Foot off the brake... push the start button once is ACC. Press twice is IGNITION ON. Press once when finished is OFF

 

I just bought a 2021 Forester Sport. This feature no longer appears in the manual. I've yet to try it...but expect it won't work.

 

What you may also find is that after some amount of time in accessory mode (playing the radio in the car, with the engine off, for example), the car will automatically turn off. I haven't tried to time this, but it seems to be somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes.

Note that if you had the car running, and just turn it off, the radio will stay on for some shorter length of time. The above time limit of 15-30 minutes (or so) is if I have turned off the car, and then touched the ON/OFF button one more time (foot off brake) to engage accessory mode.

I THINK that it is the "battery saver" software of the car that is turning things off, and perhaps the time limit is variable, based on battery voltage?

When it turns off automatically, if I start the engine, let it run a minute, then I can go back to engine-off accessory mode again (although I haven't tried to see for how long....)

(I've deleted part of my post, due to my mistake in not realizing that you can put the ignition ON, but without starting the engine, via an additional button push (with foot off the brake) past the accessory mode. Per the e-mail below... My bad!)

 

(Back when cars had actual keys, you could of course turn the car ON, without starting the engine - the gauges would be lit up, and the windows and cabin air fan would work, etc. But with the push-button, the car is either on and running, or, it is in accessory mode, or off entirely.)

Is this correct? If the brake pedal is not pressed, pressing the start button sequentially advances the system to ACC, then ON and then Off. In ON, the gauges etc are on, and the windows will work. Same as in the cars with key-type ignition switch. Page 169 of the Owners Manual.

 

Sorry to be a broken record but did you check the owners manual?

 

If you don't read and digest the owners manual on this car you will miss ALLOT.

 

This forum is great too, though. Lots of great info herein. . .

 

 

I have the opposite question- car is running and I want to turn off engine but keep the accessory running. Imagine you’re on a phone call but don’t want to just sit idling. If you hit the button it turns off the car and accessory power and you have to restart just accessory but it has to reboot.

Is there a way to keep the accessory circuit running? If this were a key, you’d simply turn it from running to accessory, no drama

 

I have the opposite question- car is running and I want to turn off engine but keep the accessory running. Imagine you’re on a phone call but don’t want to just sit idling. If you hit the button it turns off the car and accessory power and you have to restart just accessory but it has to reboot.

Our screen stays on after turning off the car, but I've never tested whether you can remain on a call.

The manual does say that if you shut the car off with the transmission in anything other than P, it'll keep ACC on. So you could put it in N with the parking brake on.

 

See the detailed instructions on how to turn on radio without starting car! You can set up the radio and take full advantage of it after just a few simple steps.

 

See the detailed instructions on how to turn on radio without starting car!

Putting your car in neutral and taking your foot off the brake without any mention of setting the parking brake seems like bad advice. This is what's recommended in the linked article. I could imagine people unexpectedly rolling down their sloped driveways while being otherwise occupied.