Curiosity killed the cat, anyone know what that orange cap to the battery pack leads to or what the purpose is??

Look but don't touch seems to fall under this category.

 

Isn't that the emergency battery disconnect?

 

Ford calls this the Service Disconnect in the manual (page 249 for the '08 FEH). I believe if you twist it, it will come out like a key and totally disables the battery pack until re-inserted and locked back into position.

 

Hopefully, the "Service Disconnect" will only be used during the regular service of your vehicle. FWIW, I ran across training for EMS workers a while back to help them identify precautions to take when an accident involves a hybrid. I believe the ease of access and the bright orange color is intended to aid EMS workers to disconnect the battery in case of an accident.

BTW, nice ride, I haven't seen any MTHs on the road yet.

 

The MTH was a limited production run based on the Ford Escape Hybrid platform and appears to only have been sold in CA and possibly the surrounding areas. I doubt we'll see many in the Palmetto state.

 

Total production is 300 units per year, all sold in California.

 

Probably neither would be easy to service oveseas.The only place the Tribute Hybrid is available is California, so I assume you live there. It depends on your situation, but it will probably be cheaper for you to just buy something cheap overseas and wait until you are back to get an expensive vehicle. If you are going to be permanently overseas, maybe check out a 4-cylinder small SUV like a CR-V or Ford Escape

 

It is the "service" disconnect switch. A consumer would ordinarily never need to touch this, but there is a circumstance in which you should know about it and what it does.

If you look at it closely you'll see there are two "High Voltage" positions (locked & unlocked) as well as a service/shipping "No Voltage" position.

If your car is ever in an accident, there's a safety coupler that will disengage power. The safety coupler's reliability is on the same order as an airbag's reliability (it's EXTREMELY unlikely that you'd be able to be an accident with any significant impact and have the airbag computer NOT know it. ) In an accident, the 330v power lines will automatically be disconnected.

Emergency personnel should still reach in and twist this emergency disconnect switch to the "No Voltage" position to absolutely ensure no risk to anyone still in the vehicle or to emergency workers trying to free someone from the vehicle.

If you go to: <http://www.motorcraftservice.com/vdirs/retail/default.asp?pageid=pubs_eerg&gutsid=escape_guide> you can view a couple of the first responder's guides for the 08 and 09 model years.

Search the web and you can find first responders guides for many other hybrids.

 

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thanks for your information guys ...........

 

I would like to know if anyone shares my problem in getting Ford to honor the hybrid powertrain and "covered" repairs in the warranty of the 2008 Mazda Hybrid Tribute? I was guaranteed nationally coverage by Ford when I bought from Mazda but Ford dealerships nationally do not want to honor this coverage because it takes from their budget. I did find one Florida Mazda and Ford dealership that honored the hybrid warranty but this means that I cannot safely drive very far away from my home local area. I bought this car in the 2008 limited production program by Mazda/Ford in California. Mazda does not have hybrid techs so it cannot do the repairs.