The local newspaper ran an article on hybrids in which the Honda distributor said that their technology has an important advantage over Toyota's: if the electric part of the hybrid system fails, the car continues to function using on gasoline only. Any comments from our technical experts?
Do you take comments from average schlubs? On the Toyota, if the Gas engine stops working, the Electric Motor will carry you to a safe place on the road, or even a mile or two to a gas station. Which is more likely? Major System Failure or running out of gas. So, which is the more useful feature? Well, perhaps the Honda distributor is saying something about Honda Reliabilty
All the reports that I've read rank the reliability of Toyota and Honda about equal. I don't want to instigate any brand bashing here, I think we should support any company that invests in hybrid technology. The Civic hybrid is great for someone wanting to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but is not comfortable with new technology. The Insight is a great commuter car, and gets better mileage than the Prius. The upcoming hybrid SUVs, while seeming to be an oxymoron, allow the people who desire the utility of an SUV to share in the benefits of hybrid technology.
No one is 'bashing' Hondas. The Honda rep was just looking for SOMETHING they could tout as an advantage of IMA over HSD. It's easy to list the many design advantages of HSD, but I was just directly addressing this supposed IMA advantage, and rather tongue in cheek at that ---- That aside, now I'm curious. When the Rep says the Honda 'continues to function' if the electric portion fails in some manner - is he implying that it is 'ok to drive' with the electric side gone? Or is he just saying that you can get to the side of the road to call for help. My suspicion is that if the electric side fails 1) You get the dashboard light of doom. 2) The Owners manual says - get off the road and call for a tow. If that's the case, 'continues to function' might be a little misleading. I don't have a Civic Hybrid manual handy for reference. Any dual owners around?
True, however that comment is rather misleading. First, the odds of an electric-motor failure are much lower than the odds of a gasoline-engine failure. And of course, that stress on the engine due to not having IMA available isn't good. Second, the "continue" part only applies to the current in-use session. As soon as you shut off the engine or if auto-stop activates, you're stuck. Without IMA, the 12-volt battery is required restart the engine instead. And the comment neglects to point out that a hybrid system failure means that 12-volt will likely be dead, since IMA is required to keep it charged while driving.
You've most likely seen posts about Prii whose hybrid systems have failed suddenly (see for example, the threads Prius down and dead prius. In these cases, the inverter or some other part of the system failed, the ICE shut down, and the car had to be towed away. Apparently, the Honda person meant that if this happened to one of their cars the owner could continue driving with the ICE only instead of being left stranded.
Has anyone heard that part of the Prius HSD is made by Honda? My understanding has been that everything but the battery (which is from Panasonic) is from Toyota at least as far as major components are concerned.
