The Trump administration is eliminating Obama-era off-cycle credits that incentivized automakers to install automatic start-stop technology in vehicles, effectively killing what many drivers consider one of the most annoying features of newer models.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin highlighted the victory on Wednesday — building on the February repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding — while sharing a Wall Street Journal article highlighting drivers celebrating 'the demise of the most hated feature in their cars.'
Zeldin mocked the technology as an Obama administration climate zealot "participation trophy."
"The start/stop concept in vehicles is almost universally DESPISED. So, the Trump EPA has now REMOVED the ridiculous climate participation trophy the Obama Admin created to get this hated feature installed," he wrote on X. "The incentives for manufacturers to make your car die at every red light and stop sign have now been ELIMINATED!"
The Journal reports that a significant percentage — 58 percent — of new gasoline non-hybrid cars had these universally despised systems installed by 2024.
The start/stop concept in vehicles is almost universally DESPISED. So, the Trump EPA has now REMOVED the ridiculous climate participation trophy the Obama Admin created to get this hated feature installed. The incentives for manufacturers to make your car die at every red light… https://t.co/cToRBlsybr
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) April 8, 2026
READ MORE: EPA's Nuking of the 'Endangerment Finding' Is Another Death Knell to Obama-Biden Climate Boondoggle
The start-stop engine control is, hands down, an abomination. We own an F-150, and to hear that thing shut down and then start back up at red lights brings shame to my family and me. Fellow drivers often point and laugh as the air conditioning bogs down on a hot summer day, and the vehicle ever so slightly lags before moving forward after hitting the gas, needing a split second to start again.
It turns an icon of American pickup truck design into something one imagines David Hogg and his string-bean arms would design when conceptualizing a vehicle.
Good riddance.
The White House, very effectively, I might add, captured what it is like to drive one of these vehicles and stop at an intersection. Sometimes, I half expect to look in the rear-view mirror at a red light and see my salt-and-pepper hair turn blue.
Keeping cool while Making America Hot Again. 🏁
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 13, 2026
Auto start-stop is officially dead. pic.twitter.com/9th5fq6wwF
In October 2012, the Obama EPA finalized the “2017 and Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards” rule.
As part of that package, the agency created “off-cycle credits” — a regulatory incentive that allowed automakers to earn compliance points toward stricter GHG emissions standards by installing certain fuel-saving technologies. Automatic engine start-stop systems were explicitly eligible for these credits.
Adoption by manufacturers rose sharply after those credits kicked in, from less than 1% of new gasoline non-hybrid models in 2012 to the aforementioned 58% in 2024.
Never mind that real-world fuel savings proved modest and inconsistent at best — many studies showed only marginal gains in typical driving, especially once frustrated owners simply turned the system off or dealt with the annoying restarts.
In a 2011 White House press release, the administration touted the upcoming fuel economy standards, saying they should "spur manufacturers to increasingly explore electric technologies such as start/stop, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles."
They should have explored it, realized nobody liked it, and killed it with fire.
Fortunately, Zeldin and the EPA are doing just that. Figuratively, of course.
No more forcing gimmicks on the public under the guise of environmental virtue.
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