Hello everyone,

I have a honda civic 2007 hybrid and Honda is unwilling to acknowledge an issue. My battery is discharging literally every other day. I have gone from 50mpg to 34 mpg!! I don't know what to do! The American Honda Corp is taking the position that the car is in perfect working order which obviously it is not. I have taken it to the dealerships (more than one) and they cannot fix it and are not willing to do anything to assist me. They say since the computer is not recognizing an issue that there must be none. Which is just not true. The car is still under full manufacturer warranty. I have not hit 36K in mileage nor have I hit three years of ownership. Has anyone else had this issue? Has it been resolved? What have you done and can anyone help me?

Thank you!!!!

 

Use the search function and search this forum for "battery recalibration" or "battery crash". There are dozens of us with this problem and it has been discussed frequenly on this site. Most of us have had the same response from American Honda as you experiened. There are a handful of people who have finally gotten IMA idiot lights to go off and have had batteries replaced, but even that has been like pulling teeth with American Honda.

Have any of the dealerships you have gone to applied the software upgrades? They applied TSB-0958 on my car last summer and it greatly decreased my recalibration frequency for the last couple of months. However, in the last three or four weeks I have had 2-3 battery crashes per week so I'm not as happy about the upgrade as I was over the winter.

 

Hi, thanks for responding. Yes they did the updates. They also replaced the 12V battery. The thing is that the dealer's techs tell me the battery is bad and needs to be replaced. That this should not be happening like it is but because the tech line won't authorize them to do anything to fix it they won't. And since no IMA light is coming on it is allegedly fine. I am just pissed because I know my car. I have been driving it for a while and this is just getting ridiculous. I can't leave my condo anymore it seems without going through a recal at the first light I hit (I have to hit it, there is no way not to, the condo is located at the end of a street.) This didn't use to happen. And when it ReCaled in the past it only did it once every several months. I live in Fl so they are saying well the heat could be doing it blah blah blah...well first my car is garage kept. and second it started doing recals more often at the end of last year. When it started doing it twice a week is when i decided to take it into the shop in feb.(The cold months for here at like 70F. The ReCals are just getting worse and worse but without a light or code Honda won't fix it.

I am frustrated and don't really know what to do. I could keep the car, wait until it fails completely so they replace it, or I can sell the car knowing it is not operating as it should (in which case I feel badly since I know the car isn't working properly and whomever gets it will be stuck with a car with an issue) Further, do I get another hybrid or do I just go with a regular car since this seems to be an issue with the Hybrids (and Prius has its own issues now too)? I loved this car until this started happening, now I hate it because my mileage sucks comparatively (30-35mpg is not why I bought this car if it was I would have gotten a regular civic), and because when the ReCal happens I lose all power and feel like I am driving through molasses. It simply isn't safe. There is no way i would be able to outmaneuver another car during the time of the ReCal. Since you have had this happen I know you understand.

I will keep reading the forum but it doesn't look like there is a good solution to the problem.

 

Yeah, it's really frustrating isn't it? There is a good post (I think a sticky) on the Civic Hybrid forum of cleanmpg.com that details exactly what is happening when you have a recal from MSantos who is very knowledgable about the inner workings of the HCH. It's worth a read so you understand the problem better.

My theory is that there are several of us with battery cells that weren't balanced properly when they built the pack. That means that you have some cells that have a lower ability to store energy than the rest. When those cells become out of balance with the rest of the pack, a red flag goes up and the car goes into a fault mode.

In the winter, I use the "S" gear for most of my regen since it's too cold here for regular brake pedal regen. When using "S" you only get about 3/4 of the green bars to light up so it's not throwing as much energy at the pack as using the brake pedal (where the green is usually fully lit). My bad cells are able to deal with the 3/4 load and I don't have recals in the winter. However, now that I'm getting regen from braking, I'm getting the crashes frequently again.

My best suggestion is to put a note pad in your car and note every recal you experience (I'm up around 100 now on my log). This way, you have something you can go to Honda with instead of just saying "it happens all the time". Also, since yours sounds pretty predictable, have a buddy sit in the passenger seat and shoot video of it. Take that to Honda and post it up online.

When I first started posting about my problems, I was the only one. Now there are dozens of people posting about the same issue. At some point Honda is going to have to make a pricy decision and start taking care of us. People who have received new packs aren't having recal problems anymore.

 

Yes, I read his post. It seems to me that the batteries just need to be replaced for us non-techies who won't take the battery pack apart etc and replace the cell that is bad. I have a lawyer that is going to write a letter and I have opened up a case with the Better Business Bureau. I also have another Law Firm looking into this. I have a contact now with American Honda's Mediation Department that I get to deal with..yay-NOT.
Bottom Line:
What they are doing is wrong. And if they can't do anything without a code showing up then they need a new way to test the batteries. It is not safe when you lose power like that and since multiple people are having this issue it needs to be addressed. It would be horrible for someone to get hurt because the car decides to ReCal at the wrong time. I know there was one time I was making a left and that happened and I thought "oh no!!!!! please get through the intersection in time, please get through the intersection in time!!!" I didn't..not really, but the car that would have hit me slowed down. IMHO They should fix this now before they get in a lot more trouble by turning a blind eye. It also has changed my whole feeling towards Honda as a whole.

And as you mentioned, people who have received new packs aren't having the problems anymore...Honda should just replace them and stop acting like we are all out of our minds! lol.

 

Oh, and I noticed a lot of people talking about the AC and how using it can effect ReCals. Until about the past week, I haven't even been using the AC for months. I usually just drive around with the windows down.

 

I can count on two hands the number of times I've used the AC during the 3.5 years I've had the car.

However, if the pack is hot, the ability to accept charge is decreased which is going to increase the frequency of the recals. Basically, the battery control module thinks its depositing more energy than the batteries are actually storing and when the "math" doesn't add up, it recals. I dont' like the AC though so I don't use it--even if it would help.

Our Mariner has a separate AC for the battery to keep it cool on hot days, even if I don't choose to use the AC myself. Also, the Ford diagnostic stuff lets me see all kinds of data such as max battery cell temp and true state of charge on my Scan Gauge. It's not like the Honda that just guesses about the state of charge, and lacks diagnostic equipment in the pack to show warning signs.

 

Hey, Maybe we should get a class action suit going!

 

I'm not sure if you're joking or not. The only people who make out in a class action suit are the lawyers.

I just want Honda to acknowledge and fix the problem.

 

Oh yeah i was kidding. I don't know if there are enough of us to do anything like that anyway. However, taking them to small claims....I am all for that. I will just go represent myself if I need to.