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Hybrid Vehicles Honda Civic Hybrid Honda Civic Hybrid IMA Problems
171 messages, Last post on Nov 21, 2009 at 7:27 AM
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As the weather warms (albeit slowly here in MN), the mileage is slowly increasing with the second battery (2009 HCH). But so far we have been unable to duplicate the performance of our colleague in Fargo! A "little birdie" from Honda, who would not want to be revealed here, indicated that there are cold weather problems with the batteries (now in addition to the warm weather problems that we have heard about on this forum). On the one hand, I am really annoyed with Honda for not being more honest about these issues. And I'm not sure we will see the real hybrid benefit in a cold weather climate. On the other hand, I understand the Prius has similar problems. And I know enough Chemistry and Physics to understand that the chemical reactions are all influenced by temperature, and that all materials will be stressed when undergoing continuous temperature cycling. Thus, it seems that the laws of chemistry and physics will put a natural limit on the ultimate performance of all batteries. This technology is probably a long-term dead end, although it will have some short-term success. Honda is already testing a fuel cell vehicle in CA, and that looks to be the wave of the future. Fortunately, we leased our HCH, and doubt we will be keeping it! |
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| Hi, I bought a 2006 hybrid and love it but have found that the electric idle assist doesn't kick in constantly--it will work fine when the temp is over 30% but then not kick in for many days when the temperature is cold and below 30%. When I asked the service manager he said it is dependent on my driving which did not seem to make sense since it is NYC driving and the same --just seems to be the weather. | |
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Replying to: grandtotal (Feb 26, 2009 12:01 pm)
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Talk about disappointing!!! Bought my car late November and just found out my Hybrid battery died, WTF, not even 6 thousand miles and it's D-E-A-D!!!! On a more positive note, the service center has been very good with keeping me up to date. They said they've never seen this happen before, especially on a newer model. Also, they said they ordered the battery, but don't know when it will arrive. It's been three days. Also, Honda told me they don't have a loaner car system and I am stuck paying for my own rental car in the meantime. 30 bucks a day! Should i be making a bigger deal out of this???
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Replying to: tch95 (Mar 17, 2009 2:09 pm) Your service center probably either doesn't handle many hybrids or they are just blowing you off. If you read this forum you will see that there are many people with the problem. It is a known issue with Honda and you should talk with the service manager to complain about getting the "gee, we've never seen this problem before" excuse. It reflects poorly on your dealer's sense of customer service. Our dealer gave us a loaner for FREE, with no questions asked (but then they saw three battery failures within a two month period). Go back and complain. If you don't get any satisfaction, complain to the attorney general in your state, or maybe the BBB. Our battery took about three weeks to replace. |
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Replying to: drlnjrh (Mar 04, 2009 11:15 am) |
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Replying to: ilikecake (Jan 23, 2009 7:37 pm) There are companies out there that can repair your battery for less than $1,000. Search on google if you haven't bought the new battery yet. BTW, $2,700 is typical for the northeast, while $4,000 is typical for California. |
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I just got a 09 HCH this past weekend and was wondering if my experiences with the IMA system are normal or if I have a problem. In town and on flat highways I get about 55 MPG (according to the trip computer) which I am loving. The IMA seems to readily charge/discharge when the battery power is above 50%, but it fails to utilize the battery/IMA below about 50%. This is fine when I am in city driving, because I only need a little assistance getting going and the battery recharges to full fairly quickly, but when I drive on hills (which I often do on my commute between Phoenix and my home in the mountains of Arizona, I need the IMA for longer stretches of time. When I attempt to go up a hill, assuming my battery charge is full or near full, the IMA will assist for about the first minute (about 1 mile) and then the IMA stops assisting and the gas engine has to propel the car unassisted. The IMA just doesn't seem to want to assist if the battery power is below 50%, even if I am going up a steep hill and flooring the gas, which I would think would be enough to get the IMA to kick in. The battery is supposed to drain well below 50% before the electric motor stops assisting, right? Further, how long should a full charge last when going up a moderate incline? I read in someone else's post that their charge would only last about 2 minutes which they thought was problematic, which would lead me to believe the battery going from 100% to 50% in about a minute might be unusually fast. Since I just got the car, I don't know what is considered normal. I suspect part of the battery pack might be bad. I also suspect it might be because the car was sitting unused for about four months in the dealer's back lot before I bought it (which is why I got such a great deal on it). When I first test drove it, it had 9 miles and the main battery had to be jump started to get the car going, which the salesman said was because it hadn't been driven in several months. It wasn't until after I bought the car and read the owners manual, specifically the section on storing the car unused, that I read that not running the car at least once a month can cause permanent damage to the battery pack, so I suspect that might be the case. I just wanted to check with those who have had their HCH's for awhile though to confirm that my experience is in fact not normal. Thanks Tim in Arizona
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Replying to: timaz (Mar 31, 2009 9:42 pm) Your battery is brand-spanking new. The odds of an imbalance are small. Here's what I think is wrong. The dealer never did a battery learn procedure. Because the 12V battery was dead, it forgot the parameters. It has no idea where full and empty are. Have them reset the IMA system and relearn the battery. Make sure they do it for free.
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