“This is where everything is headed.” OJ Lopez owns and operates Fluid MotorUnion in Naperville, Illinois. The dad and mechanic often posts about clients’ high-performance maintenance, repairs, and projects. However, he recently issued a warning about daily drivers, specifically hybrid cars.

Several automakers recently swapped out their lofty EV production goals for hybrid models. To them, and many buyers, hybrids are the “safe” fallback. In theory, they’re more efficient than ICE cars, but more reliable long-term than EVs. Lopez says otherwise.

Hybrid cars often suffer age-related gremlins, making repairs complex and expensive

As hybrid cars enter the used market, the mechanic says, the technology designed to make driving more efficient and advanced starts to age. Due to system complexity, hybrid diagnostics and repairs are far from straightforward five-step flow charting.

“Unlike old-school mechanical issues that you could track down with a wrench and a voltmeter, these systems stack faults.”

Instead, he says, one weak voltage line can light up five modules. A single module going out of spec can trigger a cascade of what the industry calls “ghost codes.” These are fault codes that may or may not help mechanics trace the problem source. “Expensive rabbit holes,” Lopez labels them.

Now, I’ll argue that ghost codes exist on modern gas-powered cars, too

I haven’t sat behind a shop counter for a few years now, but I saw it enough on ICE vehicle scans.

These days, vehicles are just chock-full of sensors, switches, modules, and wiring harnesses that look like a human body’s circulatory system. Systems twist together and run from bumper to bumper.

Lopez has a good point, though: with Hybrid cars, dealers don’t always troubleshoot well. They either aren’t trained to do it or don’t want to spend the time.

How one dealership customer got hit with a $25,000 estimate

“They quote the whole ecosystem,” he claims. “Three modules, all networked, all showing faults, and nobody asking, ‘Why?’”

Hybrid cars rely on interdependent systems. “They fall like dominoes,” Lopez explains. “And if you’re not prepared to chase the full system logic, you’re just replacing parts until the invoice runs out of space.”

So, then, just like any “newer” vehicle technology, hybrid cars can leave used buyers wishing they’d stuck with a conventional model. I do predict that over time, if they really stick around, the aftermarket will self-correct, lowering certain system repairs. 

However, especially after watching Lopez’s reel, I’m not convinced that buying a used hybrid would be a good financial move for my family. And as much as I support tech that provides freedom from foreign oil, cars should to serve a household, not drive a family into financial distress.

Oh, and I’ve been there before…without any hybrid cars bringing us down, by the way. Might as well add here that I wouldn’t recommend bringing a 10-year-old ICE Range Rover home, either.