I have a 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid that is killing starting batteries. I am on the third starting battery in a little over three years. The car has been to the Honda Dealer twice for testing. Both times the dealer indicates that the battery drains to a 1/2 charge with in two weeks. This is with a brand new HONDA starting battery installed. This problem also exists on a used model they have in the showroom. In a months time the battery goes down to DEAD and will not start the car. North American Honda has been worthless in responses to these problems. I also have a Lexus RX 400H that does not exhibit this problem. I don't beleive that I should be expected to put a battery maintainer on the car when I go out of town for more that 2 weeks or left at an airport?

Has anyone heard of these issues or seen any TSB's about it?

 

You have some parasitic charge somewhere by the sound of things.

First thing, the next time you leave your car parked for an extended period of time, remove anything you have plugged into the 12V outlets. Yes, these outlets should not be powered when the car is turned off, but the previous owner (you didn't mention if you bought this car new or not) may have hardwired those outlets so that they'll stay powered.

Next, do you know any history on the car? Are there any aftermarket accessories that are tied into the electical power of the car? Sometimes people will add an aftermarket amplifier and wire it wrong. Instead of powering it with switched 12V, they install it with constant 12V. Thus, the amp remains powered on even after the car has been shut down.

Or maybe an aftermarket car alarm. Or maybe a power inverter. Or maybe a GPS. Or...

If you don't have anything that can be causing the power drain like above, then it's time to pay a technician to track down the source of your problem. A good electrical technician should be able to figure it out. It could be something as obscure (and hard to discover) as corrosion on some component that's allowing your power to be shorted to ground. And when the power trickles out through that short, your battery starts to deplete.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

Oh, and this isn't a Honda problem. ANY car can do this.

 

I have owned the car since new. There are no items in the 12 volt plugs, no drains from alarms, locks ect. No aftermarket anything. The Hybrid at the dealer does the same exact thing. The dealership has had two techs look at it and won't say if it is normal or not. No other car kills a battery so fast. The constant draw when not used is slowly wrecking the starting batteries requiring 3 in three years.

 

This problem happened to me one time. I left my keys in the ignition when I washed and waxed the car one day. I went to start the vehicle and the battery was dead. I have never seen this in any other car I had owned. I took a long time to really clean the car so that had to be the cause. Others say its a bad battery but my mechachanic said my battery was fine when he checked it. This could be the original battery I have no idea.

 

Hi - we are having the same problem on our 2005 HAH. We are on the 2nd battery, this one has been installed for one year. It died one month ago, but then accepted a jump start/recharge and tested ok at the dealer. It died again today, car is back at the dealer, and of course so far they can't find a problem.
I doubt that it is a faulty battery. It appears that either the battery is not charging correctly, or there is an intermittent short somewhere that drains the battery overnight. I will advise if we learn anything else.
Note that we are the original owner of the car and don't have anything plugged into the 12 volt outlet.

 

Thanks Bruce,
Yep, yours sounds like the same problem. If you measure the voltage of the battery every few days of it sitting, you should see a slow decrease in the voltage. Mine would drain down from a fully charged 12 volt battery ( 12.65 VDC ) to about ( 12.30 VDC ) which is about 1/2 charged in around two weeks and this was a brand new Honda battery too. A little over 1 month and the battery would likely not start the car.

Please keep me posted on your progress. I wrote North American Honda directly asking for a response from their Customer Relations Manager 2 weeks ago and have not had any reply yet. Will post their answer if I ever get one....

 

I was talking to someone recently and they thought I may have a bad cell in my battery. I am having trouble starting my 05 HAH when I have the lights on. I turn them off and it'll start no problems. I have never seen this till I bought the hybrid. I'm pretty sure the battery is the original. Mine has over 110k on it. So I'm probably due a battery.

 

Wow! 110K miles?! Where do you drive??

 

Quist1,
I see by your profile that you have no friends, that may be your problem...
just kidding but you do need an experienced electrical technician. I have a similar "parasitic" draw on a 50a circuit on my work truck (99 Ford Diesel).. Somebody needs to go through every circuit, pulling fuses and isolate the short or malfunctioning part... I gave up, not wanting to leave my truck for
many hours of searching, I have a lot of circuits on that 50 ... So to keep the charge up I bought a solar charger that plugs into the cigarete lighter and lives in the lower passenger side windshield area.. I also bought a Scanguage
and monitor the voltage output...
Hope this helps..
Mike