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NEWSBREAKHopeful Hybrid Among the many low-pro-duction “green” vehicles be-ing test-marketed, the Toy-ota Prius stands alone as theonly example that has goneinto full-scale production.(The Prius has been on salein Japan since late last year,and is expected to arrive inU.S. showrooms in the 2000model year.)

The Prius is a “hybrid,”which means it combines twodifferent sources to propelthe vehicle—a high-torqueelectric motor and a conven-tional gasoline engine. It’s es-sentially an electric vehicle,assisted by an internal com-bustion engine. This system,called THS (Toyota HybridSystem), provides an electri-cally driven vehicle that neverneeds recharging.

Under the crowded hood,a 30kW electric motor pro-duces 40 hp at 940 to 2000rpm and 225 ft-lb of torqueat 0 to 940 rpm, while the1.5-liter 4-cylinder VVT-igasoline engine creates 58hp at 4000 rpm and 75 ft-lbof torque at 4000 rpm. Theengine is used partly todrive the vehicle and partlyto operate the generator,which creates the electricalcurrent. An inverter chan-nels the generated electrici-ty to the motor or the stor-age batteries, as required.

The motor then drivesthe vehicle from the con-verted electricity or fromthe storage batteries andbecomes a generator during

the regenerative braking cy-cle. The transmission con-sists of a power-split device,which divides the powerfrom the engine into twopaths—one directly to themotor and axle, the other tothe generator. By control-ling generator speed, the

transmission can continu-ously vary the engine speed.

When starting out, mov-ing at very slow speeds, de-scending long, gentle slopesand at other times whenrunning the engine wouldbe inefficient, the engine isturned off and the car is

propelled by the electricmotor alone.

During full-throttle ac-celeration, extra energy isdrawn from the batteries foradditional power. Under de-celeration or braking, themotor acts as a generator,transforming the kinetic en-ergy of the wheels into elec-tricity, which is stored in thebatteries. If the batterycharge gets low, the systemsends more engine power togenerate electricity andrecharge the batteries.When the vehicle is at rest,the engine is turned off. Aninformation screen on thedash indicates the powerflow and status of the THS.

The Prius’ looks may takesome getting used to and, inits present form, manyAmerican drivers wouldlikely consider it underpow-ered. But, if the auto indus-try (and our society) is evergoing to take a serious shotat alternative-propulsion ve-hicles, there is little doubtthat a practical sedan capa-ble of 60+ mpg is a seriousstep in the right direction.

Avoiding Bumps in the NightThe same thermal imaging,or “night vision,” technologythat has been used by themilitary for years will be in-troduced to the Americandriving public in the modelyear 2000 Cadillac DeVille.The system is designed tohelp drivers see beyond therange of their headlights to

On the road and under the hood, Toyota’s hybrid Prius isno pipe dream. It’s a real production model with brisk salesin Japan since its introduction there late last year. It’sslated to reach American shores for the 2000 model year.

John Lypen

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: Tom

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avoid nighttime accidents with animals,stalled cars, bicyclists, joggers and thelike. Such accidents result in threetimes the number of fatalities as day-time accidents.

An infrared camera mounted in thecar’s grille detects the thermal energyof objects in the road up to three timesbeyond the range of the headlights. Aprocessor sends the image to a HeadUp Display (HUD) mounted on thetop ledge of the dash. The HUD pro-jects the screen onto the lower portionof the windshield, to be viewed by thedriver. The system works only at nightand can be turned on and off at thedriver’s discretion.

Scan Tool Shootout UpdateAs we noted in September’s Editor’sReport, the Toledo, Ohio, Chapter ofthe Service Technicians Society (STS)recently sponsored a “Scan ToolShootout.” Scanner manufacturerswere invited to participate in a product

presentation for the benefit of tech-nicians in the northwest Ohio/southeastMichigan area. The idea was to give thetoolmakers a forum to present theirproducts to a target audience.

It wasn’t a competition, but rather away for technicians to experience thecapabilities and features of the variousproducts and to speak directly to thepeople who develop, manufacture andmarket them. The companies repre-sented were EASE Simulation, MPSI,OTC, Snap-on and Vetronix. Eachcompany also set up displays for the at-tendees to visit after the presentationswere complete.

A Mustang and a Corvette were thediagnostic guinea pigs for the demon-strations, and a video camera projectedthe image of the tool and its display ontoa large overhead screen. Each toolmakerwas given 30 minutes to demonstrate itsscanner, after which a short question &answer session was held. A longer Q&Awas held at the end of the evening.

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The illustration atright shows a driv-er’s nighttime viewof the road aheadwithout Cadillac’sNight Vision tech-

nology. In the illus-tration below, thesame scene with

Night Vision showstwo deer crossing

the road out ofrange of the car’s

headlights.

Since this was the firsttime such an event hadbeen held, many of the 160attendees were excited tofind out if this type of eventwould be held again.

Andrew McClinton, ayoung technician fromBerkley, Michigan, thoughtthe event was highly infor-mative. “It was great. I got tosee scan tools and acces-sories that I’ve only seen pic-tures of in magazines. It wasneat to see what each one ofthem can do. Since I workmainly on Volvos and otherimports, I was interested tosee which of the scan toolswould best serve my needs.”

Jim Todd, Director ofSales for the Balco Divisionof Snap-on, demonstratedthe features and capabilitiesof the MT-2500 Scanner.When asked his opinion of

the event, Jim said he likedthe format of presentations.“It’s a real value-added situa-tion for the technicians.They’re going to get morein-depth information herethan from their Snap-ondealer because we’re factoryreps and have answers to alltheir technical questions. I’dcome to an event like thisevery time. I think everypresentation was good.”

Norm Nall, who repre-sented OTC, said, “Mosttechs don’t work on 1998Corvettes, they work on1988 Berettas, average cars.Most technicians use scantools for simple things, to fixsimple problems. The mostimportant questions thesetechnicians should be ask-ing is, ‘What does my shopneed?’ and, more impor-tantly, ‘What can it afford?’

If you don’t need certain ex-otic features, don’t buy atool that has those features.You’ll be paying for some-thing you don’t need.”

Vetronix specialist SteveJordan showed the assem-bled techs the features ofthe Tech 1A and Mastertechscan tools. “I thought theevent was good for the tech-nicians. I would like to havehad the vehicles running sothat we could actually ob-serve operating conditions. Iwant to add my voice tothose of the other tool com-panies in thanking the Ser-vice Technicians Society forputting on this event.”

The presentation by Mi-croProcessor Systems Inc.,was made by Chet Taras,MPSI’s Manager of Diag-nostic Products, who cov-ered the benefits of the Pro-

Link Plus scanner. “Wewould have liked a littlemore time to demonstrateour tool, but we realize thattime was a consideration.”When asked if he thoughtMPSI was reaching a targetaudience here, Taras noted,“The audience was very at-tentive and the knowledgelevel seemed quite high.Some of the most well-known automotive diagnos-tics instructors and expertswere in the audience.” Sowere the diagnostic direc-tors of some automakers, anindication of the level of in-terest in this event.

Mark Warren, contribut-ing writer for MOTOR Maga-zine and president-elect ofSTS, made the presentationfor EASE Simulation, a PC-based system. “The audi-ence seemed highly skilled

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and receptive even to mypresentation, which was laston the agenda. I didn’t seeany blank faces in thecrowd. I would have liked tosee more students in the au-dience, but I realize that weneed to speak to the work-ing tech first.”

Mark Moses, owner ofMoses Automotive in Toledo,coordinated the showdown.“I was pleased with the event.The goal to bring this type ofinformation to the technicianwas definitely met.”

As for future events,Moses says he has alreadybeen in touch with industrypartners willing to supportfuture events. All of the scantool manufacturers praisedSTS for holding the eventand hoped to be asked backin the future.

Dealers, SpecialtyShops Get Lion’s Share of GrowthAccording to a report fromLang Marketing Resources,Inc., over two-thirds of thenearly $10 billion productgrowth in the light vehicleservice market between1992 and 1997 was capturedby vehicle dealers and spe-cialty repair shops.

During the five-year peri-od, dealerships took 36% ofthe product growth, special-ty repair shops 34% and tirestores 10%, followed by ser-vice stations/garages and au-to parts stores with bays,which each captured 9%.Discount stores/mass mer-chandisers with service baysaccounted for only 2% ofservice market product gainduring the same period.Lang’s definition of the lightvehicle service market en-compasses all products in-stalled by mechanics on carsand light trucks exclusive ofDIY product volume.

Motorists Don’t KnowWhat They Don’t KnowAccording to an AAA sur-vey, a large number of mo-torists have experiencedpreventable breakdowns inthe past year. At least 28%of 1500 motorists surveyedsaid they had at least oneproblem in the last year thatdisabled their vehicle. Thesurvey also found that while74% of vehicle owners saidthey were familiar or veryfamiliar with the man-ufacturer’s recommendedmaintenance schedule, onlyabout half of all respondentsregularly followed those rec-ommendations.

The survey, which wasconducted for AAA byWestgate Research in St.Louis, showed that mo-torists didn’t know as muchabout their vehicle’s mainte-nance and operation as theythought.

While 65% of respon-dents said they should havetheir vehicle’s tires rotatedevery 10,000 miles or soon-er, 67% spent nothing ontire rotation in the past year.In addition, 38% didn’tknow their vehicle’s correcttire pressure. Finally, 40%of motorists felt that to keepa car’s warranty in force,maintenance service had tobe performed at a new-cardealership, and 49% saidonly vehicle manufacturerparts could be used as re-placements.

¿Habla Usted Español?The National Institute forAutomotive Service Excel-lence (ASE) has published anew glossary of automotivewords and phrases in Englishand Spanish. It was devel-oped to help Spanish-speak-ing technicians translatetechnical terms that appearin the ASE certification tests.

The glossary containsabout four thousand entriesand is divided into nine sec-tions, each related to a dif-ferent automotive system.Both automobile andheavy-duty truck terms areincluded.

“ASE certification examsare intended to test a tech-nician’s diagnostic and re-pair knowledge, not readingability,” said Ronald H.Weiner, ASE president. “Wethink that many Spanish-speaking technicians willfind this glossary to be help-ful when preparing for andtaking the tests.”

Bilingual techniciansfrom across the countryhelped review and edit theglossary, and several hun-dred technicians previeweda trial version during theMay 1998 tests. Since vari-

ous dialects of Spanish arespoken in different parts ofthe U.S., multiple transla-tions are included for manywords. For example, de-pending on the locale, “belt”may be translated banda,correa, cinta or faja, so eachof these terms is included.

When taking the tests,Spanish-speaking tech-nicians may use the glossaryor any other foreign lan-guage dictionary, if theywish. The test questions andpassing scores are the samefor all test-takers, whetherthey use a glossary or not.Technicians who wish to usea glossary must purchase itin advance and bring it withthem to the test center.

For more information onthe glossary, contact ASE’sCustomer Service Dept. at703-713-3800.

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