Do hybrids need extra maintenance? No. Up-keep and preventive care? Yes, just as with any other vehicle. Here’s why:

• Engine oil: Best practice here especially for a hybrid since the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) is not running 100% of the time – Follow the oil life computer messages and your owner’s manual.
• Fluids such as engine coolant and brake fluid that deteriorate with age and heat cycles, somewhat regardless of mileage, still need to be serviced. Also some hybrid systems use a secondary cooling system to cool the electrics – so this coolant has a service life and needs to be changed.
• Transmission oil still needs to be changed periodically with the aim of extending the life of the transmission itself. The transmission in your hybrid is being used all the time just as with a standard Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle.
• Regenerative braking extends the service life of brake pads. Brake service “should” be quite extended from that of non-hybrid powered vehicles.
• Getting your hybrid in front of your trusted auto care person gives them opportunity to inspect and advise you about the health of your vehicle and this is in your best interest both from a safety aspect as well as financial.

 Experience tells us that nothing on earth is maintenance free, so to fall into the trap of thinking that any machine is “maintenance free”  is dangerous and potentially costly.

A word of caution about the internet and forums. There is lots of good information on the internet but we should use it as input data to our own algorithms to process the data into useful and rational decisions that allow us to act in our own best interest. The internet has little oversight as to the accuracy of the information that people put up.

Best practice when caring for the machines in your life is as follows;

1. Read your owner’s manual.
2. Do your own research.
3. Align yourself with people you trust.

Schedule Hybrid Regular Vehicle Care Service