Boron Extrication An in-depth look into vehicle extrication and rescues involving today's automobiles
The Chevrolet Malibu Eco vehicles are front-wheel drive, five passenger vehicles with a lightly electrified gasoline engine. The eAssist system utilizes a high voltage battery, located in the trunk, as a supplemental power source. The system assists the engine utilizing a high torque belt-driven starter / generator.
The eAssist system features a 130 volt lithium-ion battery, which provides electrical energy to the starter / generator. The high voltage battery assembly is located in the trunk behind the rear passenger seats. The assembly includes several internal components that operate together to provide and control the high voltage for the eAssist system.
There are two separate electrical systems within the eAssist vehicles: low voltage (12 V) and high voltage (130 V). The low voltage system is similar to a conventional vehicle.
Do NOT cut the:
- Roof rails near the center pillar; contains side curtain airbag inflators
- Front seat back on the outboard edge; contains side airbags
- Center pillar near the rocker; contains the seat belt retractor pretensioner and side impact sensor
The Chevrolet Malibu Eco is designed to protect the occupants during a collision. The body structure contains high strength steel; this is highlighted in blue. The occupants are protected from front, rear, and side impacts by a structural cage created by the underlying vehicle structural design. Additional crumple zones protect the occupant with front, side, and rear rails that are designed to crush in a crash.
Cut through the low voltage cables on each side of the yellow labels to remove a section of the cable to ensure the cables cannot inadvertently reconnect.
Make sure you read thru the Emergency Response Guides below:
Buick LaCrosse, Regal and Malibu have the option of the Eco boost engine system. Have not seen the Regal nor the Malibu in person-but have seen and been through the LaCrosse. There are no ID markings on the exterior of the LaCrosse. The best way to ID whether the vehicle is an Eco-Boost is to look for the exhaust tailpipes. Single exhaust tailpipe, then the vehicle is an Eco-Boost. Twin or dual tailpipes is non-Eco-Boost but is a V-6 engine configuration.
David S. Stover
Sinclair community College
Just realized that I missed stated about the Buicks and the Chevy. They have what is called the EcoTec mild hybrid system. Ford has a turbo charged engine that is called Eco Boost, which is not a hybrid.
So how the hell are we suppose to cut people out of these things after the crash?