Thanks for the responses. Yes, it has been wet and rainy lately, which probably explains my observation. I do notice that the brakes get grippy while stopping just as the regen cycle icon disappears, which confirms that this is when the hydraulic braking kicks in. But, I should probably be watching the road rather than the pretty colors on the dash :-) BTW, this car that has a lot of dashboard distractions. Between the Smartguage with Ecoguide, the nav system, iphone bluetooth, satellite radio, and usb drive music, it sure is hard to keep your eyes on the road. And I haven't even tried the travel link yet.