Comments on: Toyota, Honda Fight for Small Hybrid Supremacy

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 13:28:13 +0000

@shines: Oh, I’m sorry. I mistook what you meant.

By: Shines

Shines — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:41:06 +0000

@Anon – I am not suggesting at all that the govt should close its eyes. Toyota is going ahead and recalling all the vehicles in question. I am just pointing out that it is a good thing that no one has been injured by this issue.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:11:32 +0000

@Shines, are you suggesting that the government should close its eyes, just like what Toyota did about the accelerator jamming/’unintended acceleration’ debacle – waiting for another San Diego incident and more fatalities?

By: Shines

Shines — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:51:34 +0000

Media report:
"NHTSA probing 44,000 Toyota Highlander Hybrid crossovers over stall risk.

The article also indicated that there have been no injuries or accidents because of the issue...

By: Shines

Shines — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:46:21 +0000

I wonder how many do it yourselfers could do these things:
1) Swap out the lead acid battery in the engine compartment for a much larger NiMh or Lithium battery in the trunk (lithium battery requiring special temperature controls to prevent fires)
2) Changing the brake system from friction pads to regenerative braking to return energy to the battery
3) Adding an electric motor to the drive system to assist the combustion engine.
4) Adding electronic controls to coordinate the power between the electric and combustion engine and battery and to shut off the combustion engine when decelerating and waiting at stoplights.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:54:45 +0000

Media report:
"NHTSA probing 44,000 Toyota Highlander Hybrid crossovers over stall risk

According to The Detroit News, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has opened an investigation into almost 44,000 Toyota Highlander Hybrid vehicles from the 2006 model year over stalling concerns. The agency has received a total of 32 complaints, with 21 of those incidents involving engine stalling at speeds of over 40 mph."

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:12:59 +0000

Yes. I think the Fit Shuttle will be available for sale in a few weeks time.
Just can’t wait for it.

By: indigo

indigo — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:12:39 +0000

I like the look of the Fit Shuttle. It's less ugly than the Prius C.

I've been driving my Insight-II for a year and it is *very* easy to exceed 50 MPG. Sometimes I can get above 60 MPG.

By: DownUnder

DownUnder — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 21:17:40 +0000

Mattew,

You're smart. Have you ever heard of hypermiling?

By: Charles

Charles — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:38:20 +0000

Remember the grief that Obama got for talking about tire inflation? Americans are very lazy drivers. If it is not automatic most drivers will not even try to do something that saves fuel. Look at the number of fuel wasting performance robbing automatic transmissions sold over the last 50 years.

PS, I know that the newest automatic transmissions are not fuel wasters.