Complaints Concerning 2006-'08 Honda Civic Hybrids Still Rolling In From Owners
By Scott Doggett October 14, 2010By Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor
It's been two months since GreenCarAdvisor reported complaints by owners of 2006 and later Honda Civic Hybrids concerning the batteries that power the cars' Integrated Motor Assist electric drive system and Honda's response to the problem, and still their frustration mounts, as seen in HCH owner posts on the Edmunds.com CarSpace social network.
Right, a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid.
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In more than one instance, the owner of a Honda Civic Hybrid got so fed up with the car and the service they received from Honda dealerships that they felt the need to sell the vehicle. Typical of the complaints that have posted this month are this one by a person who goes by the member name lectricman52:
"I've not participated in this discussion for about a year and a half. I no longer have the lemon that was the source of my frustration. After battling with American Honda for over a year, the dealership made me a pretty good deal on a new Accord (April 2009).
"My dealer was sympathetic but seemed to be helpless due to American Honda's attitude of not admitting their failures. If you look back on my story, my complaints led to a new experimental battery being tested in my car and other trials. None of the things that were tried were successful in fixing the issues.
"I had filed complaints with the BBB (on the dealer and on Am Honda) and with the NHTSA citing safety issues when the IMA failed to assist an the car was running on the underpowered 4 cylinder engine. Finally, when the dealer wanted to get me off his back, he made me a good offer. I'm sorry that so many people are so dissatisfied and frustrated with their vehicle. I feel your pain. I don't get 40 MPG now, but there is less stress in my life."
In letters it mailed to to more than 100,000 owners of 2006-'08 Civic Hybrids in the U.S. and Canada earlier this year, Honda acknowledged that their cars' batteries could deteriorate and fail prematurely and that the automaker had developed a software fix to correct the problem.
The company offered to upgrade battery management software at no charge for owners of 2006, 2007 and 2008 Civic Hybrids to bring them up to the standards used in '09 and later models. The new software limits the amount of time the electric motor kicks in - prolonging battery life but reducing the amount of assist the Honda IMA electric-drive system provides the car's small four-cylinder gasoline motor.
But in most instances, according to the anecdotal evidence of recent owners' posts, the software "fix" didn't solve the problem. Wrote dhilldiner:
"I have an IMA battery discharging at least once a day and the software update has done nothing positive. My plan is to take the dealer to small claims court to force Honda to give me a new IMA battery if nothing happens, but I would prefer to get a non-hybrid Civic instead. My view is the Civic Hybrid is flawed and I don't really want to deal with it even if I get new IMA batteries. The engine is underpowered, the IMA batteries are prone to fail early, and we are at the mercy of Honda's software updates."
In other instances, owners of '06-'08 Civic Hybrids complained this month that the software upgrade made an already modestly powerful car a gutless wonder. Forum member Tim Lake said the software upgrade "has placed more burdens on the very small gas engine to power the vehicle with much less assist from the electric motor than before the update.
"Battery does not charge as high a level as before and rarely drops the batter below 4 bars. At 4 bars the electric assist is unpredictable, sometime working and sometimes stopping the assist at the worst times, like in the middle of passing or on a highway on ramp. Try getting up to speed on a highway on ramp with the small gas motor. Won't happen without the assist, to me, a safety hazard."
Lake wrote that his wife is now afraid to drive their Civic Hybrid, "thanks to Honda's battery-saving update. Honda has turned my HCH into a standard underpowered Civic. I paid an extra $5,000 for the hybrid feature."
The owner of a 2006 Civic Hybrid with the pricey navigation-system option and less than 100,000 miles said he (or she) has been testing the waters on e-Bay and craigslist.org, but the highest offer to date has been $10,000. Fully equipped, the model sold for more than $22,000 new.
In response to that post, a member going by the initials pmz wrote: "I'd take the $10K. I traded in my '06 with 87K with the ailing battery and received $9.8K and was very pleased. Now I drive a CR-V, no more 42mpg, but no more fear of merging neither."
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Click here to comment on this entry.Thanks for continuing to report on this, i thought all was lost and forgotten on this issue and I would be force to trade in the car and take a significantly loss on it. As I posted on autobloggreen.com:
I still have the window sticker for my 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid that states a combined 50 MPG. even with the new 40-45 rating, with the weather cool down which is where I used to see 40-45, with the new software update all I'm getting is 36-37, up from 33 in the summer.
The hybrid system just doesn't assist like it used to. Period. All the software update did to prolong the battery life is essentially cut the usage of the battery significantly, which defeats the entire purpose of having a hybrid vehicle.
Honda IS loosing this repeat customer, not because they totally screwed up the design of the Honda Civic Hybrid, but because they refuse the man up and correctly fix the problems. It is a very dishonorable thing for a Japanese company to do.
i can't believe that Honda is considering these battery drains a non-issue and "normal operations" as a useless customer service at Honda USA put it. If there is no light that turns on for the IMA, there is no issue. Well, i (and countless others) beg to differ. When the battery drains for no reason (in my case, literally every other time i turn on the engine), there is a problem. They are not only frauding me of the mileage that i have lost, they are endangering myself and whoever passengers i have in my car. i don't have the guts or resources to file a damn lawsuit so i'm stuck with my car. I also do not want to sell it to some unsuspecting individual who might end up suing ME for selling them a lemon. Adding insult to injury, customer service told me to change my driving habits to get better mileage. Uh, my driving has nothing to do with the battery draining....
We still have the problem with the IMA battery. Mostly only half charged, very sluggish, and low gas milage (currently <33 miles/gallon). I even noticed that the battery is being charged when I accelerate. I do not recommend my friends to buy a Honda Hybrid.
I have a 2008 civic Hybrid that the mileage dropped to from 43 to 23MPG with no warning lights or indicators. the main battery would loose its charge down to one light on the charged scale, over night or from a charge of 6 lights down to 2 within a 1/4 mile of normal driving. The dealership understood that there was a problem but Honda would not give them premission to change the IMA battery and/or controller, until the dealership had me come in two different time to run more diagnostics. Honda did finally give premission to the dealership for warrenty replacement of the IMA battery and controller. So now I'm getting, like others 32-34 MPG on the highway and 28-30 in town driving, with very little assistance from the IMA battery. it has only charged up to a 5 lights on the scale of 8, but normally stays at 4 and will drop to 1 or 2 sometimes. It is showing that it is chargeing the IMA battery probably 95% of the time. I haven't taken the car back in yet to the dealship, but I think I know what they are going to say, SORRY. I will not own another Honda Hybrid, this is my second one. I had a 2006 and I have my 2008 now which has 50,000 miles on it. It not worth the trouble, really disappointed in Honda, what happens when the warrenty time limit is up on the IMA equipment, the fix they gave me is going to help extend the life of it but its not the car I bought, no power and creates a danger to even drive it.
Honda's lawyers have told the Class Action Judge under penalty of perjury that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ("NHTSA"): "was not likely to open an investigation concerning the Software Update because the nature of complaints NHTSA had received did not signal the kind of safety concern that would trigger such an investigation." So speak now or forever hold your peace with NHTSA.
Honda's lawyers have told the Class Action Judge under penalty of perjury that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ("NHTSA"): "was not likely to open an investigation concerning the Software Update because the nature of complaints NHTSA had received did not signal the kind of safety concern that would trigger such an investigation." So speak now or forever hold your peace with NHTSA.
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