Hello Today when opened teh hood of my HCH I saw a sticker that says I should drive my car at least once a month else my IMA NiMH batteries might get permenantly damaged. Right now I'm kinda worried since during the winter I remember I haven't drived my car for a little over a month. I was wondering if anyone's familiar with NiMH batteries especially with the HCH's IMA ones that can tell me what will happened to them if I dun drive my car for more than a month? If possible or not still many thanks in advance.

The IMA NiMH batteries do drain themselves. It's not a big deal though as all you have to do is start the car and hold the throtle at around 2000 rpm and 3 or 4 bars of charge will indicate charge. The main battery will recharge quickly and your done. Don't forget to open the garage door before you start

Based on things I've read on the interweb (so you know they are true), it is a good idea to start your car at least once a month and run it for a while. I seem to recall someone who posted here about a battery failure that happened in a car that was driven very infrequently.

I understand that NiMH batteries don't like to be fully drained, which is what will happen with time if you don't drive. I don't know how long it would take for a failure to occur, it's not worth messing around with when all it takes is a drive around the neighborhood every month to prevent this kind of battery strain.

Thanks guys, at least i'm more relief it's not as serious as i expected. Think it's time for me to stop letting it rot in my garage, lol.

I have left my 2006 parked on two occasions while on winter vacation for two mths. unattended and the battery level was the same when I returned.Hal

I notice the same thing happened to my car too when I left it unused for over a month and the battery gauage was still the same. I read somewhere online NiMH batter only gets damage if they get overcharged or when the battery level drops below zero %, looks like our cars are fine