I have a 2006 Highlander Hybrid and would like to control the ICE or engine starting like users have done on the Prius. Has anyone done this mod. yet?
Do you mean an EV button? No one has found a way to implement that on the '06/'07 HiHy yet..if there is a way at all. The '08 came with that standard.
I rarely use the EV button on my HiHy. Primarily, the car won't allow it when the engine is cold and seemingly myriad other reasons and if I am allowed to select EV, the car decides when to switch it off. At best, it runs in EV for a half mile or very briefly and I just haven't found an effective use for it. It's better, especially in cold weather, to utilize the Econ mode (button is right next to the EV button), most especially in cold weather when just starting out. The Econ selection causes the car to go in to EV mode more readily and keeps the mileage from dropping. When the weather is warm, as it is now, I don't use either the EV or Econ selections because they're unnecessary for the most part but the Econ button is way more useful than the EV button is.
lol a lube tech just finished changing the oil on a hihy 08, i offered to take it the wash bay in ev mode to wash it! and after that i managed to trigger it again (green battery looked like 6 out of 8 bars) and climb a mild hill (the acceleration gauge was two whites, and i notice this guy's econ button was on so i didn't touch it he was getting 9L/100 km (27 mpg?) and then into the parking lot where i had to park the suv lol i enjoyed my test drive of 100 meters of the highalnder hybrid in ev mode! the ev mode feels stronger for sure! but top speed is limited to 40 km/h is pretty lame! at least the prius can do it to 55 km/h i think i pressed the throttle 40% without triggering the engine, for a mild hill thats impressive! but im sure my prius can do that as well surprisingly prius ev mode is super strong before engine kicks in. i loved the ride height though, i use a ford ranger as my benchmark to see over the vehicle as i make my left turn (looking left and right), if i can't see over the ford ranger then i have to creep the car up to peek at the blind spot, but in the hihy case i can see over the ranger! Oh suv the ride height i can fall in love with unlike the prius bleh lol the thing i hate is, the higher the ride height, the worse the areodyanmics... so its a tough trade off for fuel economy and ride height to see over blind spots.
