I noticed that steam was only coming out of one outlet on each side when I was stopped. I looked inside the other outlet and it appears that there is a valve holding it closed. Two questions: is that actually a valve and if so is it safe to assume that it opens when we are "gettin on it" with the gas?

 

You know what I've noticed that before as well! You can easily see it in the picture of the SH SH-AWD drivetrain Honda has on their website: