Your hybrid car, or even your all electric car, will not harm your cardiac implant. That’s the good news from the Mayo Clinic, which reported on its new study Saturday at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session in San Francisco.

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) significantly lower the risk of sudden death from a heart attack — much more than just using medications to treat irregular heartbeat. However, although the Mayo Clinic said that problems with heart implants are considered rare, they can happen. They recommend a number of precautions that you must take after getting an implant, including keeping your cell phone more than 6 inches from your chest area, asking airport security staff to limit scanning, and informing other doctors that you have the implant before they schedule procedures like MRIs.

Two doctors, Luis R. Scott and Fernando Tondato, based at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, were the lead investigators of the new study, which was prompted by an awareness of the growing popularity of fuel-saving hybrid cars. Their preliminary study tested heart implants from three manufacturers in a 2012 Toyota Prius hybrid, both while the car was speeding up and slowing down, as well as at steady speeds of 30 miles per hour (mph) and 60 mph.

Dr. Scott said that it might be necessary to repeat the tests with other models of hybrids, but their tests with the Prius showed that it didn’t interfere with the life-saving IDCs.

That’s great news for drivers with heart disease. Although Wolff Bachner recently reported on how Japanese and US auto manufacturers are backing away from developing fully electric cars, hybrid cars continue to attract new buyers who want a practical way to cut down on fuel costs. Even luxury models like Lamborghini may ultimately use the technology.

Of course, you should always check with your cardiologist if you have any concerns about how your heart implant will react with electric devices. But the Mayo Clinic study provided new evidence that you can safely drive a hybrid car.

Hybrid Cars Don’t Harm Heart Implants is a post from: The Inquisitr

Late last week, we reported that the Fisker Karma purchased by consumer advocacy magazine Consumer Reports (one that the watchdog group notes that they paid six figures for, stressing “this is not a press car”) embarrassingly broke down during initial testing, flashing a warning light when the vehicle was stopped on a test track before failing to shift into any other gear but park or neutral.

In describing the situation to readers, Consumer Reports didn’t pull any punches- explaining that in all their years of testing vehicles, none had failed on such a key issue at such an early stage, saying:

“We buy about 80 cars a year and this is the first time in memory that we have had a car that is undriveable before it has finished our check-in process.”

The Fisker Karma dealer had to come to the Consumer Reports test track with a flatbed truck, pick up the dead vehicle and service it for eventual retesting. That was reported March 9th, and today, Consumer Reports told readers that the Fisker Karma they’d purchased had been repaired, and that the vehicle is back in their possession for testing.

In a follow-up post, Consumer Reports briefly explains their experience with Fisker Karma following the unfortunate incident, including what initially caused the vehicle’s sudden death on the test track:

“The dealer’s repair invoice says the problem was “duplicated repeatedly.” A “fault was found in the battery and inverter cable. Both were replaced as a unit.” In other words, we now have a brand-new lithium-ion drive battery pack provided under warranty, though likely costing as much as a small, fuel-efficient car. “

The magazine continues:

“Throughout the process, the dealer’s service department kept us up to date on the progress. And they were courteous enough to wash the car and charge it up before shipping the luxury sedan back to us.”

Consumer Reports says testing will begin anew, and it will be interesting to see how the vehicle rates this time around- but as one commenter notes in the post’s comments, the break down situation is probably “a marketing director’s worst nightmare.”

Consumer Reports Fisker Karma Returns After Servicing is a post from: The Inquisitr

Consumer Reports is likely re-thinking their decision to purchase a luxury plug-in hybrid car after the car, a Fisker Karma, failed after less than 180 miles. The Karma, which Consumer Reports bought last week from a dealer in Connecticut, is worth over $100,000, and became popular in the United States after Justin Bieber was gifted one for his 18th birthday.

The Consumer Reports test-drivers had just started to calibrate the car’s speed, driving 65 mph on their test track, when a light came on on the dashboard. CR states that the driver finished with the calibration test and parked the car, but were unable to restart. In a statement made by the Manufacturer, two Fisker engineers had been sent to the test track to diagnose the car. In the statement released by the magazine, they stated that, “We buy about 80 cars a year and this is the first time in memory that we have had a car that is undriveable before it has finished our check-in process.”

This is very bad news for Fisker, whose Karma model has already seen a recall due to a software malfunction that caused the navigation system to freeze. There are currently 400 Karmas on the roads in the United States, and the company also plans to start manufacturing the Nina sedan at an old GM plant in Wilmington, Delaware. Thankfully though, the car’s malfunction will not affect the reliability rating that Consumer Reports publishes, as those ratings are decided by subscribers who own the car.

Hopefully the start up car manufacturer will be on the end of better karma in the future.

Consumer Reports Karma Fisker Dies During Testing is a post from: The Inquisitr

Toyota on Friday finally unveiled their long awaited Prius plug-in hybrid. Production model PHV was rolled out at the Green Drive Expo and the company announced that the vehicle will be ready for sale in March 2012.

The plug-in vehicle comes with a price tag of $32,000 for the base model and will offer two different trim versions with touchscreen audio / navigation display and the company’s Entune in-car entertainment system which comes standard, although the heads up display will be reserved only for higher end versions of the vehicle.

The car delivers up to 87 MPGe when placed in combined drive mode and 49MPG when switched to hybrid mode.

According to Toyota the vehicle is powered by new 4.4kWh Li-ion batteries which can pull a full charge in three hours when plugged into a 120v source or charge in just 2 hours when a 240v connection is made available.

Speaking about the specifics of the launch Toyota officials revealed:

“The Prius Plug-in Hybrid will be on sale in 14 launch states beginning this October through Toyota’s Online Order System at www.toyota.com. Vehicle deliveries begin in Spring 2012. The launch states include California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. A national rollout is planned for 2013.”

Buyers will also be eligible for the full federal tax credit of $2,500 when they pick up the plug-in vehicle, slightly lowering their overall out of pocket expenses.

Do you plan to run out and pick up the plug-in hybrid when it’s made available?

Toyota Unveils Prius Plug-in Model, Gives March 2012 Release Date, $32,000 Price Tag is a post from: The Inquisitr