I was wondering if other experience this condition or maybe it's just my car. A friend of mine who also owns a 2009 AH says his does not do this.

My car is warmed up sufficiently and it's neither very cold or very warm outside so the heater and the A/C should not be the reason. The battery level meter is reading in 60%-75% range.

I am approaching an intersection with a light that has turned red so I know I will need to be stopped for a minute or so. As I approach the intersection, the MPH drops below 40MPH and the car switches down into EV Mode just as it should. I pull up to the stop line and the car is still in EV Mode. After about 10-15 sec of being stopped, foot on the brake, waiting for the light, the engine starts! If I am stopped for several minutes it may stop again and switch back to EV Mode but usually I am not stopped that long and the light turns green and the engine is still running. The instant I put any pressure on the gas peddal to pull away, the car switches back to EV Mode and will stay in EV Mode until I either accelerate hard or get back above 35-40 MPH. This happens every time I am stopped for more than 10-15 secs and the car is in EV Mode.

This must be a huge waist of gas and extra ware and tear on the engine when it should be in EV Mode. My dealer said this is normal for the car and is because it detects my battery as being too low and so starts the engine to charge things back up. I explained that the baterry meter was reading 60-75% when this happens and so shouldn't be the reason unless the meter is defective. My question is, if it thinks the battery is too low, why does it put the car back in Ev Mode as soon as I touch the gas pedal? Wouldn't that make the low battery condition even worse?

Looking for a reason to take this back to the dealer or some other reason to explain this away......

-Cliff

 

Sometimes I come out of EV mode with no explanation. I never use my AC, and only use my heater sparingly. Even with both of these off, I get strange behavior sometimes.

But, sounds like this is happening to you more frequently. Take it to another dealer...

 

This happens to me when I drive for about 30-35 minutes in a pretty efficient manner (like the last 5 minutes bar on your the nav is over 40 mpg). it'll turn the engine on randomly. whenever this happens, I release the brake and after rolling for about 5 feet, it'll go back to EV. I know my car does this so I give myself a little bit of space when I stop

I think it's an ECM thing, but I doubt they would create new software for this. It doesn't happen that often

 

Thanks for your replies and experiences. Not a lot of hills around where I usually drive so not sure I can push this to store more than 75% before it starts getting used up again. I may take this back to the dealer and challenge them on the 'battery is too low' reason.

 

well we all know it's not the battery being low. i'm not so sure they'd do anything though but goodluck

 

Hi,

My 09 NAH also does this. I noticed it does it more if I had just been driving aggressively. I don't think it is abnormal though it is peculiar. I am an auto technician and have been wondering why it dose this. I don't think it is related to the battery though because the SOC is usually well above 50%. I suspect it could be due to a sudden rise in engine temperature when you come to a stop right after driving on the highway. The ECU would request engine start to circulate coolant (maybe). I don't worry about it though, and the less my dealer touches the car the better.

 

Hello dan59,

Interesting explanation....I hadn't considered that eng temp might rise when coming to a stop but wouldn't the fan keep running and cool things down if that was the case? Maybe it does heat up and the fan does comes on and that's why it will go back into EV mode all by itself if I am stopped at the intersection long enough.

The part I still don't have an explanation for is, if there is a valid condition that causes the engine to start like it needs heat or needs A/C or the battery is low, then why does it switch back to EV mode the instant I apply even slight pressue on the accelerator. It would seem as though the reason for the engine to start is still present but is ignored because I applied pressure to the pedal. Doesn't make any sense. I get the sense my engine is running more and using gas more than it needs to because something is not setup correctly and the dealer hasn't a clue what to do about it except to blame it on a low battery when we both know this happens when the battery is above 50% (usually closer to 75% in my case). I'm guessing they hope I'll just stop asking about this when I go in for service the next time. As long as I have three other friends with 09 NAH's that say their's doesn't do this, I'm not about to let this go. Thanks for your thoughts....

 

Mine does it occassionally after driving in traffic and then i stop at a stoplight or something and despite battery levels of over 50%, the ICE kicks on for a bit and will kick off if I start driving and go back into hybrid mode. I always figured it was trying to cool the engine down, Never bothered me...no wait, actually it probably did bother me when the car was new to me, but I have since accepted it as part of the car's SOP. But I suppose i would be curious to find out the actual reason it does this though. (as for other cars not doing it, keep in mind that most 4 door sedan drivers tend to be clueless about their cars or are utterly distracted and may not even notice the car kicking on, especially the newer models that have a smoother start than my 07.

And oh, I suspect it kicks back into EV when we start up again because once the car moves, it will start getting cooled off by wind again and I suppose that allows the transmission to have to deal with a bit less at startup with only one motor to deal with if the ICE was only for cooling.

 

it could be...I just think it's a glitch in the programming. the car needs to be driven for about 35 min and you need to average about 35+ mpg in your last 5 minutes. all you need to do is roll about 5 feet and EV comes back on. I just learned to keep more space in front of me

 

Happens to me all the time after driving 60-70 mph on the freeway for at least 20 min. When I get off the freeway and stop at a red light, the car will go into EV mode and then suddenly the engine comes on, despite having over 50% battery charge. I don't think it has anything to do with cooling since if I roll forward a few feet the car will go back into EV mode. I think Nissan did a sloppy job of making sure the Toyota software works well with a Nissan engine.