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Hybrid Vehicles Honda Civic Hybrid Honda Civic Hybrid IMA Problems
164 messages, Last post on Nov 09, 2009 at 9:29 PM
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| I live in the desert and recently purchased an 07 Honda Civic Hybrid. Since I purchased the vehicle, the higest MPG I have achieved is 40 (cool weather and highway driving for that tank of gas). Mostly I get beween 30-33 mpg--I vary city and highway driving in a large city. I have contacted my dealership as well as Honda American, and other than giving me excuses and blaming the low mpg on my driving (I have COMPLTELY changed how I drive--no fast starts, no hard braking, crawling down onramps, etc...)they have been little help in solving the problem. I got a phone call from a guy at Honda American basically telling me that a.) the IMA doesn't work (the battery shuts down) at over 110 degrees and b.) they know about the problem and have no intentions of doing anything about it. So I'm seriously frustrated and not sure what to do from here. According to the lemon laws in my state, if the dealership can't fix the problem after 4 trips, they are supposed to provide a new vehicle--which is useless since they are getting complaints left and right from people who have bought a Civic hybrid and are now losing mpg, so why would I want another? Has anyone dealt with this, and if so, what did you do? I'm thinking of contacting a local news channel and having them address the issue, because since Honda knows about this problem but continues to leave that out of their information is, in my opinion, fraud. | |
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Replying to: amyable (Jul 13, 2007 10:29 pm) Light a/c use will drop mpg by 10 or more. The kind needed to fight 110 deg. temps will cost 20 mpg. You live in the hottest region of the country. There's a price to pay for that. I'm sure that your home electric bills this time of year are astronomical. I live in Texas with daily temps in the high 90s, and my HCH gets 50 mpg. So stick with your car until cooler temps prevail. |
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Replying to: 1stpik (Jul 14, 2007 6:44 am) The hotter temps will cause your MPG to drop. My Civic averaged 3-5 MPG lower in heavy A/C usage. Hang in there - my educated guess is that your car is not a lemon and that as you drive the car more you will get better at what it takes to achieve higher mpg.
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Replying to: larsb (Jul 16, 2007 6:01 am)
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Replying to: amyable (Jul 13, 2007 10:29 pm) |
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Replying to: amyable (Jul 13, 2007 10:29 pm) |
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After going round and round with both Honda American and my Honda dealer, they both concede that the battery DOES NOT WORK when the temperature in the car is over 100. This causes a serious drain on the car--when trying to accelerate from a green light, there are times that the car hesitates and the rpms hit 4 as the car struggles to move forward. I have contacted both a laywer, the Better Business Beureau, and the Attorney General's office regarding this issue--they WERE aware that the problem existed for my region, and they are still continuing to sell the vehicle in the southwest region. Honda says that "it's not enough of an issue to resolve at this time." If you are having this issue, please also contact your state's Attorney General's office and document the problem. This is fraud, pure and simple. Low gas mileage is the least of the issue...the fact that the car runs on the tiny gas engine alone is downright scary when you live in a large urban area where you can get killed if you are not able to accelerate away from green light or around the corner. I've never been more disgusted with a company in my entire life--they know this is happening and when the service departments call to get information, they say that it's "normal" for the car to lose power in hot temperatures. The car is not safe to drive in this weather, and yet Honda is doing nothing to solve the problem.
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Replying to: amyable (Sep 02, 2007 1:03 pm) http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/ |
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Replying to: larsb (Jul 16, 2007 6:01 am) |
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After 85000 miles and nearly a year of happy driving up and down hills, we have suffered repeated IMA failures under our usual driving conditions. The IMA battery indicator is dropping much more rapidly than before and shuts off after very little use, which is problematic on hills. Checks at dealer show "no problem". They suggested putting car in neutral/park and revving to 3000 RPM. This indeed charges battery and allows IMA to operate again. I work with NiMH batteries and it seems like a partial failure within the large battery pack- that would reduce the battery's capacity-- but would not register as a "failure" on the car's computer that measures voltage. One tech and one dealer say they never heard of this happening before. But apparently, others, including a lady from Marin on KGO-TV "7 on your side" (July 2, 2007), have had exactly the same problem. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=7on_your_side&id=5443147 PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THIS HAS HAPPENED TO YOU. It would be helpful to know the year, make, model and at what mileage this began to occur and what you have done about it. Thanks! B and V |
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