Long-Term Reliability Could Be a Problem

Except for the poor folks who take on a hybrid vehicle without thinking it through, no one runs the risk of suffering any real harm from this current media fascination with hybrid-powered vehicles in general and the Toyota Prius in particular.

Indeed, viewed correctly, the ongoing infatuation with hybrid vehicles might actually become a classic case of bandwagonism and should make for a textbook case of how the media can be, ummh, positioned to believe just about anything a scheming company wants.

Heres a ration of reality -- none of the hybrid vehicles already on the market or headed there from Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota or anyone else are the great, bright hope of either the auto industry or the concerned car owner.

I wish it were so on behalf of the global environment

Could the ongoing infatuation with hybrid vehicles actually be just a classic case of bandwagonism? (Photo: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.)

New environmental and political realties are not likely to happen for a few more years, when the hydrogen economy and its fuel cell vehicles arrive. We can only hope the next economy (whether its hydrogen- or solar- or seawater-powered) develops in a way that favors all of humanity.

Notwithstanding all that, it is true that a hybrid will generally deliver better fuel economy than a comparably-sized vehicle

No one at any of the car companies has figured out exactly how a hybrids going to work and behave over the long term. (Photo: American Honda)

A hybrid will also put a customer in a much more precarious ownership position than a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, and that situation could be a lot worse than the owner can imagine.

The problem with a hybrid-powered vehicle is the same as it is for any new, expensive and complicated technology from any company. In the first place, no one at any of the car companies has figured out exactly how a hybrids going to work and behave over the long term, so the owner could have considerable performance or reliability problems in the near- and long-term future.

If hybrid buyers do

As well as being extremely complicated, hybrid power is also extremely expensive to repair. (Photo: Ford Motors)

It takes time and money to equip a dealership with the parts and service personnel needed to service a technology as new and complicated as this, and history has shown repeatedly (with electric vehicles, turbochargers, rotary engines, navigation systems, CVT screens, and sophisticated control systems, among others) that this can mean lots of aggravation for early buyers.

So therell likely be delays at the dealership if you have a hybrid problem and maybe even a flat-out inability to fix some things.

Finding service will always be a problem throughout the life of a hybrid, and then paying for it might very well become a nightmare after the warranty runs out.

As well as being extremely complicated, hybrid power is also extremely expensive. The service charges will almost certainly surpass any savings you may have experienced

The only way for a smart consumer to take on a hybrid from any manufacturer is to lease it. (Photo: American Honda)

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