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Starting your day the right way
A remote starter system can be a cold-weather friend
By Bob English
Thursday, October 30, 2003
It's not quite as good as spending the winter somewhere warm. But a remote starter for your vehicle can make winter a little more bearable. Maybe even a little safer - at a cost.
The remote starter is one of the many new gadgets that rapid growth in automotive electronics has brought us. It's fast finding favour with Canadian drivers who are snapping them up to the tune of 100,000 or so a year.
Subaru and Ford have offered them as a dealer-installed option for the past couple of years. Now, General Motors has become the first manufacturer to offer a remote starter as a factory-installed option on its new '04 Malibu.
While there's a safety case to be made for these devices, what they undoubtedly are is a luxury item. There's an up-front cost involved - from under $100 to almost $500 - plus an ongoing cost in fuel usage, and the environmental impact of additional idling time.
A remote starting system incorporates a small transmitter, receiver and associated electronics fitted to the vehicle that allow you, at the press of a button, to start your vehicle. The system is usually programmed to allow the car to run for about 10 minutes, enough time to warm up the engine and allow the heater and defroster to begin functioning effectively.
You can also use it to cool the interior in warmer weather by operating the air conditioner.
The comfort aspect of getting into a pre-warmed car will be obvious to anyone who has planted their butt on an icy seat and had a fan blow a blast of cold air up their pant leg or skirt. The safety benefit may not be quite as obvious.
By bringing the engine up to operating temperature before driving off you can expect it to function with full efficiency and little risk of stalling or failing to accelerate smoothly. This isn't as much of an issue with today's computer controlled engines, but still worthwhile. Of more importance is the clear visibility allowed by window glass effectively demisted and free of ice and snow. No more temptation to drive off with vision limited to a peep-hole. You still might have to clear heavy accumulations of ice or snow, but this will be more easily accomplished.
Getting into a heated interior also allows you to leave off a heavy coat and thick gloves (they can be stashed in the back seat) that can hamper your ability to control the vehicle. And, if you're not shivering, your attention and ability to respond to an emergency might be better.
The downside isn't too onerous. Idling your vehicle for 10 minutes morning and night doesn't use much fuel - the equivalent of a few kilometres in driving terms and easily affordable for many. But 100,000 vehicles (the number of starters sold annually) idling daily for 20 minutes adds up to an impressive two million extra minutes of vehicle idling a day in Canada - and that can't be good in terms of fuel used or generated emissions. You might want to check vehicle idling bylaws in your community before purchasing a system.
I've always been under the impression, from talking to automotive engineers, that warming an engine by idling it wasn't a good thing, but I'm now assured this isn't a problem, at least in terms of increasing wear.
"Lighting off" the catalytic converter - getting it up to operating temperature quickly - is another issue, one to which there doesn't seem to be a ready answer. Driving off (after a brief warm-up) was what I understood to be the fast way. But now I'm told the fast idle set by the engine computer during a cold weather start may also accomplish this quickly enough. The total emissions generated with either approach could be about the same.
Tom Odell, technical planner with General Motors of Canada, says its decision to offer remote starters on the new Malibu was a case of "customer pull." People wanted them and GM responded.
It was decided to integrate the remote starting system into the vehicle's electrical architecture rather than offer it as a dealer installed option to ensure all functional, warranty, theft and safety issues were addressed.
"We've had a lot of problems with aftermarket remote starters," Odell says. "We've seen poor installation, vehicle fires and thefts (many systems require the vehicles anti-theft system to be disabled). We feel the best way is integrated factory-installed remote start."
Obviously, if you're buying an aftermarket system, do your homework. Buy a brand with a good reputation and ensure it's installed by a reputable shop. Inadvertent starts and having two separate key fobs was a GM concern, says Odell. With the Malibu's system you have to press two buttons on the redesigned remote to start the vehicle. The vehicle won't start if the hood is open. GM also determined that 60 metres was an adequate and safe range (though some aftermarket products claim ranges over one kilometre). GM also didn't like the fact some systems were not programmable, which meant the car wasn't shut off after a predetermined time, and there were others that could be programmed to start the car at a preset time.
Some systems employ a thermostat that starts the vehicle when a certain temperature is reached, like a furnace, possibly causing it to run on and off all night.
"We wanted the owner of the vehicle to have control at all times," Odell states. The 10 minute run time of the GM starter was based for safety reasons on carbon monoxide generation in an enclosed space.
Comfort-providing alternatives to the remote starter include block heaters and pre-heaters, and you can also order such things as heated seats, steering wheels, mirrors, and windscreens. But there's nothing like a warm, cozy car all ready to go on a cold winter morning.
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