I like a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but it's pretty easy to prove that there was a change.People who believe the manufacturers when they say they “put a heavy duty starter” in are adorable.
Just look at any model where a certain year had some with auto start-stop and some without.
For example, the 2015 F150 when auto start-stop was first introduced.
There was a clear distinction in the parts catalog between vehicles that had it and vehicles that did not.
They aren't going to make 2 different starters to try and "fool" people into believing they had to redesigned or improve something lol
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