Has anyone found interest in having their dealer adjust the sensitivity of the brakes for the auto-stop function? I've noticed a few times during faster stops, I tend to lighten up on the brakes as I near zero to prevent the vehicle from "rocking" to a complete stop. This causes the auto-stop to deactivate and the engine turns back on. Very annoying.

 

I think that's the ONE question I've not asked the dealer about this car (yet) but I'd venture to guess that the autostop sensitivity is something that is software-based rather than hardware, and isn't as easy as turning a bolt somewhere.

I know the technique you speak of because my Drivers Ed teacher (keep in mind this was so long ago that my instruction was in a brand new 1974 Chevy Caprice!) was really big on that "feathering" motion at the end so as not to produce a jerky stop. It's followed me all these [expletive deleted] years.

I had to give it up with the Accord, though, because there's a slightly-different feel to the braking, anyway, when you get down to the end of the stop, autostop clicks in, and the regeneration stuff turns off. At that point, the regen. turns loose of the brakes and the car tries to lurch forward.

Once I got used to the sensation that the car was trying to jump away from me at an autostop, we got along fine.

My Civic doesn't do that - I'm wondering if it's a difference in the weight of the car, or that the regen on the Accord is really squeezing on the brakes when you're bringing that car to a stop.


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Speaking of weird stuff that (we) Old People pick up in Drivers Ed that don't work any more:

The "rule" that kids learn nowadays is that hands at 10:00 and 2:00 and "hand-over-hand' turns is now OUT because in the case of an airbag deployment, you'll get some pretty nasty arm injury. (If you had your arms crossed over the steering wheel in the middle of a turn as the bag deployed, you'd suddenly be trying to button your shirt from the back.)

So the new thing now is 8:00 and 4:00, and "bottom-side-pass-along" turns. I try it and I try it, and it's easy enough to do, except that I still have 74 Chevy Memory embedded in my arms.

 

As with all things about the car, it's a technique you'll have to redevelop. On our 2005 HCH, I can accomplish this (I learned the same thing in Drivers Ed although I taught myself because all the other clowns in class were making me nauseous with their prepubescent driving skills). You just can't let up as much on the brakes as you normally would. It just takes time to get used to it.