One of Walt Disney’s most revered full length animated films has to be Bambi. This is a wonderful story of innocence and tragedy about some of the cutest animals of the forest. We smiled and laughed at the antics of Bambi and Thumper and we cried at the loss during the forest fire.
Real life can also take on a tragic tale as well. One of my co-workers is driving a twin to Sparky. Every year during the Christmas holidays, he and the family make their way to Michigan to spend time with family. This year however, their trip was interrupted when a deer suddenly ran out onto the highway. It was night as they were traveling through Virginia. Bill said the first time he saw the deer was when it was about two feet in front of the car.
Sadly the deer was killed, while causing considerable damage to the Escalade Hybrid. Bill and his family learned first-hand about one of the safety features built into the Hybrid. You can imagine the force of hitting a 200 plus pound animal at highway speeds. The crash sensors automatically disconnected the hybrid drive system from the battery.
The electric motors of the hybrid drive system operate using the 300 volt battery stored inside the vehicle. This sort of power is not something that you would want to escape outside of a controlled environment. For these sort of situations General Motors made available training to fire and rescue personnel across the country on how to handle a hybrid in the event of a crash.
This system did however deactivate the entire drive system, which meant the hybrid had to be towed to the nearest dealer. OnStar assisted in sending a tow truck and finding a hotel nearby that would accept dogs. The next day the dealer was able to reactivate the system allowing Bill and his family to finish their trip.
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