DENVER -- They are quiet. They save energy. But hybrids may also hold a hidden danger if they are involved in a serious accident.

"The car was totaled," said former Prius owner, Rusty Wehner. "We got spun around 270 degrees."

Wehner learned from a mechanic after the accident that totaled his Prius that there was a risk of electrocution.

"You're thinking more about the environment and more about saving money than anything else," he said.

"If you don't know what you're doing you can be hurt seriously, if not killed by the voltage," said hybrid-certified mechanic Kevin Klein."There's 330 volts of electricity running through the lines," said Klein.

It only takes 50 to 100 volts to kill a person.

Klein said he received extensive safety training to work on electrically powered vehicles at O'Meara Ford.

"My coworkers know when I set these up, nobody's allowed in here but me," said Klein as he set up orange cones around his work area.

"We have to wear face protection in case of a voltage flash. We have to wear gloves that have to be inspected," Klein added, blowing into the gloves to check for holes.

Klein then put on a second pair of leather gloves to protect the first pair from tearing.

"We have to cone off the area when we're working on the vehicle because just opening the door activates the system. So if you're under the hood working on it and somebody comes up and opens the door, you can be electrocuted," Klein said.

The final step in his process is setting a large hook outside the coned-off area, to be used if someone is electrocuted.

"You have to use the hook to pull the person away outside the buffer zone," Klein said.

"We don't have those safety precautions in the middle of the road in a very bad accident," said firefighter and paramedic Brian Mills.

Mills said when he went through training with North Metro Fire Rescue and went over a manual that covered the unique challenges hybrids present on a accident scene.

"With the high voltage system, you're talking about extremely high levels of electricity the responders can come in contact with, so that's the primary danger," said Mills. "It's just another hurdle we have to overcome."

Mills said the electric cables that the run under the car are clearly marked.

"Anything with orange, any orange cables, that's high voltage. That's what you want to stay away from," added Klein.

Klein showed that the kill switch for the battery power on one of Ford's hybrids is located in the back of the vehicle and can be accessed by lifting up the carpet.

"Once that's switched off there's no possibility of you being electrocuted or anything like that," Klein said, demonstrating how the orange dial turns the battery into service mode.

Although some hybrids are similar, they may not all have the same access to the battery pack.

"There are risks in every car. This is something people need to know about," said Wehner.

Many emergency responders in the metro area have some type of hybrid training, but others do not.

Most vehicle manufacturers have manuals available online, with detailed descriptions of how hybrids work.

For information about Toyota hybrid vehicles, go to the manual posted at toyota.com

For information about Honda hybrid vehicles, check out honda.com

For information about Ford hybrid vehicles, check out the manual from motorcraftservice.com