Those new hybrid cars that all you hippies love may have an unforeseen danger in an accident: high-voltage shock for rescue workers. Most of the time, to free a trapped passenger after an accident, the car is sliced and cut open with hydraulic tools—the proverbial ‘Jaws of Life.’ Now there’s worry that unless proper procedure is followed, like turning off the car and disconnecting the battery (asking for forgiveness of sins, emptying rescue boots of conductive prank jelly), crunching into the side of a wreck could merit a nasty, pants-filling surprise. The best solution so far seems to be to ignore the doors (where many of the electrical cables snake through) and instead go for the roof. (Thanks, Matt!)
Read [CNN]
Update: Read on to find out what reader Keith Baker has to say about why hybrids may not be so dangerous in emergency situations after all:
Unfortunately people are falling for the Myth that hybrids may be
dangerous to work on in a rescue situation, even rescue training folk.
Here is what toyota has to say about the Prius: Prius Safety [Toyota PDF]
Here is a fire safety rescue site: Firehouse.com
Note that most of the precautions involve not cutting into things like
airbag lines which might cause airbag deployment. This is true on any
car with airbags, especially side impact.
Caution is also needed because the Prius could still be “on” but not
running its motor which could be started without waring. This is what
all of the remove power warnings are about (that and the airbags). You
don’t want the vehicle moving.
Also note that high power is not routed through the doors, normal
accessory power is all that gets into the doors. High power is routed
in a separate path under the bottom of the car in bright orange wires.
While it is theoretically possible that two power wires could penetrate
their protective shields, including an encased metal shield which would
short the battery, and then contact separate, parts of the chassis and
the rescuer could touch both of those pieces, obviously a very rare
occurrence. One should also compare this to the rates of crashed cars
bursting into flames due to ruptured gas lines / tanks. The prius has a
much safer fuel bladder which keeps explosive fuel vapor to a minimum
compared to old metal tanks.
More caution is needed with new side curtain airbags than hybrid
vehicles…
