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Place the ignition switch in the ON position.
Depress the brake pedal and push the ignition
switch when the transmission is in the P (Park)
position to start the Hybrid System.
The READY light illuminates indicating that the
vehicle is ready to be driven. If the ambient tem-
perature is low, the READY may flash and may
take time until the READY light stays on. For
details, see “Starting the Hybrid System” in the
“Starting and driving”section of this manual.
As long as the READY light remains on you can
drive your vehicle using the traction motor even
though the gasoline engine may not be running.
Drive your vehicle with smooth accelera-
tion and deceleration.
● While driving, energy is recovered through
the regenerative brake as the vehicle decel-
erates. However, for most efficient use, do
not accelerate or decelerate your vehicle
more than necessary.
● Avoid abrupt acceleration and deceleration.
● Thepower of the highvoltage battery can be
checked on the high voltage battery status
meter. See “High voltage battery status
meter” in this section for details. Gradual or
non-abrupt acceleration and deceleration
will make more effective use of the traction
motor without having to use gasoline engine
power.
● When parking, be sure to place the shift
selector in the P (Park) position. While driv-
ing, place the shift selector in the D (Drive)
position.
● The Hybrid System recharges the high volt-
age battery as necessary. However, the Hy-
brid System can not charge the highvoltage
battery when the transmission is in the N
(Neutral) position even if the engine is run-
ning.
● If the high voltage battery becomes dis-
charged, the engine will run for a longer
period of time. Do not keep thetransmission
in the N (Neutral) positionwith the system in
the ready mode.
NOTE:
The gasoline engine starts and stops auto-
matically. It may stop during low load driv-
ing, deceleration or when the vehicle is
stopped.
As long as the READY lightremains on, you
can drive your vehicle using the traction
motor even with the gasoline engine
stopped.
The gasoline engine may not stop auto-
matically in the following conditions:
● During gasoline engine warm-up.
● During high voltage battery charging.
● During high or low high voltage battery
temperature.
STARTING THE HYBRID SYSTEM EFFICIENT USE OF YOUR VEHICLE
HEV Overview HEV-7