Hi,

Okay... we did what the dealership told us to do and the problem is not going away. In fact, it's getting worse. We will be taking it back to the dealership in the next week or two.

My biggest fear is that it won't run properly or perform optimally once they start taking things apart. After reading these boards it seems that if the car's systems are even slightly off it can throw the mpgs off and then it's hard for the dealer to pinpoint exactly what's wrong.

Keeping our fingers crossed.

Bean

Good luck with that. My car has done that too. Actually mine does a variation of that when you're rolling slowly (usually around 20,000) miles, you feel the tranny doing something weird. Which reminds me, I need to take it in.

Keeping our fingers crossed for you, too! I don't know why your dealer is having trouble figuring out what's wrong- most of the problems people seem to report here end up having straightforward solutions (though of course it's always aggravating and sometimes time consuming- no different than anything else). If there is a way for them to fix it, are you going to keep the hybrid, or are you going to try to return it? I guess that probably depends on what kind of fix it is, and how long it all takes.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies.

Leah, thanks for pulling for us. It's not that the dealer can't figure out the problem - they did acknowledge that there is a harsh engagement. They made a recommendation to continue driving the car to break it, which they said would correct the problem. It hasn't, so we're taking it back. I don't think we can return it but if the problem persists we'll take the lemon law route if need be.

We won't hesitate to buy another HCH though because aside from the problem, we love the car.

Oh, one other thing I've been meaning to mention...

There is also a harsh engagement when putting the car in reverse. Sometimes it's a little difficult to move the stick into reverse and when it goes in there is a very obvious "thunk". I wonder if this is tied to the other problem we're having? Or is that normal for this car?

Again, that doesn't sound normal for the HCH at all. My shifting is all completely smooth. Anyone else here notice something like that?

Never had a problem going reverse, engages just like it does moving forward. I hope they manage to fix it as something is definately wrong. I just recently made it kick (cause I was hitting alot of red lights today and trying my best to time them so they'll be green when I get there) and it didn't feel as harsh as what you are describing.

I have. I experience it when parked on a hill (although I read in another thread that there is a remedy for this). The only other time I feel that is if I don't have my foot all the way down on the brake. Make sure you're pressing it down firmly. Other than that, it never does it, and I suspect something is up with my tranny, so something DEFINITELY must be wrong with yours if the above examples don't apply to you.

Hello,

I just wanted to note that I have the same exact issue. I am at 7200 miles, and I thought the problem would work itself out but it had not. Have you had any luck resolving this? Just wanted to see what's the latest and if there was any resolution to the issue yet. Thanks!

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear you are having the same problem. Ours is getting worse and worse and we are taking it back to the dealership this Saturday. I will let you know what happens.

Do you experience the harsh engagement after autostop kicks in while you are still rolling and release the brake pedal? That's when ours is the worst.

Also, you sometimes have to use slightly more force to get the stick into reverse and when it goes into "gear" there is a "thunk" noise. Doesn't seem right at all.

I just hope they can fix it without throwing everything out of synch.

Good luck with yours!

Bean

You might want to have them check the rotor position sensor.

I've had my 07 HCH since the end of January. About 3-4 times throughout February and early March, I'd start it and the IMA, Battery, and Check Engine /Transmission lights would come on. The IMA would be disabled until I restarted the car (at which point things worked fine). The Check Engine/Transmission light would remain on for about 2-3 days and then go away.

I took it into the dealership the first time it happened and they said they didn't get any useful codes out of the computer, but to bring it back when it happened again.

About 2 weeks later, I started having similar problems and they became progressively worse. I also noticed that the transmission seemed to jerk when it engaged and a couple of times it corresponded to the times when the dashboard lights would come on.

This time, the dealership diagnosed the problem as a failing rotor position sensor. After having this replaced, things seem to drive more smoothly and no more error messages.