An additional reason to drive a hybrid... My 2004 Corolla, with 177,000 miles, is a "polluter" when it is cold (when I first start it before it reaches operating temp). Once it reaches operating temp, it's fine. If I have my cabin fan turned on when I first start my car and backup (reverse) out of my driveway, a parking spot, the garage, etc, the ventilation system pulls the exhaust air into the cabin and I have to hold my breath and roll the windows down. As a result, I have now made it a habit to turn the fan off when I first start the car and backup. If I had a Prius or other hybrid, that was electric when backing out of my driveway, a parking spot, etc, then I would never have to worry about this problem because the car would be 100% electric in these situations. I don't want cancer from inhaling auto exhaust repeatedly and I don't think anyone does. This is an additional reason why my next car will definitely be a hybrid or plug-in hybrid. I've heard there are cold weather exceptions when the Prius engine does turn on from the start. Is this true, and if so, what are those conditions? Thanks.
A Prius always warms a cold engine unless you ask for EV mode by pressing the EV button. Even with the EV button, you can't always hold off the engine. Tom
Wonder if your 04 Corolla is worse for fumes for some reason, like design flaw or exhaust leak. CO might be high too. Prius does not have this issue even though engine goes on, to my knowledge. Might be interesting to monitor CO though, some CO detectors give a read out.
Any car with an ICE is a polluter when cold, some are better than others, and the prius is certainly one of the better ones, but it still isn't as clean cold as it is when fully warmed up. The idea that you are somehow leading yourself to an early death just from the fan running when you start up your car is just so out there. Unless you are running a hose from your tailpipe into your gas mask. Even in a closed garage. Unless you spend some quality time doing it. This is true for a couple of reasons, one the HIVAC system pulls air from the front of the car, not the tailpipe of the car. The Corolla even when cold, isn't exactly a gas guzzler. There is such a small amount of fuel being consumed that the emissions are still minimal. You walk around a shopping center parking lot, right? You are going to breath in fumes there as well. Walk down a street, cars going by? hello fumes. But with modern cars, the fumes are minimal. Stand behind a car from the 70's and you will notice those fumes. Emissions from any modern car is so minimal. As long as you aren't in an enclosed space, you aren't breathing in much more than is already in our air from other sources, including the other cars on the road. It would hardly be measurable at a point more than a few feet from the tailpipe. You might actually, and I don't know, be worse off with the window open than the windows closed. As much as I love my Prius, and am an advocate for it, buying it because of fear of inhalation of exhaust gas at start up is just so out of this world ridiculous that I honestly wonder if this is an The Onion" post. You would of course avoid the problem all together with an electric car, but really, the difference in the air you breath, is going to be so infentesimaly small, and not have any effect on your life expectancy. Unless you have a very specific health issue.
My Corolla, which I am the original owner of, did not start this "pollution" until about 165,000 miles. This polluting started about six months ago. I agree with the comments above that most cars emit a very small amount of pollution when driving down the street or in a parking lot and that pedestrians are always breathing in a small amount of it (by the way, CO is not a carcinogen - it will bind to your hemoglobin though and result in a rapid death of suffocation if you inhale too much of it over a period of 5-10 minutes or so. The cause of cancer, that I am referring to is the unburned fuel, partially burned fuel, and possibly a very small amount of engine oil that is now vapor in the air). As SpikeVFR mentioned, the intake for the ventilation system is in the front of the car (I've changed the air filters myself, multiple times). HOWEVER, when I turn my car on when it's cold and the fan is on and I backup, I get a large amount of air blown into the cabin that is pollution exhaust that causes my body to naturally hold my breath. This is not good air, and it get's blasted into my cabin. I would say it's analogous to hooking a hose up to the exhaust pipe and blowing it into the cabin. It's getting in there somehow. My best guess is that a "cloud" of dirty exhaust comes out when I start the car and I backup through it. Like I said, my car is not a gross polluter. Once the engine is warm, it's like any other newer car on the street.
To prevent the ICE from firing up shortly after starting, you must promptly push the EV button AND the engine temperature must be above 68F. The later condition may frequently work for you in SoCal. But in my climate, it typically applies only a handful of mornings per year. And none so far this year, with our abnormally cool summer.
Clearly then you need to get your car repaired. Something is wrong. I only mentioned Cancer in my post, because you mentioned it in your original.
One solution: Shut off the fan before you shut off the car. Then it will not be running when you do a cold start. You then wait for the engine to heat up before you turn on the heater and fan. (In hot weather you'd have to suffer with the windows closed until you've gotten out of that exhaust cloud.) And to correct an earlier post: (at least with regard to my 2004) the EV switch will prevent the ICE from starting if you engage it within a few seconds (ten?) of starting the car UNLESS the heater is on. If you shut off the heater before turning off the car, then you can prevent the ICE from starting when you start the car. HOWEVER, under most circumstances this is a bad idea. Normally you want the ICE to start and warm up before you are driving hard. But in the OP's case, assuming a similar fault to his Corolla, this would allow backing out of the garage before producing exhaust. Or when you are going to move the car only a short distance and then shut it off again.
You might have a leak in the exhaust system - I had to have a gasket replaced to seal the system on my honda (with similar mileage).
Toyota isn't a guarantee that something can't break on a car. If it is that bad, something is wrong. It is time to get that Corolla into a shop. Has drivable or fuel economy changed? Those might accompany an exhaust leak. The unburnt fuel makes it sound like the car is puffing out a burst of smoke like an old, out of tune diesel on start up. An EV mode may spare you the discomfort, but it would only mask the problem.
UPDATE: My check engine light went on yesterday, so I took it right to the Toyota dealer. They said the catalytic converter needed to be replaced and it would cost $1700. I pulled out my iPhone, typed in "muffler shop" and called the closest mechanic, who quoted me $400 installed and said come right on over and we'll have it done in 30 minutes. When I got back into my car, I turned my interior fan on and backed up and the air was clean and fresh. Lesson learned: when a car starts polluting, it might be a sign you need a new catalytic converter (note: this does not apply to people with EVs ) .
IMHO you get much more exposure while you drive from an old car/school bus/truck in front of you. Yes any newer ULEV car would fix this problem; they either pre-heat converter or capture initial surge and burn it later
I'm sure that expouse is way less meaningful than all the other crap you get, like all the sewer we have in our jacked up foods now, all are messed up by pesticides and hormones.
The mandatory DMV smog check would probably have revealed the trouble as well, albeit later than sooner. I know that many Toyotas can go 200k miles or more on the original cat.
