Wife and I have been on vacation in Kauai the last couple of weeks (I noticed two Prius and one Insight while over there; regular unleaded was at $2.64 - $2.69 as well). We rented a car from a company that "features fine GM cars" so naturally I was forced to drive a compact ICE. I was looking forward to getting back home and driving my HCH.

While there I read in the forum about the HCH shuting down the A/C while in autostop if you have the climate control set to automatic. (With the Texas summer heat starting, I had been running the A/C full-bore the last week I had driven the car.) So when I started my HCH yesterday morning for my drive to work, I placed the climate system in "auto" with both Econ and A/C selected.

After stopping at the end of my alley, I pulled out into the street and made my way fo my first stop, one of those beautiful Texas 4-way stops. My car seemed to stop running when I stopped! What could be wrong? Could something have happened these past two weeks while it was sitting in the driveway?

I went through the intersection to my next stop - also a 4-way stop. Again the fan cut off, the engine seemed to stop. What could be wrong? Could my new HCH be broken?

It wasn't until I was 100 yards past this second stop that I realized my HCH was supposed to be doing this... the engine stops running (while in Econ mode) when you stop. The car was working perfectly!!

I'm a little embarassed to tell you that I had forgotten about the auto-stop feature, but just wanted to let you know that even after three months of ownership I am still getting used to hybrid operations. Maybe after owning and driving the car for 2 or 3 years, as some of you have, forgetting how the car operates won't happen. I can't wait.