WARNING on Toyota/Honda hybrid vehicles

Submitted: Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 16:15
ThreadID: 20710 Views:2381 Replies:8 FollowUps:8
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Just received a Fire Brigade warning on the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight hybrid type vehicle. In short, if you happen to come across an accident involving this type of vehicle- call the HazMat Fire Brigade.
A Couple of stats..the Toyota runs at 300 volts and the Honda at 144v, and the giant capacitors can remain in charge state for 5 minutes.
The battery are a NiMH type with extreme electrical and chemical hazards.
The NiMH gel is VERY caustic, a ph of 13.5 causing extreme burns if it comes itnto skin contact.
As we ExpolorOz people tend to be out and about- this advise may be timely as there are more of these vehicle on the roads.

Signman
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Reply By: Member - Jeff M (WA) - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 16:32

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 16:32
Blimby, makes sense but I hadn't thought about that.

Makes you wonder about these "eco friendly" cars, what are we going to do with all these huge NiMH batteries when their rooted?? Dump them at the tip? Or are NiMH easy to recycle?

Maybe North Sydney should charge them more for parking as they are a risk if there is an accident of people getting electricuted and burned... ;-)
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Reply By: MrBitchi - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 16:42

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 16:42
ssssshhhh!!!
Don't tell the greenies.....
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Reply By: Bob of KAOS - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 17:13

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 17:13
One more Optima in the back and I reckon the Disco could be described as a Hybrid.
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Reply By: Member - Sparkie (QLD) - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 17:30

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 17:30
Well,well,well. I bet no one saw that coming. With all the safety concerns floating around at the moment they decide to build a potential deathtrap and all this in the name of reducing pollution.

Possible terrorist terror threat.

Here is your local terrorist and all he has to do now is buy a hybrid car and drive it into a swimming pool full of people.

I know the above issue is totally stupid but it just popped into my head.

Sparkie(IE not Y) ;-)
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic) - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 18:27

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 18:27
Sparkie,

you should know it does not reduce pollution it would just shift it elsewhere. In Victoria it actually would increase greenhouse gas with the brown coal generated electricity.

Take your point on the potential terrorist in the swimming pool though. Even the requirement to keep your distance as a firey. WOW

Keep your culture up mate, I try here. LOL
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Follow Up By: KiwiAngler - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 19:21

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 19:21
JohnR

What do you mean when you say:

" In Victoria it actually would increase greenhouse gas with the brown coal generated electricity" ?
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic) - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 21:23

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 21:23
KA, I am speaking comparatively here as brown coal is a dirty electricity producer.

The Melbourne Age 14th February 2005 talking about the Carbon State, not the Garden State, says " In fact Victorians are among the worst greenhouse polluters on the planet. Every Year, each of us is responsible for producing an average of 24 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, to put that in a global perspective, even the average American produces fewer emissions - 21 tonnes - than we do." and further " a large part of the answer can be found two hours east of Melbourne in the Latrobe Valley, where the coal fires never stop burning."

Brown coal is the dirtiest electricty producer and we have 500 years supply. Black coal but better still gas is cleaner. There are other nations that rely quite a bit on brown coal too that may need to change.
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Follow Up By: Member - Blue (VIC) - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 21:27

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 21:27
The biggest contributors of power to Victorias power grid(Yallourn, Loy Yang and Hazelwood) are still coal fired... Backed up by a couple of "eco-friendly" natural gas stations. I reckon if everyone in Vic bought one of these hybrid cars and we all plugged them in at the same time, we could crash the grid... Now that would be fun
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Follow Up By: KiwiAngler - Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 at 16:42

Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 at 16:42
JohnR

I understand the term 'brown coal' and 'greenhouse effect etc'

I am confused about what that has to do with the Toyota Prius. It seems as though you are saying that the Prius is 'plugged into a power point to charge it's batteries and therefore it will somehow contribute to the greenhouse effects.

If this is what you are saying then you are totally off the mark.

I guess you havent looked at the Toyota website to even see how the hybrid works. Bit naughty of you if you havent :-)))

Take a look here and you might see why I am/was confused by your comments

http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/2005/prius/key_features/hybrid_syn_drive.html

check out the drop down menus and in particular the one titled "Highway Cruising'

Last sentence:

" ...the key to why the Prius never needs plugging in'

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Follow Up By: Nick R - Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 at 22:48

Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 at 22:48
Hey there,
an alternative argument.
through having higher carbon dioxide in the atmosphere virtually all plant life grows better, better yielding fruit trees, cereal crops and the rest.
as for greenhouse effect the jury is still well and truly out. the current temperatures are the same as when the vikings were active, we have had a little ice age since then and the very minor warming that there has been in the last 200 years, most of that was before 1940, well before emissions really ramped up. since 1940, did you know that antarctic temperatures have fallen, all be it by a fraction of a degree. Don't believe all that the scare mongers tell you.
fossil fuel availability and it's efficient use should be more of an issue than emissions
now, isn't this a 4wd forum.
have fun guys,
NickR
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Reply By: Member - Geoff M (NSW) - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 18:09

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 18:09
Now there's a thought, who's going to repair these Hybrid Cars and what electrical safety legislation do they come under?
For >110V DC in an industrial environment you've got to be trained, competent and licenced before anyone will let you loose on the world.
Some poor Toyota/Honda mechanic and/or his apprentice is going to get light up big time on one of these things and nobody in his workshop will be trained or kitted out in removing someone from high voltage electrical installations. Then it snow balls, second one in joins the daisy chain of light.

Very friendly cars,
Geoff.
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Reply By: Member - Bradley- Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 18:19

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 18:19
Yep nice eh, mate a while back we got a warning about the new rubber used in cars for seals etc, apparently when it burns it forms a substance that can eat straight through gloves and skin, but havent seen anything on it since, you heard or read anything about this ?
AnswerID: 99755

Follow Up By: firestang - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 20:13

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 20:13
That stuff gets absorbed into your body if you come into contact with it with bare skin .Once in it eats calcium so no more bones and as far as we know there is no fix except ,off to the chop shop ,remember Harry Potter with the bendy arm .

Car maker these days only really worry about what happens when the car is having the prang not after when it's spewed everything all over the road or it's on fire.
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Follow Up By: Member - Bradley- Friday, Feb 25, 2005 at 00:03

Friday, Feb 25, 2005 at 00:03
mmmmm, nice stuff eh!

used to be you only had to worry about the battery or the lp tank, now the damn car will just disolve you instead.
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Reply By: Member - bushfix - Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 20:00

Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 at 20:00
G'day Signman,
We got a thick doco on the Prius about 8 mths ago but did not know about the Honda Insight, will research that one? A concern with the Prius is that you might not be able to recognize it as a Prius, if it is heavily involved in fire or deformed enough after a prang. Also, those capacitors hold charge I think for about 5 mins after you have disabled the vehicle. Keep away from those orange cables! And ph 13.5, yow.
Yet another hazard to keep in mind at incidents. Add it to the magnesium in Kombi motors when they get hit by a hose, look out!

cheers,
Jeremy.
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Reply By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Friday, Feb 25, 2005 at 22:35

Friday, Feb 25, 2005 at 22:35
And we all thought putting a Tiger in your tank was dangerous!!!!!! LOL
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