Dodge 2009 Aspen, Owner'S Manual

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When you desire to move forward with traffic flow,
simply depress the accelerator pedal and continue accel-
erating from idle up to your cruising speed. The gas
engine will restart and shut down again automatically
when commanded by the Hybrid operating system.
Shutting down and restarting (cycling) of the gas engine
during low speed traffic conditions less than 30 mph (48
km/h) is normal.
Re-Starting A Warm Engine
Your Hybrid vehicle is automatically equipped with
9
Silent Start
9
fuel saving technology. The decision to
enable the gas engine on a restart is automatically
determined by the Hybrid operating system.
Under certain conditions, the gas engine will not respond
(usually when restarting a warmed-up engine that has
recently been parked) when the ignition key is inserted
and turned to the START position. This is normal and is
considered a
9
Silent Start
9
. When the ignition key is
released to the ON/RUN position you will observe the
green
9
READY
9
light illuminated in the instrument clus-
ter, but, again, the gas engine is not running. When you
experience a “Silent Start” leave the key in the ON/RUN
position, then simply place your foot on the brake pedal,
move the shift lever into DRIVE or REVERSE and de-
press the accelerator pedal to drive the Hybrid Vehicle in
the Electric Mode.
Transmission Operation
The AHS-T HEV automatic transmission is similar in size
to a conventional automatic transmission. The transmis-
sion combines two electric motors with four fixed gear
ratios within a single transmission housing.
The electric motors can be used for electric-only propul-
sion, boosting the internal combustion engine or provid-
ing regenerative braking.
54 STARTING AND OPERATING