Comments by "flagmichael" (@flagmichael) on "How Toyota Hybrid System Work Part 1 High Voltage Battery" video.

My wife and I have had a lot of cars over the last 47 years, but for the last 16 years we have owned nothing but Prius. She got one new in 2002, and the reliability was so good we were astounded. I traded in a Nissan 300ZX for a used 2002 Prius in 2002, and we have had only one problem beyond dead 12V batteries in all these years: my 2002 had a bad inverter coolant pump at 196K miles. By far the most reliable cars we have ever had. I have no idea which would come in second place.
14
When I was 14 years old I helped a friend repair a tube-type console radio. When I got there he had the chassis and the speaker on the counter. It was a field coil speaker (in those days permanent magnets were not good enough to use for speakers so they used electromagnets) and I knew the coil was used as a filter in the high voltage. What I didn't know was that for reasons unknown to Man one side of the coil was fastened to the speaker frame! The next mystery is why I had one hand resting on the grounded chassis and I slapped my hand down on the magnetic structure, making excellent contact with 300 volts DC. I felt like I had been hit in the back of the head with a 2X4, and everything got pretty dim for a few seconds, but I did not fall down. If it had been AC I would not be here to tell you about it; DC is not as lethal, volt for volt, as AC. Later, when I worked as an avionics tech in general aviation - small planes - I got 275 VDC between my fingers at least a dozen times... a quick yelp and a couple seconds of muttering curses. My brother and I also managed (long technical story) to get our bodies in series with each other across the 800 VDC plate supply in an amateur radio transmitter. Quite a jolt, and we were left with sterile pits in our fingers. That said, it is still hazardous. Will contact with battery voltage in one of these hybrid systems kill you? Think of it as being like falling off a roof. The odds are probably in your favor, but you really don't want to find out.
3
@TheCarCareNut I have heard a lot about oil consumption in the Gen 3, with lots of fingers pointing to the small drain holes in the oil control ring seats and subsequent coking of the holes and rings. However, coking makes me think the owners are using conventional oil (which can't be 0W-20) and/or neglecting change intervals. Any light you can shed on that in a gen 3 video would be great!
2