I just purchased my new 06 Hybrid last month, and I've noticed that its rather jerky sometimes. Im guessing the transmission or something. Like, when I take my foot off the gas, it jerks sometimes, or coming from an autostop. I also notice that if I tap my breaks to take off Cruise Control, it occasionally jerks.

Just wanted to see if anyone else noticed similar problems. And I'm glad I found forums like these. Thanks!

 

I just took delivery of my '06 HCH this weekend. Drove it downtown Chicago from NW Indiana. I know what you mean about the "jerky-ness", but I think it is related to the "engine braking" and the Auto-Stop.

When you take your foot off the gas (at speed), you will notice the green recharge lights light up...I assume because of some sort of engine braking that is recharging the battery system. On mine, it is very slight normally, but in some circumstances I notice a little jerk.

Also, When coming out of Auto-stop, I noticed a slight jerk. Not unacceptable to me, but sometimes noiticeable.

I only have 178 miles so far, but gas mileage contunues to get better with each mile (maybe driving some highway miles to work today helped)....up to 39.3 MPG after the commute home tonight.

And I was in front of a Prius coming home, and all the time I kept telling myself..." I bet I could outrun him, and I KNOW my car looks better than ugly hatchback !"

Greg

 

Make sure you are not in "S". I made that error for moment and felt the car to be extremly jerky in "S".

 

When you take your foot completely off the gas pedal at highway speed, a lot of regenerative braking is applied suddenly, so it may feel a bit jerky.

When you let go of the brake pedal, when in auto stop, it takes about one second for the engine to start up. If you press on the gas pedal within that one second, the engine will try to engage at high revs as soon as it starts, and it may jerk forward. It's best to move your foot from the brake to the gas a bit more slowly, to give the engine time to start up. Sometimes I feel like that delay may make me look like I'm asleep at the wheel when the light turns green, so I anticipate and release my foot off the brake a second or two sooner than I normally would, then give the engine its one second rev-up time.

 

Elan is right on about the Auto Stop during startup.

Another time the car could be jerky, is when the engine switches out of 'EV' mode to decelerate. My HCH does it more often when I have cruse-control on while the car is trying to maintain the set speed. Since, I stopped using CC to improve my FE, now it only happens on occasion or when I want it to. One way I have found to reduce the jerking, is to accelerate a little when I want to leave 'EV' mode. I believe this works best, due to the engine engaging under a load.

You will get used to it and won't notice it after a while, but your passengers most likely will not.

 

Yes, there are situations where I notice a little "jerkiness"; when the engine restarts after an auto stop, when it switches from being in electric vehicle mode to using power from the ICE as well, and when turning cruise control off if the accelerator is not depressed to get the engine running at close to the same speed the car is traveling. As you become aware of these situations you can reduce this jerky behavior - I don't find it troubling.

 

I sometimes find my car jerking at really low speeds (like driving in a parking lot or creeping in slow-moving traffic, etc.).

 

Besides a fast startup comming out of autostop it will also occur when going into and out of EV mode. It feels as if the car was going to stall but it will not. The computer is trying to determine what power to use EV or gas. If you give it a little more gas comming out of EV mode it will not happen. Also, if you wait an extar second for the engine to start after auto stop it wont happen. This process is happening so fast that electric motor needs to turn the engine to get it to restart.I hope that makes sense.

 

Yes! Around a constant 7-8mph, my car goes into convulsions. I've learned to speed up or slow down when it happens.

 

I think that could be due to the fact that the auto-stop is engaging at that point. If you were to drive right at that speed it could go back and forth between running and stopping, which would cause some jerkiness.