it back to the VW main dealer who said the battery was only 61% charged. They charged it and tested the following day and reported it working. I picked it up and drove the 15 miles home and it didn’t work once. The dealer then agreed to swap the battery from one of their loan cars. I had borrowed this car and the stop start worked perfectly. However on my car it’s still unreliable. I do a 15 mile commute each way so the car has a run.

How does stop start work for anybody else?

Generally I disable start stop on startup because it annoys me to no end. That said when stop start is enabled it does work but have found it sometimes will not kick in, specifically when the aircon is in use, with the temp set lower than 19.5 degrees C and on a fan speed of 2 (on a moderate to warm day).

I also always disable stop start, and switching it off has become part of my normal procedure for starting the engine. However, I’ll reactivate it certain situations - e.g. if I’m in a queue at traffic lights have just turned red and I know I’ll be waiting for a while before moving off again. Otherwise it’ll be disabled and stay that way throughout each journey. On the odd occasion that I do forget to disable stop start, it (annoyingly) works as it should do.

@MarcoPolo20; For stop start to work, certain conditions need to be satisfied so it won’t kick in every time your car comes to a stop. Maybe at this time of year in the UK in colder, damper weather conditions and longer dark nights when more strain is put on a car’s electrical systems, it may kick in less often.

Thank you for your replies.

I usually leave it switched on but aware many people hate it! Appreciate there are many conditions to be met, however in my case the dealer said it was the battery condition that was the issue. They loaned me another Polo and the stop start worked within a mile. For some reason mine still won’t work like the loan car, even though it now has the battery that was in the loan car!

I will speak to the dealer again!

I disable it as soon as I start the car, it's handy that the disable button is next to the start button.

It does more harm than good and doesn't save you one penny, As well as putting additional strain on your starter motor and timing chain/belt, when it restarts the hot oil has drained from bearings/cylinder walls causing additional wear. The stop start is purely there to try and demonstrate that the car produces lower emissions for VED purposes.

If you want to save unnecessary wear to your engine turn the start/stop off !!. Don't be fooled that it is going to save you anything 'cos it 'aint