Ok great, you don't use it. But if you did, you expect it to work. What if it didn't work the first time you forgot to hit the button and it left you stranded in the middle of the intersection with on coming traffic? That's terrifying. Failure is not an option.
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If someone gets into the vehicle and forgets to put on their seat belt then is injured in an accident, do you blame the manufacturer of the vehicle?
That same photo you posted could just as easily be from forgetting to turn on headlights after dark and getting hit. It could be from a driver that couldn't get their head out of the cell phone while driving. It may have been from a driver too busy messing with their infotainment system, trying to decide if they want to listen to AM, or FM, perhaps SiriusXM, music on their cell phone, the music saved in their Honda music or on a jump drive or it easily could be from some driver feeling entitled or superior so those speed limits and other traffic control devices don't really mean anything to them. Or a driver that was just tired and failed to pay sufficient attention to their driving. Nothing in the photo indicates that the incident occurred from an Idle Auto Stop failure.
In the vast majority of cases the biggest failure is the one sitting behind the wheel. If the most dangerous part of the driving equation, humans, were ever "fixed" then what would you do for vehicles since 78% of all accidents would be disappear. Copart.com would not be able to stay in business on the remaining 12% caused by mechanical issued. Especially since most of those failures are from owners neglecting the maintenance of their vehicles.
I do not and have not said that the Auto Idle Stop system could not or should not be made better or safer, as there is always room for improvement even on the best system. Honda as well as all of the other auto makers definitely need to be looking into why their vehicles do not start every time all the time when the Auto Idle Stop is engaged and remedy the problem or problems.
But the same thing could be said about every system on every vehicle from every manufacturer. The reality is, vehicles will never be totally flawless. Certainly the driver behind the wheel will never be flawless.
As you said "Failure is not an option." yet we let the biggest failure get behind the wheel millions upon millions of times every day and yet there would be a tremendous outcry if vehicle manufactures were to address those issues where humans fail so as to mitigate many of problems caused by those drivers.
While it may not seem "convenient" to some to have to push a button to disable the system, it is a viable solution to the problem and most likely the only one the vehicle manufactures will offer. At least Honda gives you the ability to turn the system off, at any time when the vehicle is running. Buick for one didn't include an Auto Idle Off disengage button until 2019 and they are not the only manufacturer that did not or does not have a disengage feature.
When you get behind the wheel of a 4000 pound vehicle, your full attention should be directed to the operation of that vehicle, not the radio, your cell phone, the conversation with the passenger(s) in the vehicle, the cheese burger you're holding in one hand nor the fact that you didn't get around fast enough in the morning so now you may be late to work.
