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| I rented a Dodge Hornet on a vacation trip. When I first drove it, I found that I was the slowpoke holding everyone up, and usually it is the other way around. The car had less than 40,000 miles on it and the goodyear sport tires weren't bald, but they had very little traction in a half inch of snow. Just tapping the brakes could put it in a slide. Later when I drove it, the roads were dry and clear with 34 degree weather. The sun went down and the temp dropped to 33 degrees and some blowing snow started to freeze on the road. Since I knew the car had crap traction, I was driving slow. Going down a hill, the yellow sign said 25 mph, and a U curve ahead. I was going about 15 mph and the cars regen showed it was at 9 KW. I let up of the throttle, the cars regen jumped up, the rear tires broke lose and the car started sliding sideways. The dash flashed yellow warnings, which I presume were the traction control or stability warnings, but it kept running the regen and the car kept going further sideways until I hit the throttle. Then the regen quit, the car straightened out, and then I was able to apply to brakes. This is an absolutely dangerous control system on a car. Had I been going 25, I would not have been able to come out of the slide and slow down before the road turned. Knowing this, I still had it happen a second time as well. A third and forth time it brake the back in loose, but those time I was going slow enough that it almost stopped the card and regained traction.
Maybe the stooges that designed the system didn't plan on the slick tires, but even so the controls should have shut off the regen when it sensed a loss of traction.
Do all Hybrids act this way? | |
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Are all Hybrids unsafe on Ice
