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I have been told that research in Switzerland has shown that if you are stopped at traffic lights or for another reason if you turn your engine off for a dxelay greater than 8 seconds you will be saving fuel, creating less polution and reducing engine wear. What are your comments.
If the engine is switched off it won't be using fuel, therefore no pollution, and no wear will take place on components as the engine parts aren't turning. To answer your question, yes, switching your vehicle off for extended periods will save fuel and this is why so many car manufacturers have developed technology to do this. But, the savings are less than 10 percent and the cars that have this technology have been adapted to handle the constant stop/start by adapting the starter motor and the fitment of a battery that can handle these conditions (to name a few). If you constantly stop/start your vehicle, that isn’t designed for this, at every stop you will be significantly reducing the life of your starter motor and battery.