No, it's clear when the engine is off. What was initially confusing is that sometimes when you put it in Park the engine automatically shuts off and sometimes it doesn't. I've found that in my case it's the level of A/C that is in use. If it's on heavy cool and fans are blowing the engine will stay on, but if the air is low it will turn the engine off with the air staying on. If I wait too long without opening the door the engine will turn back on, but if I open the door then the engine is off for good. It does make sense after a bit of getting used to it.

My experience as well, though I feel like there should have been a pamphlet included up front. The most unexpected thing is that I now actually enjoy the engine shutting off at stoplights and everything going quite for a minute; it's a moment of zen.

 

My wife still finds this very confusing. Sometimes it turns itself off, sometimes it's just the stop start and when she lifts off the brake the engine starts up again...
We tried to find the sequence of gear in park, foot off brake, undo seatbelt and open door. If you do them in the right order if turns off every time. But in real world driving when you do those together it can throw you
At least on ours (2018) it's very clear when the dash display goes totally blank then it's fully off...

 

 

My 2018 Td6 has auto shutoff. The auto on/off system is pretty easy to live with in traffic and has worked without consequence. As soon as your foot comes off the brake it restarts. When stopping and it turns itself off automatically and you intend to shut the vehicle down anyway, just put it in park, open the door, get out of the vehicle and take the key fob with you. It will stay off - at least mine has.

 

 

What an annoying and useless feature. Surely must decrease battery and starter life, particularly with compression and rotating mass of diesel. I click it off when I fasten my seatbelt. I have closely monitored my fuel economy while using it and with it disabled, cannot see any relevant change.

 

Wonder why they decided to make it that way. Perhaps it's not a big issue though, if fuel economy does not noticeably get affected.

 

Probably some emissions number looks better in city driving with the feature, but honestly don't see the point on the D5 (especially the TD6). Hybrids make a lot of sense to do this, but not on a larger engine big SUV. Wish there is the ability to permanently turn it off. Haven't gotten the D5 yet, but knows it is going to drive my wife nuts.

 

It is for improving emissions and is a required feature to meet their emissions disclosures. Hence they cannot turn it off for you
It does make a meaningful difference in both petrol and diesel vehicles. Of course if you only do long freeway driving it won't make much difference - but it also won't operate so you shouldn't mind it. Around town it's very significant. You get used to it pretty quickly