Hi all, I just bought a 2022 CHR automatic hybrid. My brother-in-law told me to shift to neutral when in traffic, so I tried it several times today. Then the car gave me an alert saying not to use neutral to preserve the transmission battery. Is it better to stay in drive and use auto hold, or should I actually use neutral? What is the correct way to handle this?
Why would you use neutral? That defeats the purpose of the hybrid system. Just keep it in drive.
Arley said:
Why would you use neutral? That defeats the purpose of the hybrid system. Just keep it in drive.
Funnily enough, he said it helps save the clutch. That is what I had been doing during my first week of driving.
@LisaMoore
It is a CVT, so there is no clutch. Your brother-in-law does not know what he is talking about. Just ignore his advice.
allson said:
@LisaMoore
It is a CVT, so there is no clutch. Your brother-in-law does not know what he is talking about. Just ignore his advice.
More precisely, it is an eCVT. It has no clutch, no torque converter, and no traditional gearbox parts. It just has two electric motors and planetary gearing.
Neutral should never be used in normal driving. It is only needed for towing, which you will probably never have to do with a Toyota hybrid.
@LisaMoore
Putting it in neutral prevents the battery from charging when you are decelerating or braking. The clutch does not work the way he thinks it does. Toyota hybrids have a different system, and they are very efficient.
@LisaMoore
You can reassure him that the clutch will be just fine since your car does not have one.
Scout said:
@LisaMoore
You can reassure him that the clutch will be just fine since your car does not have one.
He drives buses, so that is where the recommendation came from. But I will just continue to drive it the way I have been since I bought it. Thanks!
@LisaMoore
Isn’t it a CVT?
Just drive normally.
Why do people overcomplicate driving? You press the brake to stop and the gas to go. D for drive and R for reverse. That is all you need to do.
Keep it in drive, or else the car will not be able to recharge the traction battery. There is no traditional clutch in a hybrid system.
Neutral is recommended in some automatic transmissions, which is probably why your brother-in-law suggested it. But with an eCVT, you are not putting any stress on the components by keeping it in drive. It does not make sense to use neutral in a hybrid because the car can recharge the battery while stopped if the engine is running. Shifting to neutral would prevent that.
So just keep it in drive and use the brake pedal or brake hold.
He might have had good intentions, but he gave you bad advice. Your hybrid cannot charge the battery at all while in neutral, so it just drains it. The only time you should put it in neutral is if you are pushing it to the side of the road or towing it. Just forget that neutral exists.
That is what the auto hold feature is for. Leave it in drive.