no dumb questions here - only the ones not asked Actually this is a good set of questions.

Many thoughts and opinions on this, but here are mine:

The assist meter may show positive assist (white bars), regen (green) or neither (no assist nor regen).

- When it is assisting (white bars), the battery is sending current to the IMA motor which is attached to the gas engine. This helps the gas engine with power needed to accelerate, climb hills etc. It is fine if this is registering - thats what its there for - to help out.

- When it is in regen (green bars), the motor generators are sending current back into the battery (recharging it). This may happen when you are braking, going down hills or just slowing down by letting foot off gas. This is also fine as you are capturing some of the energy you had in the battery versus just heating up the brakes. Later, when you use the IMA (and the Battery), you get some of this energy back as it helps the engine out - which saves gas.

- Avoiding the using brakes as much as is practical - and coasting instead, is beneficial. Every time you use the brakes you only get part (under 50%) of the energy sent back to the battery and you waste energy heating up the brake pads. If you plan ahead, you may not have to even stop at a light, let alone brake for it. This also helps avoid having to rev up the engine to get you going from zero miles per hour back to what you were running at.

- Certainly, autostop saves fuel. Otherwise your vehicle would burn fuel just idling at the stop. This is not as efficient as avoiding the stop altogether though.