This old chestnut seems to have been a re-occurring theme on BRISKODA forums, with various Skoda models affected although I couldn't see any reports from Mk4 Octavia owners; hence this new topic.

I've had my vehicle just over a month now, so it's 10 months old with 6200 on the clock. For the first few days the auto start-stop (ASS) worked as expected, but now, for some reason it never activates. Having read other users reports, it would seem a battery issue may be the likely cause. I've tried driving without any extra drain on the battery i.e. heated steering wheel, air con. etc. but to no avail. I didn't purchase the car from a Skoda dealer, so I'm assuming that all the pre-sale checks carried out by the seller (Cinch) may have included a battery charge as standard..

Have any Mk4 owners experienced this issue and if so was there a successful resolution?

Any input would be most welcome before I make a visit to my local Skoda garage.

Many thanks in anticipation.

Charging the battery: if this helps only temporarily, replace the battery regardless of age or mileage.

What type of use does this car get - is it mainly used for short runs?

There isn't normally a lot of headspace between the battery SOC level that the smart charge alternator maintains and the SS cut-off level, plus SS won't be available if one, of at least 6-8, operation parameters are not met.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Warrior193
correction

Mine does it too and according to my main stealer it’s because the car isn’t used enough to keep the battery fully charged. Bear in mind these days that even if the car isn’t used just sat there it will have something somewhere using a bit of power. I just give mine a 20 to 30 min run every couple of weeks

14 minutes ago, Cairus said:

Charging the battery: if this helps only temporarily, replace the battery regardless of age or mileage.

I'd strongly recommend getting the battery fully charged and properly tested before replacing it - and test the alternator output.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Warrior193
added information

54 minutes ago, tich1958 said:

Mine does it too and according to my main stealer it’s because the car isn’t used enough to keep the battery fully charged. Bear in mind these days that even if the car isn’t used just sat there it will have something somewhere using a bit of power. I just give mine a 20 to 30 min run every couple of weeks

Even with regular long trips, the battery will frequently not get charged to 100% due to the Smart Charging system reserving battery capacity for regenerative charging.

Suggest buying a DVM (digital Volt Meter) and plugging it into the cabin power point, permanently if not being used for anything else, and monitoring the voltage while driving normally, coasting etc. If the battery SOC is up around 80% then the DVV will show 14.5/14.8V on overrun and ~ 13.0/13.6V with accelerator pressed, if the SOC is down around 75% then its more than likely that the charging rate is 14.5/14.8V under all driving conditions. My over 7.5 year old Polo petrol 65BHP (Original) battery SOC has often been down around 75% but stop/start never failed to operate any time I care to use it. The max SOC is 85%.

VCDS

10Friday,05,June,2026,10:45:58:555 42,715 kms/26,542miles.

IDE01834 Battery voltage 12.193 V

IDE01836 Battery current -4.950 A

IDE01839 Battery charge status 77 %

IDE01841 Battery internal resistance 7.6 mOhm

IDE01842 Usable battery charge 28 Ah

IDE01948 Battery internal resistance not normed 6.0 mOhm

IDE07681-MAS06086 Battery total charging throughput-Total re-charge 3890.7 Ah

IDE07681-MAS06087 Battery total charging throughput-Entire energy throughput 4091.0 Ah

Battery Capacity 59AH.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Johngerard