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 yesterday at 09:041 day 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 yesterday at 09:141 day 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 yesterday at 10:081 day by Johngerard

3 hours ago, Warrior193 said:

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.

The BMS (Battery Management System) only charges the battery to around 80% - to allow some headroom for micro regenerative braking (weird but true!).

This rarely works on my vrs - new from Jan, 10k now on the clock. I'd say I do decent mileage, at least to charge the battery sufficiently. Work is 20 miles away, never seems to come on then randomly at weekends maybe on short journeys. Combine it with auto-hold and it's not exactly a smooth motion when it does decide to work.

I'd like to thank all who have responded to the thread with their experiences and suggestions. I've had ASS on my previous 2 vehicles, both KIAs, and it worked most of the time dependant on engine and external temperatures.

I've only being doing short local journeys since purchase, but had a couple of longer trips (20 mile each way) which I would have thought would have charged the battery to it's ASS working criteria.

I've reported the issue to Cinch who are sending a mechanic out next week to investigate. I'll report back on the outcome.

4 minutes ago, Gowna said:

I'd like to thank all who have responded to the thread with their experiences and suggestions. I've had ASS on my previous 2 vehicles, both KIAs, and it worked most of the time dependant on engine and external temperatures.

I've only being doing short local journeys since purchase, but had a couple of longer trips (20 mile each way) which I would have thought would have charged the battery to it's ASS working criteria.

I've reported the issue to Cinch who are sending a mechanic out next week to investigate. I'll report back on the outcome.

A few trips only of the length you describe may very well not restore the battery charge sufficiently, given the predominant use.

Unfortunately, the smart charging alternator strategy does not appear to recognise intermittent vehicle use and adapt the strategy to bring battery SOC to a higher level - overriding strategy seems to be fuel saving.

IMO, current VAG smart-charge strategy can lead to increased plate sulphation through persistent low SOC unless the vehicle gets regular long runs along with substantial energy micro-recuperation.

My Octavia has a similar use to yours and I use a Ring smart charger occasionally to maintain battery health. I do this at 2-monthly intervals during winter - and approx. 4 to 6-monthly intervals during warmer part of the year (whenever SS stops operating consistently)

Works for me as my 10-year old Moll EFB still tests at almost 90% healthy.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Warrior193
typo

In a bizarre turn of events today the ASS worked as I would have expected. I initially thought the car had stalled or cut-out but the ASS symbol was active on the dashboard, and proceeded to work as expected for the next several halts in traffic. I'm baffled.

BTW what does SOC stand for in relation to battery charge please.

SOC stands for State of Charge.

Also, If ASS is not available when it should be then the symbol will still display but with a line through it.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Johngerard

One thing I learnt recently is to not let the battery get too low as it can cause issues, primarily with the airbag module. I had a period of use that involved lots of short trips which let the SOC drop, next thing there was an airbag warning.

Turns out that the low battery caused a fault with the module and it needed to be replaced as it was essentially bricked, I know in some countries there are places that can restore the modules but I'm not sure if we have any in new Zealand.

My car was only a few months out of warranty and the dealer wanted to charge circa $2000 for the new module, when I made them aware that this was a known issue on MQB platform cars and that I thought they should go to Skoda for a goodwill warranty they coughed and spluttered a bit but agreed to talk to Skoda who thankfully came to the party.

It seems in this market at least, Skoda ship the vehicles with the cheaper and less efficient EFB style of battery when they really should have AGM batteries. I'm still on the original battery but will definitely upgrade to an AGM when this one starts to go downhill, it still tests OK but at over 5 years I'm guessing it doesn't have too much life left in it. Like @Warrior193 I now put the car on a battery tender occasionally or if it's not being used for some time. So far, so good and FWIW I don't use ASS, it gets turned off as a matter of course before every drive.

Trying to get the SOC back up by driving the car, especially with the present smart charging is not a great idea IMO and just a waste of fuel The family, Jan 2026 Polo,only seems to keep the SOC around 72/74% and a round trip last May dropping someone off at the Airport bears out the very low charging rates.

The average charging ignoring engine off time and starting load was ~ 3.9A at 13.51V and, even after 23 miles the charging rate was less than 4A on overrun at 14.8V (SOC still only 72%). However, I will let it soldier on, the other 7.5 year Polo now passed down the line previously operated almost the same as this one and if I can get 8+ years out of the battery in both I will be happy enough I think, stop/start always works when requested so perhaps running at ~ 70% SOC isn't that such of a disaster after all?.

LOG-261C10532-logged Airport Battery Data2 74%.xlsx