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Hybrid Vehicles Honda Civic Hybrid Honda Civic Hybrid IMA Problems
187 messages, Last post on Dec 06, 2009 at 11:23 AM
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2006 honda civic hybrid 27,000 miles. I took my car in for recall work, to find out why there is a thump when I brake, and why my shifter gets so hot. They claimed to have done the recall work and could find out nothing about the brakes or the transmission. My car was not having the IMA issue until after I left the dealership. I had to turn around and come back to the dealership, who claimed that the IMA cutting out was normal. I pitched a fit and they had me drive a brand new hybrid around in the rain, to redline no less, in order to prove to them that I was correct. They kept my car friday, saturday, sunday and end of day monday claimed that the car was fixed and that it was not showing the problem anymore, that when I came to pick up the car they would talk to me about it more. However, on friday, they updated 3 cpus and could think of nothing else to do. I show up, drive my car and it seems fine. I get a form from them indicating there is an investigation by american honda into the problem. The form has questions such as :what is the ambient temp? was the ac on? and I am to fill it out and fax it over to american honda if and when the problem occurs again. when this happens, american honda will release a software update that will change the cutout point for initiating at 102 degrees to 115 degrees... after the problem occurring again, my dealership saying they could do nothing, and american honda saying it was not their problem. I am not in a pickle with a car that will sometimes assist, sometimes wont. the temp outside can be anywhere from 75 degrees to over 90. It happens with my ac on, off, on auto, windows down or up. with the batter fully charged or nearly empty. I am SO frustrated because my dealership does not even want to try to repair the car anymore, american honda is not even concerned, and i am daily encountering highspeed traffic and bridges that I have to floor my car to drive through. please help! |
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Replying to: mlilley (May 22, 2008 1:24 pm) |
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So far from talking to American Honda and my dealership, they are clueless. There was a form from American Honda that asked questions about what the temps and your driving is like when the problem occurs that is supposed to help American Honda find a resolution and determine the cause of the problem. I encourage you to report this problem to American Honda because currently it would appear they do not see this as a problem worthy of immediate action.
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Replying to: sorsha (Aug 11, 2008 4:08 am) 
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Count me in also... I own an '06 HCH that after 26K miles developed the same problem as most of you have referenced. My dealership, Honda of Concord, NC has taken a hard-line stance that they cannot do anything. My battery won't charge to full capacity and suddenly drops for no reason. My mileage has gone from 46 MPG to 38 MPG (if I'm lucky and work at it!). It is very frustrating. I owned a 2003 HCH and had no problems with it at all. I wish now I would've kept it and not purchased this model.
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Replying to: halanr (Aug 19, 2008 8:14 pm) |
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My 2006 HCH has also had IMA problems. It now has about 71,000 miles. I was very happy with it from June 2006 until the problems started in October 2007 at about 46,000 miles after the IMA warning light came on. The dealership replaced the MCM relay and the battery control unit and did 4 software updates to the computer. Prior to the work the car was averaging 50.5 MPG in 80% highway driving. Since the work the average has dropped to 43.9 MPG in the same type of driving. The dealership always blamed the MPG drop on the replacement tires not being "low rolling resistant". Since that time the car has performed erratically. In July it started to lose the charge on the IMA battery. Finally the dealership acknowledged a problem that American Honda was aware of. The IMA battery was replaced with an experimental battery. Since then, the battery has held the charge better, but the performance is still inconsistent. Here is a summary of what has happened so far: October 12, 2007 I took the car in to the dealership for a safety recall on the brake pedal position switch. The mileage on the car was 46,653. At that time I mentioned some unusual behavior of the car. The IMA battery indicator would drop overnight. The car showed that it was charging the battery under acceleration (when it should be assisting). Sometimes the car would not respond when starting out from a stop – the engine RPMs would go up, but the car did not move immediately. The gas mileage had also begun to drop. Prior to this problem the average gas mileage had been 50.5. Since the problem began the gas mileage has dropped to 43.9. The repair consisted of replacing the 12V starting battery and four software updates of the IMA system. October 29, 2007 the IMA warning light came on. The mileage on the car was 47,744. I took the car immediately to the dealship and they replaced the MCM relay and the battery control unit. January 21, 2008 I took my car in for a major regular scheduled maintenance. The mileage on the car was 52,195. After I picked up the car, I asked to speak to the service manager but he was not in. I mentioned some of my concerns to the service advisor. He asked about the tires and he told me that he has seen that some people's gas mileage has dropped into the 30's when specific tires were not installed. The tires had been replaced August 10, 2007 by Sam’s Club (at 41,626 miles). They are good tires, but apparently not “low rolling resistance” tires. I followed up with an email to the service manager. His reply focused on the tires not being “low rolling resistance” tires. He had just returned from a Honda Conference and apparently one of the things they talked about was customer complaints from Hybrid owners concerning their gas mileage after replacing their tires. Since that time the focus of the problem seemed to be on the tires, although there were other abnormal behaviors of the car. July 7, 2008 I spoke with the service manager about the problem that had gotten more frequent and more severe. The IMA battery was not holding a charge, the performance was degraded, ad the charge/assist indicator was showing that the system was often charging under acceleration and assisting while coasting downhill, which is the opposite of normal operation. July 9, 2008 (mileage 66,298) the car was left with the dealership for service. The shop foreman called the Honda Tech line for more information on how to approach the problem. He informed me that my car would have a new experimental IMA battery installed, one of only five in the US. The battery was installed and the car was returned to me on July 14, 2008. I was asked to observe the performance and report back to them on the car’s performance. July 21, 2008 I received an email from the service manager asking if the new battery has solved the problem. My response was that the battery seemed to be holding its charge better, but the IMA system still seemed erratic. He then asked me to bring the car back in when the shop foremen, who was dealing with the problem, returned from vacation. July 31, 2008 the car was left with the dealership for regular scheduled maintenance and further investigation of the IMA problem – battery not charging properly (68,649 miles). When the car was returned to me, apparently the Honda Tech line response was that Honda is still working on a fix for the issue and that what I am experiencing is a “normal condition at this time” according to the service invoice I received. August 4, 2008 I experienced another battery problem when the battery level dropped very low (2 bars) and the car’s performance was terrible. I notified the service manager by email the same day, but as of today, August 6, 2008, I have not received a response. Unresolved problems include: 1) There is erratic behavior of the charge/assist system. Sometimes the system charges under acceleration when it should assist and it assists when coasting downhill and it should be charging. 2) Sometimes the charge/assist indicator will bounce between charging and assisting, and a noticeable “bump” or “surge” occurs. This happens when the car is accelerating, or sometimes decelerating down a hill when it should be charging. 3) Although the new IMA battery was installed and for a couple of weeks it seemed to hold a charge, the battery has become discharged on one or two occasions since the installation of the new battery. The car then exhibits very degraded performance and poor gas mileage. The battery has never charged the way it did before the first IMA problem. Prior to October 2007 it would often charge fully, sometimes each day. Since the first IMA work in October 2007 it rarely charges fully. 4) Sometimes when driving on level ground or a slight downhill grade, the gas mileage indicator drops all the way down. It stays there for several seconds and then goes back up to a normal level. 5) At times it seems that the engine will race or rev up when I start to accelerate from a stop. The car engine goes to AutoStop when the car stops, but it doesn’t seem to move immediately when it restarts the engine after I take my foot off the brake. This does not happen really frequently, but occasionally. 6) The gas mileage of the vehicle has dropped almost 15% overall. But the gas mileage has also very frequently been inconsistent. At times the MPG is up to the 50 MPG range or more. At other times it is in the 38 – 44 MPG range on the same type of road conditions, same driving patterns, and no AC use on either occasion. I drive the vehicle 30,000 – 33,000 miles per year for work, so I am very familiar with the normal performance and mileage of the car, at least before the problems occurred after the IMA warning light came on in October 2007. I am very frustrated with American Honda for problems that they know about, but offer no real solution. |
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Replying to: lectricman52 (Aug 25, 2008 7:30 am) After a new Honda (expensive) main o2 sensor - that tells the computer how the air/fuel ratio is being maintained - all is back to an incredible NORMAL performance! MPG is also back up 20% or more. |
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Replying to: highmpg (Aug 27, 2008 8:35 am) |
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