Hybrid cars may be solving several problems dealing with the harmful emissions of gas-powered vehicles into the environment, but they are also creating some pollution issues of their own. They may emit a little less greenhouse gases into the environment while you are driving them, but they are also a more complex car and therefore require a substantially larger amount of energy to produce. This increased output of energy increases the amount of pollution emitted into the air, thereby nullifying the advantages gained through reduced emissions during the operation of a hybrid vehicle. Also, since hybrids have batteries, the materials used to produce them still have to be gathered and disposed of – doing these things can be harmful to the environment as well. Many proponents of hybrid vehicles will claim that battery-powered vehicles don’t give off bad emissions, but where is that energy to charge the battery coming from? If it is not from a clean energy source, it is still polluting the air. I feel that our environment deserves better, and that the auto industry should stop leading people to believe that they are having a positive impact on the environment by buying and driving hybrids. I have always been curious about how hybrids supposedly “help” us protect our planet, and researching them gave me enough insight regarding the topic to form a solid opinion on it. Also included in this paper will be a discussion on the ethics involved in creating hybrids as well as engineering in general, along with a weighing of the value of doing research on a topic such as this as a freshman college student.