Magnetic fields on hybrid cars & cancer

There is no appreciable leakage of magentic fields from the Hybrid systems. Lost magnetic energy is LOST POWER to the car. See the "first law of thermodynamics" (loosely, you can't get something for nothing). And Hybrids are designed from the ground up for minimum energy loss.

If you take a magnetic compass, and check around your car, you WILL find a source of magentic field energy in every car:

THE SPEAKERS!! They put HUMONGUOS magnets in these car speakers to give them megawatt power output at single digit frequencies.

The "hybrid" systems are completely shielded, and cause no magentic fields that can be measured in the passenger compartment.

p.s.: the so called "cancer" risk from magnetic fields is purely urban myth. No cancers have ever been linked to "normal" levels of magnetic energy found in the normal home/work/automotive environment.

But that never stops the Luddites from claiming that everything man-made causes every disease known to man.

p.p.s- I am an electronics engineer, but I do not work for the automotive industry, so you can trust me.

Storing magnetic tape "near" a speaker should not damage them.

There is a concept in magnetic tape called coercivity. Basically, there is a minimum magentic field strength needed to erase or record a magnetic tape. Below the critical threashold field strength, and the magnetic tape NEVER erases.

Think of a 20 amp fuse. You can put 19 amps thru it for years, and it never blows. But put 30 amps thru a 20 amp fuse, and BANG! Blown fuse.

Coersivity levels vary from tape to tape (that's the reason for the metal/oxide switch on the recorder). But in general, the magnetic fields present 6 inches or more from a speaker will not damage magnetic tape.

What DOES destroy tape is mechanical abrasion. CLEAN YOUR HEADS!!! You would not believe how many times I have seen tape machines that are CAKED in debris from cheap tape that sheds oxide all over the heads, like a persian cat sheds fur in August.

Yes, 10mG is relatively high. Your AC meter DOES measure the EMF correctly.

Prius measures as high as 24mG in the rear seats. You should also test directly under you bum in the drivers seat. I tested a Prius and found it high as well, around 4mG when breaking.

So every time I break my bum is getting irradiated.

Like anything else in science, its not if we can measure it because there are few things we have trouble measuring quite easily (outside of the God particle in astrophysics). The question is does it cause problems? We can measure parts per trillions of PCB's in water, that doesn't mean they are toxic at that level. The question is, at what level/timed exposure is it safe, when are we going past that safe level.

Maybe we will need a badge we wear and after we reach our maximum annual exposure, its back to the internal combustion machine for the rest of the year! Similar to what the nuclear industry workers and cardiologists do in cath labs. Of course we are talking magnetic fields here vs radioactive particles. Gauss vs Curies/Rads/Becquerels/Sieverts or whatever metric one is using.