I'm hoping someone will just tell me I'm being paranoid about this.

About a week ago I had to brake very hard to avoid getting hit by another car, and I noticed for a couple miles after that the battery wasn't charging at all, neither when just coasting down the road or braking. Then it started working again and I thought nothing of it.

Lately I have been noticing that braking wont charge the battery at all until my first auto-stop. For example today I was driving to work and I was less than a mile from home and I was coasting and noticed 1 bar of regen, but as I approached the light and started to brake, it went to zero bars of charging. Then I hit the light and the auto-stop enabled, and when I accelerated again and started driving everything was fine, normal regen when coasting and braking.

Now hopefully someone will tell me this is normal and I just don't remember it acting like this. Thanks

 

Alex, your car has to get to the operating temp. before it does its thing.

 

I know if has to get to temp, since the first time I stop without it charging when braking it kicks in the auto-stop. So the car is warmed up, it just isnt charging. But then again, I may be paranoid.

 

Some of us would suggest you keep an eye on it and just drive normally for a good while and try to enjoy it while you do.
If it is paranoia then time will likely cure it. If it is not, then you'll notice at least the FE impact at which point you can have the dealership look at it.

Cheers;

MSantos

 

If your battery is full it won't charge, I've had that happen to me a few times.

 

The battery wasnt full, but I will continue to monitor it. i do remember the one time my battery was full and I had 30 mile of highway to do. God did I get good mileage on that trip.

 

I've seen mine do autostop without regen braking before. Seen it do regen braking without autostop too. Usually this weirdness only happens within the first 5 minutes of driving.

 

I think you may be in paranoia mode! Since you posted this I have been watching my regen lights in the morning. I notice that after first cold starting the car, until I get out of my neighborhood onto the main street, I don't see any charge when I put my foot on the brake to stop at 4 stop signs. I do see one green bar of regen when I let my foot off the gas to coast to the stop sign. My SoC is usually at 5-7 bars in the morning. I also can't get the iFE gauge to get over 35-40mpg when coasting at 20-25mph. 9 times out of 10 by the time I turn out of the 4th stop sign and get onto the main road (to go less than 1/10th mile to the left turn lane and wait at the light), the car will go into autostop. If it doesn't and I just missed the light, I put the car in park and turn off the engine (leaving it on accessory to listen to the radio) - it's a 3-4 minute wait and if I don't go into autostop, I don't want to waste the gas sitting there and watching my FE drop by .1 up to .3! Also, the light is easy to time when to start up again and be ready to go.

So with all the above, I think your car is fine. Glad you avoided an accident!

 

I have a 2004 , I live on a big hill, and when I leave the house I go down the hill, Iwill not get any brake regen , or downhill coasting regin until i use assist, for instance , when go doing the hill I will deliberatly jackrabbit start a bit to cause assist to come on and immediatley after that happens i will get brake regen and downhill coasting regen. If i dont do it i will go all the way down the hill without any regen at all.

 

You might want to drop from D to S when you approach the stop - the cvt will tend to rev and more regen bars will appear than if staying in D.

I use this instead of D or Brake regen quite often.