A vehicle traveling control method includes starting, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, inertial traveling during which a vehicle travels while stopping fuel supply to an engine of the vehicle, measuring, from a start of the inertial traveling, a temperature decrease amount occurring in a heat exchanger for heating a cabin of the vehicle with heat generated by the engine, and stopping the inertial traveling when the temperature decrease amount is greater than a threshold.

An air conditioning system for hybrid vehicles includes a control unit configured to re-operate an engine if an engine cooling water temperature is reduced to a lower limit value or less after entry into a motor drive mode, and configured to stop the engine if the engine cooling water temperature is increased to an upper limit value or more. The control unit is configured to change the upper limit value and the lower limit value depending on a target air injection temperature calculated according to an internal/external temperature condition and a user-set temperature so that, in the motor drive mode, a re-operation time point of the engine is actively changed according to the target air injection temperature.

A control device for a vehicle includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to: execute first automatic stop control for automatically stopping an engine when a first condition is established during traveling of the vehicle; execute second stop control for automatically stopping the engine when a second condition is established during stop of the vehicle; predict a vehicle stop duration; calculate a required cold and heat storage amount of an evaporator; calculate a reaching time until a cold and heat storage amount of the evaporator reaches the required cold and heat storage amount; predict a time needed for vehicle stop; and when the first condition is established during traveling of the vehicle, in a case where the calculated reaching time is equal to or longer than the predicted time needed for vehicle stop, automatically stop the internal combustion engine during traveling of the vehicle.

In some embodiments, a vehicle includes a temperature monitoring controller. The temperature monitoring controller is a processor, control module, or other suitable hardware that is configured to receive temperature sensor values from an engine control module (ECM) when an ignition bus is in a powered on state, and to decide when the engine should be automatically started in order to maintain a temperature above a low temperature threshold. The temperature monitoring controller periodically causes an ignition bus of the vehicle to be placed in the powered on state when the engine is shut down in order to collect temperature sensor values. The temperature monitoring controller determines whether to automatically start the engine, and if not, determines how long to wait before collecting temperature sensor values again based on a rate of change of the temperature sensor values.

A vehicle and associated method of operating a vehicle having an engine, a user interface configured to select a start-stop mode, and a controller communicating with the engine and the user interface automatically shutdown and restart the engine, and inhibit the automatic engine shutdown or restart responsive to any of a first group of inhibitors, or alternatively, any of the first group and a second group of inhibitors depending on the start-stop mode selected via the user interface.

The present disclosure provides a method in a vehicle, comprising detecting an engine stop opportunity and recording, in a memory, data corresponding to a first engine stop that occurred in response to detection of the engine stop opportunity. The method further includes detecting an engine stop inhibit, and recording, in a memory, data corresponding to a first missed engine stop wherein the first missed engine stop indicates detection of the engine stop opportunity without an engine stop in response to the detection of the engine stop opportunity.

A vehicle traveling control method includes starting, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, inertial traveling during which a vehicle travels while stopping fuel supply to an engine of the vehicle, measuring, from a start of the inertial traveling, a temperature decrease amount occurring in a heat exchanger for heating a cabin of the vehicle with heat generated by the engine, and stopping the inertial traveling when the temperature decrease amount is greater than a threshold.

A method and system for controlling a climate characteristic in a vehicle cabin are provided that control the climate characteristic based, in part, on the location of the vehicle. In one embodiment, the method includes comparing a current location for the vehicle to a predetermined location for the vehicle and comparing a current date and current time to a predetermined date and predetermined time. The method further includes transmitting a climate control signal from a control module to a first subsystem of the vehicle if the current location meets a predetermined location condition relative to the predetermined location and the current date and current time meet predetermined date and time conditions relative to the predetermined date and predetermined time. The climate control signal is configured to cause the first subsystem to change a value of the climate characteristic.

Methods and systems are provided for exhaust heat recovery and EGR cooling via a single heat exchanger. In one example, a method may include selecting a specific mode of operation of an engine exhaust system with the heat exchanger based on engine operating conditions and an estimated fuel efficacy factor. The fuel efficiency factor may take into account fuel efficacy benefits from EGR and exhaust heat recovery.

A motor vehicle, such as a truck, battery charge monitoring and recharging system. The truck engine start/stop system initiates a battery recharge cycle based on programmable battery voltage levels. The system allows the user to individually program the appropriate voltage recharge levels dynamically to meet optimal standards based on location, environment, and other vehicle settings.