DENSO is ramping-up for the production of stop/start starters at its DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee (DMTN) plant in Maryville, TN. The new starters, due to hit U.S. roads later this year, will help improve fuel efficiency by cutting the engine when the vehicle is at a stop or in other idle traffic situations. The new production line will result in approximately 75 positions over the next two years, DENSO says.

As U.S. automakers look to meet the upcoming fuel requirements, consumers will see more vehicles equipped with stop/start technology. While this technology is not new to the global market and is already seen in the Japanese and European markets, it is a newer technology on internal combustion engines here in the U.S.

Stop/start systems stop the engine when the vehicle is idling at a stop light or in other traffic situations. This helps reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Depending on automaker specifications, the technology can help improve fuel efficiency by approximately 3 to 5 percent. DENSO says it has future stop/start system technology that will bump that up to more than 7 percent depending on the automaker’s overall systems approach.