I couldn’t find an XUV700 specific device sold in India or elsewhere which would disable it.
BHPian OrthodocX recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
The Auto Stop-Start feature is one of the most hated “features” on modern cars, as is eveident from any Google search. In principle it is good, but the implementation seems to be more irritating that helpful. While it may help you save fuel at traffic stops, it is often too aggressive and keeps killing the engine in stop and go traffic. Restarting the engine 20 times in just as many minutes can’t be a good thing, right?
Fortunately, the auto stop-start thingy can be disabled manually with the push of a button. Unfortunately this setting isn’t kept in memory and resets back to “enabled” state in each ignition cycle. So if you don’t like it, you have to remember to press that button EVERY SINGE TIME you start your car. Over the years, this can get frustrating.
There are entire companies in the USA that exist just to solve this problem, using elaborate electronic trickery using man-in-the-middle circuitry or OBD plug-ins to disable this abomination of a feature. That is how much people want to get rid of this feature.
Anyway, I don’t want to justify my hatred of the feature. I just wanted it gone! My car, my rules!
I couldn’t find an XUV700 specific device sold in India or elsewhere which would disable it. So buying a readymade option was out. Taking the DIY route, I contemplated playing around with the fusebox and pulling the auto stop-start fuse. Gave up because I don’t know what other dependencies the said fuse would have. Second thought was to look under the hood and cut power to the micro-hybrid started motor. But again, I decided against messing around with stuff which I could inadvertedly break and cause any safety issue while on the road (I would really like to not die becasue of a DIY project)
Then I came across an Australian review of the Scorpio-N where the ASS button is a toggle on the center fascia instead of on the RHS button bank like the XUV700. The blokes down under were using zip-ties or coins wedged over the button to keep the button depressed and that seemed to disable ASS for good until removed.
This seemed very DIY friendly, as well as reversible – and did not involve any electronic trickery or messing with the internals of the car. So i decided to test it out.
1. Turned on the car. ASS came on.
2. Pushed the ASS button – light turned off – but i did not release the button.
3. Keeping the ASS button pressed in, i turned off the car.
4. Turned on the ignition. Eureka!! the button flickered on for an instant, and went out immediately.
5. Now i released the button and turned off the car.
6. Turned on the ignition. And the ASS light was back to “on” state.
7. Did this multiple times to verify the findings, and they were reproducible every time without fail.
Inference: As long as the ASS button is held down (after turning the feature off), it stays in the “off” state. If ever you want to reactivate this abomination, just remove whatever you use to keep the button pushed in and the feature will be restored as if nothing ever happened.
Execution: I realized I needed something slim but sturdy to wedge between the ASS switch and the RHS button bank fascia. Decided to avoid putting anything on the right side to avoid inadvertently jamming the hill descent control button! I settled on the left of the button as a suitable candidate. As a wedge, plastic seemed the best option (due to its indestructability and low elasticity). I had a few collar stiffeners (from formal men’s shirts) begging to be sacrificed – so I heard their call and decided to employ them. After some trial and error, I realized that 3 layers of the stiffener was just right amount of friction to keep the button pressed in without being too tight to deform the button bank. Made sure to leave them sticking out enoug that i could yank them out if needed, but not long enough to be an eyesore or get bumped by my knee/hands.
See photos and video for visual description of this post.
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