Swift - Current Idle Policy

Was with a company driver the other day with a new 2016 and his truck will not idle unless over 70 and below 20. Swift wants you idling below 20, even if about 30 and the wind chill is below 20, they want you to idle

 

Crap, 40F is #### cold for me. Below 50 or over 70 I don't sleep well.
Swift can go packing at 20F, I'd like to know how many of their office staff keep their house heat that low at night. Yeah right!

 

All of the trucks are equipped with bunk heaters that will keep you quite warm that work no matter the temp outside. They just want you to idle below 20 to keep from jelling. The older trucks like 2015 and below you can over ride the idling. It is just the new 2016 that have a sensor in it that will not allow you to idle between 20 and 70.

I know of some companies that have something called opti-idle in their truck. During the cold nights or very hot nights the engine starts and stops all night. Would you prefer that and I know some companies that will take away from your pay or bonus when idle do much, depending on the dm or the terminals. As far as Swift, they will moan about do much idling, especially when in the temps of the 40's to 60's when you have a bunk heater. If it is not working then they do not say anything accept to ask you to get it fixed if not working. They want you comfortable at night to sleep. Just use common sense. I know that at times if you are sitting all day and it is hot and you are at a truck stop, try and go inside and sit instead of the truck is possible.

 

Little box, burns tiny amounts of fuel to create heat and pumps it out from under the bunk. Webasto and some other weirdly named company make Swift's.

 

My husband has a new 2016 Freightliner and there is a way to change the idle temps to accommodate your personal needs.

 

I can over-ride the engine shutdown and idle as long as I want to in the 2016 Freightliner I drive. Simply tap the foot feed when the icons on the dash light up and you're good to idle.

I know I have posted this story elsewhere on this forum, but I'll do so again here. Several years ago we had an unusually hot April. I idled more than what Swift thought was appropriate so they wrote me up. In mid May my DM explained the write up to me and had me sign that I received the counciling. When I signed it I noticed the space for my comments on the situation. I wrote that Swift might as well write me up now for the rest of the summer because I wasn't going to try to sleep in a pool of sweat. For the rest of the summer I idled as I had been and never heard another word about it.