Maruti Smart Hybrid - Making the Best Use- Problems to Check.

Smart Hybrid - A review
Since few years Maruthi Suzuki in India have attempted to bring in Electric assistance to their models. Thus was evolved the Smart Hybrid earlier known as SHVS and now being tagged as Smart Hybrid.
This is unlike a full hybrid car where there is constant support for the engine but in the smart hybrid design there is a Integrated Generator Motor which acts as a motor to power and also as a generator to charge the battery. Also other than the main battery there is also a Li-Ion battery which is mounted below the front passenger seat. This is also the support for the smart hybrid as together with the main battery it is connected to the IGM for powering and assisting the engine and also programmed to charge the battery on deceleration till a certain RPM. I had noted that many owners of smart hybrid were not aware of its working and so wanted to simplify it's working.
First of all you must select the dash display to show the Smart hybrid screen . Now when you accelerate the arrows must move forward showing the IGM assistance and when you decelerate the arrows move down to show charging to the battery. This is the correct working and if you don't see this happening then it's important to make a service call
Now when you bring the car to stop while pressing the brakes, the engine will shut down till the time you release, the time cannot go beyond and depends on your battery charge as every electrical circuit is on. When you release the brakes, the engine will start, this being silent as the IGM is coupled by belt unlike the starter motor's direct coupling.
Your mileage benefit comes from using this system to its design.
One thing that was noticed was that the IGM stopped powering when the main battery rating comes down. Here we find that the starter motor would work but not the IGM and the tests of the battery will confirm that the CCA( cold charging ampere) is just below. The SAE will also indicate this drop in the battery AH rating and so the Smart hybrid can stop working. Maybe Maruthi might find a suitable solution to this issue in altering the battery/charging ratings and design .
Otherwise the system works well and returned a mileage close to 22 km/litre for long ng drives and an average of 15/16 km/ litre for city driving.
I hope those owners of Maruti will benefit from this information and try to see if their cars are in good condition.
Please also note the usage of ISG and IGM in my narration, both are the same component .
ISG - Integrated starter generator or IGM - Integrated generator motor.
If the stop period is less please disable the smart hybrid stop which is provided on the right side of the dashboard.
Also when using auto cruise it is ideal for open roads to avoid the hard acceleration when using steering control Reset/ Cancel.
Hope this information was helpful.
Thank you
Donald DCruz