I heard there's an Orange wire that runs through the belly of the car body that could grill a responder if they cut it by mistake. This is great news for hybrid drivers and especially for the medics.

Here's to technology for technology.

/Owns a hybrid
//Cooks Pop Tarts on the way to work on the Orange Wire

more power!

Hippies, would you please do America -- nay, the world -- a favor and just go buy a Hummer.

Why do the Jaws Of Life hate America?

Wow... people bashing hybrid drivers NEVER gets old.

Would you rather live with a hippy or a neocon, white collar criminal?

/walks away from the ensuing flames.

Roger
That orange wire does pack a lot of punch. I heard some story about a hippie who left his Prius idling outside his home. Some little critter came up and decided "Hmmm I'll knaw on that wire." Ended up a little burned spot on the pavement and cost the hippie a good chunk of change.

/prolly an urban legend, still amusing
//Ann Arbor has way too many of these damn things
///I see them when I'm walking or on the bus doing a better job at saving enviroment than they are.

hopefully they'll have perfected it by the time Hybrids are a matter of course for most consumers.

Would you rather live with a hippy or a neocon, white collar criminal?

hmmm hippies got better pot , case closed

I thought the battery was automatically disconnected in the event of an accident.

Maybe that's just something they've been talking about including...

So anyone not driving an SUV or land barge that gets 20 gallons to the mile is a hippie? Well then, let's hear it for hippies!

I wonder what their hippie score was?

/whore

We don't need this tool. People who drive hybrids are concerned with saving the environment, and will be pleased to know that their small contribution to population control will mean marginal energy savings for those who remain.

So what would a Beatnik drive?

Escape and rescue info for Hybrid Escape...

http://www.fordtechservice.dealerconnection.com/vdirs/quickref/guide-escape.pd f

the insulation reacts to electrical exposure visually

You mean by glowing and sparking shortly before you get this funny feeling that maybe you shoulda cut the blue wire and not the red...?

And now, for some poetry...

moosealope

A Neon...sky jazz in the highway holocaust...man...

It's "Damn dirty hippies",if you don't mind,please.

"How do you hide money from a hippie?"
\aahh,never mind.

Yeah, I've had some basic training on extricating from one of those. Seems like they have most of the high-juice wires pretty inaccessable for standard extrication maneuvers. Then again, by the time we have to cut someone out of their car, it ain't exactly in mint condition, so who's to say what could or could not be live?

But on the gripping hand, it ain't like working on a broken controlled-explosion-producer surrounded by flamable liquids is a walk in the park. That's why we get paid maybe $30,000 starting out, and if we're lucky twice that after 20 years in. And why our department probably won't be able to afford them for another 10 years, until every other car is a hybrid.

It'd be a nice idea if the major hybrid producers could start a program that would allocate grants for purchasing these sorts of tools to combat a unique hazard posed to victims and rescuers by their products, and award it by density of hybrids per protection area. Of course, given the short-sighted nature of humanity in general and our economic system in particular, it'll never happen, or if it does, it will only be after many brothers and sisters give their lives for a lack of quality equipment. And in the meantime we'll just keep doing what we can with what we've got, while y'all get on with your lives.

Personally, I'm more worried about working around undeployed airbags. They aren't marked, each model is different, and they can go off up to 10 minutes after you cut the battery cables. Those things are killers.

Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies.

Just wait. The hindenburg hybrids will be a real blast.

I am deeply offended by the term "hippie".

I prefer "bleeding-heart-pinko-commie-bedwetting-tree-hugger".

/2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
//Man, do I farking love that car
///Goes out to garage to look for orange wire

First thing the responder must do in this situation is get the guys attention talking on the cell phone and politely ask him to back up his navigator so they can pull the hybrid car out from under his bumper.

Then they call the mortician.

If you drive a Hummer, you are with the terrorists.

This stroy brought to you by A THOUSAND FREAKING ADS

Not all hybrid owners are damned dirty hippies - I voted mostly Republican last major election.

Corvus:
No, but it is a real problem. Since the technology is so new, the manufacturers haven't settled into a specific way of running the power lines, and it is different across all the brands, whereas the path of the gas line is pretty much known. Cutting that cord it will give you a good zap if it didn't disengage during the accident like it is supposed to. Most (if not all) of the manufacturers use brightly-colored wire for those power lines, but I can see that getting overlooked when someones in a hurry to save a life in the dark.

"Only three more hours, sea people. Only three more hours and you can take me away from this crappy goddamn planet full of hippies." - Eric Cartman

/intriqued by E85
//like the idea of brewing moonshine, err, I mean fuel
/// Git-r-dun

How does it stop it from exploding?
/Boom
//mmmm fried hippie

werekoala

Isn't it "on the other hand" and then "on the gripping hand"?

/just as nerdy as you.

I voted mostly Republican last major election.

It's nice of you to admit that and come out of the closet.
You dirty little elephant! ;)

Cuchulane,

'Fiscally conservative' hardly applies to vehicles whose cost premium over a conventionally-powered example means that it'll take, on average, about 8 years of normal driving to recoup the financial difference in fuel savings. One can wave the 'greener than thou' flag as fervently as one likes, but to do so conveniently ignores not only the added danger to rescue workers (as pointed out in this article), it also neatly bypasses the very serious environmental impact that hybrid powertrain battery replacement and disposal programs will create down the road.

And lest I forget, keeping one propulsion system properly maintained can be expensive enough-- the repair and replacement costs are very likely to be in another league compared to their petrol counterparts. Insurance rates are quickly proving to be more costly as well, cutting into potential savings.

Mind you, if all you're seeking is improved performance, hybrids can be the answer (see: Honda Accord Hybrid - the quickest member of the family), but if it's about saving money, and arguably even about saving the earth, hybrids remain not 'the answer,' but instead, a question mark.

this hippie is glad!

This guy can disarm your deadly hippy carbomb. And then fix it with a stick a bubble gum.

Pxtl

serves me right for trying to quote the masters. I should have said "on the other hand" instead of "then again".

Glad you caught the reference, though. I've been on a big Niven kick lately. Any chance you know anyone in the auto biz who could pass my suggestion about free hybrid-jaws up the line. And do something about the airbags?

i came in here to say -
"everbody's comin' home for lunch these days"
/sorry
//no reason except for fun

damn "everybody"

First read as "Jews of life for hybrids"...

/Give me your Jew gold!
//coming off a post Halloween sugar high

Hybrids aren't for just hippies. I'm going to get one when I get a new car and I'm a Republician, conservative leaning centrist.

that's "rich hippies" to you, pal.

Foaming: Why? What happens if we cross the beams?



Vroom!

almejita:
"I had a dream last night about you,my friend...
I had a dream,that I slept next to plastic...
Great. Now I have to go through my stacks of wax and listen to that song again.

You damn hippie. ;)

submitter: hippies, eh? Maybe you'd prefer a hummer?