Originally Posted by xcel

Hi Livvie:
___I do not know what more to say. You are talking not only beyond your experience but you are talking non-sense. AS was designed to occur while the car is moving as well as at a stop if the interlocks have been made up. Register this because it is a FACT. There is no guessing, no maybe, no estimation, it simply was designed and works that way. Do you understand that in an AS, your vacuum lines are bleeding off too? Once you understand some of the above, begin the rethink some of the other statements you have made in this thread. You can drive whatever way you want as really nobody cares but if you are going to prescribe to someone what is or isn’t safe, at least know what YOUR car is capable of as well as doing before taking the Holier then thou stance. My Accord when not in a FAS is safer without the ICE off then your HCH is in AS for a number of reasons! This is not a guess, not an estimate, it is simply a fact. Your HCH’s ICE does not start up instantaneously for propulsion whereas the Accord is already running, in gear, and can propel instantly if it is not in a FAS. Do you understand this FACT? Do you also understand that a slower acceleration rate may be less safe then a faster one in case of accident avoidance from behind? What is your HCH’s vs. the std. Accord I4 or V6 or Civic LX/EX for that matter? Do you know I have 100% of my vacuum for brakes while the Accord is running where you have a diminished amount as soon as you are in AS? Are you ready to move on?

___Now that you know that the HCH is less safe by comparison to all other cars that do not AS or even a clutched automobile in a FAS because their ICE’s can start up faster then yours with little to no loss of speed vs. yours via IMA, all a FAS is doing is moving the auto stop functions of the HCH/Insight up the speed range. If you call that unsafe, so be it. You are already driving a car less safe then the average car for the reasons posted above so obviously a D-FAS is less safe then a FAS which is less safe then an AS which is less safe then an ICE running all the time. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Prius in Glide w/ the ICE (not spinning) or an HCH and Insight in an AS below 19 mph, it is a matter of degree and right now, you are driving an automobile less safe then the std. Civic whenever in AS mode. This dangerous design flaw (as you point out) is also what allows your HCH higher FE then its non-IMA equipped counterpart in that one particular area of its driving envelope.

___Now back to dismissal of ones FE … Your FE is good but to dismiss those that receive upwards of 20 - 25% higher is a huge mistake. There are a number of ways to improve your own with degrees of safety added or removed. It is up to you to decide when and where to improve upon it and I would hope you would perform these methods as safe as possible. Simply by paying attention to your surroundings and knowing your automobiles capabilities is a start. It sounds as if you do not have a real good handle on the second part of that statement as well as you should

___Are you ready to sell your HCH because it is unsafe? If so, I know of a buyer if the price is right

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net