Yes, and what about that 10 or 20 gallons of gas in the tank? People are nuts.

Tom

I can imagine the same scenario if all vehicles had always been powered by high voltage, and then suddenly, gasoline was added as a new feul. Then the topic would be special training for first responders regarding precautions needed for those new fangled liquid petrol lines. The jaws of life could cut right through one of those and a spark would cause an explosion.

Seems like one easy fix would be if the high voltage cut off could somehow be tied in with the air bags. Air bags deploy = high voltage killed. I think the cables are protected well enough to prevent them from being damaged or exposed in minor crashes that would not deploy the air bags.

Did that Ford Escape hybrid in the news video have the orange high voltage cables exposed on the exterior of the frame under the car, or was I dreaming?

Isn't the power to the high-voltage cables off except when the Prius is in operation? In other words, copper thiefs could take them? (although if wrong, I would not mind the outcome. )

they only have to cone off the vehicle if the hv battery needs to be charged. geez. my husband safely worked on them for years. oh wait, he had special electrical shock resistant work boots, that must have been it.

What nonsense!!

With the Prius:
First, unless the car is turned on the HV output is totally disconnected, both sides (+ and -).
Second, if turned on, both sides (+ and -) are ground fault protected. If EITHER are connected to chassis both are disconnected -INSIDE- the battery box. You could draw a few mA for a fraction of a second from either, but due to the short duration, it's doubtful it would kill you. It WOULD certainly scare you! I've been hit with 600 VDC and it isn't fun! It results in burns and very sore muscles (because DC causes extreme muscular tightening).

Unless, of course, this is another Ford "better idea", like the Pinto! Does the Ford junk have the ground fault system and the relay in the battery box?

330 volts RUNNING through those wires??? VOLTAGE IS PRESSURE, IT DOES NOT FLOW! It's amps that flow, this guy is not an Einstien. I'm somehow glad this guy will never have to work on our car. And for the fire and rescue people, I'll somehow bet they are all trained on this, heck, the chief of our local fire/rescue dept even drives a HiHy, complete with fireman plates.

tleonhar,
Let us cut him some slack. He is a hybrid mechanic, probably doesn't have EE degree. He probably didn't like the physics class in high school either.
He wouldn't understand that the static charge on his cloth could be as high as thousands of volts. Now that is much more scary than 330 volts.

Remember, this is 330 V of electricity as spelled out in the article. I guess because it is electricity, that makes it more dangerous.

Such BS that I'm not gonna waste any more time even thinking about it.

Hey Guys,

Most of us are aware of the Prius built-in automatic battery safety disconnect, but the news broadcast also was about the Ford Escape Hybrid. Remember its' a FORD - The same people who brought us the Pinto with the exploding fuel tank (if hit hard from the rear-end) and the Ford Explorer SUV (which had tire & handling problems). With Ford's established reputation, it is no wonder why the general public is a bit suspicious.

Hey, Ford should market this feature - In case of a serious accident in one of their Escape Hybrids, you can can get out of it in one of two ways - regular or extra crispy!!!

Keith

This idea of electrocution seems to run in parallel with wiring a house. Disconnect the source of electricity before you work on the vehicle. Usually you do with a normal gas engine machine as well.

Even so, it IS supposed to be a great SUV. Crossed licensed off the Toyota model, so Toyota wouldn't sue for pattent infringement. That said, I wonder if the Ford guy wears his face shield & gloves while topping off the water in a regular ICE car's battery (probbably not)

this mechanic must be the stupidest mechanic ever,
i love this part so badly
"We have to cone off the area when we're working on the vehicle because just opening the door activates the system. So if you're under the hood working on it and somebody comes up and opens the door, you can be electrocuted," Klein said.

if this were the case i would buy a excursion

For protection, our Prius is Sponge Worthy.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qpSFXzlKYw]YouTube - Seinfeld "Sponge worthy" Scott Patterson[/ame]

Did this guy get his certificate out of a Cracker Jack box or off the back of a cereal box?

Remember he is talking about FORD not Toyota. One has to wonder how well the Ford people are actually trained on Hybrid's ?

Alas, in TV journalism sensationalism attracts more viewers than facts. The first guy interviewed in the story obviously survived a collision that totaled his car, so that should be a good testament as to the crashworthiness of the Prius.

It's a good thing Toyota Engineers thought of this, too. In the event of a collision (rapid deceleration) or airbag deployment, the contactors (big power relays) in the battery box disconnect it from the rest of the outside world. There is NO danger of electrocution unless the integrity of the traction battery box is compromised, which is highly unlikely since it's encased in a metal box in the middle of the car. The other point of stored energy would be the high voltage capacitors used in the inverter. Normally these are discharged within 5 minutes by bleed resistors. A frontal collision that breaches the inverter case could expose the HV caps, but the inverter is pretty well encased and this would also be highly unlikely. I personally would be far more worried about spilled gasoline from a collision.

Quoting Gary Smith, the National Service Technology manager at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc:

Toyota: Toyota.com : Hybrid Synergy View : 2006 : Fall : Battery Q&A

If you want to read more in the Toyota First Responder's guide, follow this link:

https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/appmanager/t3/ti;TISESSIONID=HMS521bLjylQpVL190pg92D7GYj02VGtFwJTLLXy8hjqvkPxQwdF!814507913?_pageLabel=ti_erg&_nfpb=true

Since Ford licensed the hybrid technology from Toyota for use in the Escape, I'd guess the Escape uses a similar electrical system to what is found in the HiHy. Technician training is another matter.