Little by little things have been failing on my 2003 HCH CVT to the point where my dashboard looks like a Christmas tree because of all the warning lights. I'm planning to get a new car in April, so one more month of this and I'm done. The kicker is, the worst/most costly problem with the car doesn't even have a light on the dash - the CVT is shot and it's WAY too expensive to repair it. It started to go in August of 2012, and has gotten progressively worse to the state it is in today (see picture). Here's the list of things wrong with it:

1) CVT - I think the starter clutch is bad. Bangs hard when engaging, either starting from a stop light or accelerating after after coasting.
2) Catalytic Converter - getting codes 1449 and 1420. Might be fixed by the recall, but ... why bother? (warning light on)
3) IMA battery - gets depleted really quick - gas mileage has decreased by 15-20%in the last year (warning light on)
4) SRS (supplemental restraint system - airbag). Probably just a sensor. I can reset it and it'll stay off for a few days. There is a really good youtube video on how to diagnose and fix. May try this weekend. (warning light on)
5) Side Airbag - probably just a sensor. (warning light on)

My wife's car is paid off in April, so I'm going to hobble along until then. Just need to decide if I want another hybrid (Ford Fusion) or a Jeep Wrangler unlimited. Leaning towards the Jeep - life is too short to spend it all in a hybrid. I took this picture on the way to work this morning. The car has 165k on it, so i can't complain. In the shape it is in, I don't know how I am going to sell it - anyone have any ideas? It's not worth my integrity to reset all the dash lights temporarily and sell it like there is nothing wrong. Plus anyone who drives it will know the CVT is bad.

 

Neil

Enjoyed a couple of great quotations in your post

-- dashboard looks like a Christmas tree,

- life is too short to spend it all in a hybrid..

Keep it up. You should be able to trade it in at any dealer for $500 and should be good with it.

my 2 cents.

~Ram

 

dashboard looks like a Christmas tree - quote of the HCH lifetime. I have a 2006 HCH and my lights came on around 50,000 - 60,000 miles and they come and go for the last 6 years. I have almost 300,000 miles on my HCH and finally my IMA light is coming on and off...plus my red battery light (which honda just put a new 12V battery a month ago)...strange. So since honda told me I needed a the 12V under the hood battery, my IMA and red battery light is coming off and on...strange. Around 70,000 miles my check engine light came on...honda told me cat converter ($2,000)? Hummm...Well I passing emissions and I was getting 42-25 miles to the gallon...no way it's the cat convertor...So I keep passing state emissions and still those lights will not go away. car is 8 years old but it's almost enough of these christmas tree lights...Today, I have the wrench yellow light on (need oil change), the IMA light, the check engine light, the red battery light and sometime the oil light emerges...funny stuff...almost 300,000 miles on the car...think it might be time for new sparks though...lol.

 

My dashboard looked pretty much the same on my 2003 HCH when the IMA battery needed replacing. I bit the bullet in early 2012. I didn't have problems with the airbag system, but the SMS light came on anyway.

The side airbag light is usually only on if it sense you have something in the passenger's side seat, like a bag of groceries (and not a person).