Is there a way to shut off Mazda 6 after X minutes if it's parked and idling?

Question

My wife has a Mazda sport 6 2020. She sometimes forgets to press the button to turn the car off when she gets out. Are there any systems that can shut the car off after X minutes if it's parked and idling? Some cars have this built in. I checked with my Mazda dealer, and he said Mazda does not offer anything like this. Thanks.

Answer 1

The answer to this question is pretty simple. The start stop function has nothing to do with the problem. On some vehicles if you leave the vehicle with the engine running it will automatically shut of after a designated amount of time, usually around 15 minutes. This is controlled by the ECM or PCM. This car apparently does not have this function. You can confirm this by looking in the owners manual. The best solution is to be sure that the engine is turned off before exiting the car. It is a fundamental of operating a vehicle. The confusion is between the start stop function and the start stop button. The driver is responsible to push the stop start button to turn off the vehicle.

Answer 2

There is no excuse of; parking and when stopped with brakes still applied, engaging the parking brake or not, and pressing the START/STOP button. How simpler can this get?

Auto stop/start works when brakes are applied while driving, coming to a stop sign or red light, not after parking since releasing the brake pedal automatically allows restarting.

Unless this woman learns a simple routine millions all over the world have already learned, you have one option; install an aftermarket alarm system equipped with a turbo timer to idle the engine using a turbocharger, timed for around 3-5 minutes then shutting down the engine. Decades ago, drivers learned the hard way of burning out their turbochargers after a hot drive, shutting down the engine while hot. Oil under pressure is fed to lube and provide cooling to very hot bearings. Immediate engine shutdown let's hot oil cook in place, resulting in coking where cooked oil residue forms on bearing surfaces, eventually leading to choked oil passages and an expensive replacement or rebuild. Turbo timers allow the lazy driver to walk away, leaving the engine idling for the few minutes for oil to circulate as the turbo cools off while the vehicle is locked, then the engine shuts down.

This rather lengthy explanation is to give you choices with the most common sense approach already given. If a person can remember to take house keys and phone, it should be easy to 'practice' pressing the auto START/STOP button after parking, before leaving the vehicle. Oh, and an easy tell tale is observing the engine tachometer; if its showing idle, under 900 rpm, the engine's still running. Shutting off the engine will drop the tach number to zero (0).