A relatively simple and inexpensive fuel-saving technology from Europe will soon be introduced on vehicles in North America, engineers say.

So-called start-stop systems that turn off a car when it is idling and reignite the engine when the driver releases the brake will be coming to the United States and Canada in the next five years, The Detroit News reported.

The technology is widespread in Europe and will be embraced in North America as a tool to meet increasingly stringent fuel-economy and emissions requirements, auto experts say.

"Engineers kill for one-tenth of a mile per gallon," Joe Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting Inc. said. "In city driving, it would make a huge impact."

Estimates vary, but the consensus is shutting off the engine at a stop can improve fuel economy as much as 15 percent.

Consumer acceptance could be a challenge.

"It is a strange sensation because the engine suddenly turns off," said analyst Stephanie Brinley of EMC Strategic Communications in Troy, Mich. "It is quick and seamless, but you can tell it happens."

Half of the new cars in Europe will have start-stop technology in 2012, and North America will reach that figure in 2016, said Frank Frister, product manager with Bosch North America, one of the companies developing stop-start systems.

earlier related report
Record 140 traffic jams hit Beijing in single evening
Beijing (AFP) Sept 18, 2010 - A record 140 traffic jams were observed on Friday evening in the Chinese capital, state media reported, as the number of vehicles on Beijing's streets exceeded 4.5 million.

Friday night's record snarls in a city already notorious for bottlenecks were worsened by rain and the approach of two national holidays, state-run CCTV reported.

Chinese regularly travel to visit friends and family ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 22 and National Day on 1 October.

The previous record for simultaneous traffic jams was over 90, recorded early this year amid heavy snow, the daily Beijing News reported.

One driver, named only as Li, told the newspaper he had taken half an hour to pass through a single set of traffic lights, which would normally take three minutes.

The number of registered vehicles in Beijing has exceeded 4.5 million, local media reported -- up from four million at the end of 2009, with the figure expected to reach five million by early 2011.

In August, a traffic jam measuring over 100 kilometres (60 miles), consisting mainly of trucks, was reported to have been at a standstill for over a week on a highway linking the capital with Inner Mongolia.

China last year overtook the United States as the world's largest car market. It has embarked in recent years on a huge expansion of its national road system, but the volume of traffic periodically overwhelms the network.