No compass on my message center and I don't have the Nav system...

 

Not the Hybrid/Nav radio!

 

Mine has an "Electricity Available" category - maybe they mean this? However, mine has never read anything but "Normal" since I bought the car. Even after having not driven it for a week and then starting it up. So, it doesn't really seem like a Charge Indicator to me, but I'm not sure what the "Electricity Available" indicator is supposed to do for me either.

 

Yea, that is what I meant. Sorry, I forgot the exact text earlier.

I had thought that "Electricity Available" would mean the same thing as charge level. But, that was just a guess on my part based on a loss on what else it could mean.

Yea, mine has been "normal" every day. One of the reasons why I thought it was of little value. If so, that leaves the Miles-to-empty as the only Message Center display. Sure wish I had something else to pick from....

 

Don't forget you also have the "System Check". And then there is English/Metric and Language Selection screens. Those come in handy when I am driving with my foreign coworkers.

Gotta love the uselessness of the Oil Life Monitor in the '06. All it does is count down linearly from 100% to 0% over 10,000 miles. I forgot to reset it last time so it is now at 23%......another screen to skip when scrolling from Miles to Empty back to Average Econ......

 

Don't forget, if you get bored you can put cruise control on and see the "speed control on" message.

FYI....hitting the 'set' button on the center console clears the speed control message allowing you to see miles to empty again.

 

Are there any "tricks" to get the Message Center to display other things?

I know on my Mustang, there is a trick that allows one to have the digital odometer display other things like speed, tach(RPM), fuel level, oil pressure, engine temp, battery voltage, etc.

Since the hybrids are really lacking any of the more normal gauges, it would be nice if Message Center could also display some of that info.

Sorry, but I am just looking for something it could display, between error message, that might be somewhat useful.

 

We have speed control? Is that what used to be called cruise control before some bozo drove a Winnebago of the road while getting a snack? Or is that an urban legend?

Hold down the reset button on the trip meter, insert the key and hold the button in until the ICE is running and you will have a whole bunch of data such as diagnostic codes and so forth. Do a search of old threads and you can find a bunch of information on it. I haven't used it in a while but I think it shows up on the odometer on the FEH as well.