So with the 2009 FEH's towing capacity at 1000 pounds (non-FEH V6 is 3500) ... what is the likelihood of being able to help pull a car out of a ditch or snowbank in the winter?

I'm in a Nissan Xterra and (still) waiting for my company to order me the 2009 FEH... and I try to be nice sometimes and help pull some people out who are stuck!

 

I have not tried this but one of the posters (gpsman1) has (in his 2005) and mentioned about the electronics "cutting out" if...I can't remember the exact statement he made...something like the electric motors can't turn the wheels, they shut down. Send him a PM and see if he can respond.

 

I think this is referring to an issue that AWD Toyota Highlander Hybrid owners had where the traction control would cut engine power to eliminate wheelspin on muddy or icy surfaces. FEH's don't have this traction control (RSC is different), so you can spin your wheels and coat your truck in mud as much as you want.

Speaking of recovery, yes I carry a recovery strap when I'm on the trail. Haven't had to use it yet though!

 

The '09 FEH will reduce power to the wheels also if the wheels start to spin but Ford installed a switch at the bottom of the center stack to turn the system off. If you forget to turn the system back on it will automatically turn back on when the key is cycled Off and back On again. Ford knew there would be times when you get stuck or the wheels spin you could need full engine power and electrical assist so they provided this switch.

The '09 FEH will help pull people out who are stuck like any other vehicle in its class. The problem I see is you would need a trailer hitch installed to hook a strap to. Many people have install a trailer hitch on the FEH so that should not be a problem. I just don't see any other safe place I would risk damage from pulling out another vehicle from the rear of my '09 FEH.

GaryG

 

"wheelspin" will be of NO help when trying to pull someone to get them unstuck.

Takes good old solid traction to do that, tire chains, say.

 

The vehicles that are good at pulling you out of the snow, are heavy diesel pickups with about 5000 lbs of weight. Often they have a bunch of tools, maybe even an extra fuel tank in the back, which helps too. My '89 Toyota pickup was no good in that department.

If you have all 4 on dry pavement, you should have a chance tho.

 

Folks out in Wyoming (where I spend some winter time) usually do not try to pull someone stuck in the snow starting with a taut line, they always allow some, but not too much, slack to start the stuck guy with a bit of a jerk to get it out of any ruts it might have dug into.

So in pulling someone out with a hybrid, you could use that to get the electric motors going and avoid the stall/torque problem of the computer controller.

With regard to the Ford Roll Stability Control (RSC) in the 09:
My 01 Mustang has Traction Control (TC) with an on/off switch. I found by experience that I had to turn it off when stuck in ice & snow or I'd never get out.

What I believe is going on is that with TC on, the system prevents the locking rear axle from kicking into the lock mode. Thus one wheel can spin (against the brake as TC applies brake pressure to reduce its spin) and the wheel with more traction doesn't ever get power because the difference in spin is not large enough to lock the axle.

Traction Control is not the same as RSC but with regard to wheel spin there may be a parallel. When I turn it off, the locking feature is so good as to get going on anything so long as the snow is not deep enough to seriously interfere with the undercarriage.

 

Just realized that there is another issue with the FEH & getting someone out of snow & ice.

The two machines in the transaxle are synchronous machines with a powerful permanent magnet type rotating element. If the stators rotating field gets ahead of the rotor and the torque angle exceeds a large enough angle the output of the motor goes to zero.

Once this slip has begun you cannot recover it unless the rotor also has induction windings built in. Don't know if Ford put these in.

My thoughts are that Ford designed the controller that creates the rotating field for the stator so that it would shut down if slip is approached or detected since what happens then is very large currents are drawn by the motor. Since the power source is a battery these currents could get very large, very quickly.

The inherent characteristics of these motors call for some motion in order to begin pulling hard. The torque speed curve for a synchronous machine (without induction windings) shows virtually zero starting torque. Once things are moving it is capable of very large torque.

 

Wow. Interesting...! Now let me go ask my local dealership about this...

Now, I'm not saying pulling put people who are insanely stuck, but perhaps those that simply have a wheel or two that can't get traction - given the 1000lb tow capacity, I obviously can't tow a car!

 

As for asking your dealership... they'll likely say "what's a synchronous machine?"

I haven't tried to pull out someone with the FEH. Using my Suburban a good tug, that I would think is within the capability of the FEH, seems to do the trick.

I suspect that your words about "insanely stuck" are an accurate reflection of reality.........