There are times when I brake or decelerate in 'S' mode to boost battery charging. Does anyone know the minimum programmed speed that one could shift back from 'S' to 'D' in order to engage auto-stop if a full stop were required?

 

I haven't tried--I would guess 8mph though since auto stop happens at 7mpg.

I'm not sure if 'S' boosts charging or not--it doesn't appear to for me. It definitely does in my MMH, but without the ability to gauge it with a scan gauge, I don't usually bother using 'S' in the HCH unless I want to avoid auto-stop. Does yours seem to charge more in 'S'?

 

Under some circumstances, I notice greater charging in 'S' mode. Haven't had enough time to study it carefully, though.

 

I normally use 2 if the ICE has not had time to warm up. The only reason for this is you don't get regen when in high gear until the ICE warms to operating temp., but you do in 2. You probably know this but! Hal

 

Yeah, I've always been a little wishy-washy on that. My thoughts are that if the car doesn't think things are warm enough for regen in drive, is using S doing something "bad" for the battery, or is drive just more conservative?

The MMH uses forced regen/extra assist cycles as a means to warm up the battery when starting out cold which is about 180 degrees from Honda's logic.