My '09 HCH now has nearly 31K miles on it. It had never given me problems, and I had never before seen the SOC gauge need to recalibrate.

But, at 29K miles, I noticed on a daily basis that the SOC gauge would suddenly drop to 1 bar, staying there for several miles until it would return to normal. The gauge shows this behavior at least once per outing, usually about one mile into the drive and lasting until about the 3-4 mile mark. The first time this happened, my SOC gauge did not recover for nearly 20 minutes. There have been no other warning signs.

After reading the recent post in this same sub-forum on the 12V battery, I took my car to the local dealer to check its capacity and see if that might have been the cause of my HCH's odd behavior. The 12V battery tested at 290 – perfectly normal. There were no IMA or other error codes. But the technician did observe a recalibration when he test drove the car. My car's data was sent to Honda, and I have an appointment on August 12th to have a rep look at it. My dealership has indicated that the IMA pack will likely need to be replaced under warranty.

My question is: Based on those of you who have had this specific experience, do you have any recommendations about how to handle this situation, other than what I've already done? I am concerned about being able to duplicate the problem at-will, especially since it ordinarily occurs shortly after start-up.

For those of you who have been monitoring such issues, here are some specifics to note. Probably 75 percent of my driving history has been at easy freeway speeds and with few temperature extremes. My lifetime MPG has been about 43. I always drove mindfully in such a way to avoid using the IMA battery pack, and rarely saw my SOC gauge below 4-5 bars. In other words, the batteries have received the best of care by a three-time hybrid owner. The original software was the "improved" '09 version which I later had updated to the '10 version.

Although I'm very relieved that this happened while under warranty, it's disconcerting that an IMA battery under light use could fail so prematurely. It's odd to be reporting this incident, since I had always believed that this could not happen to me.

 

In April of 2010 my 2006 HCH with less than 24K miles started acting like what you are experiencing. Mileage dropped, recals were frequent and frequently there was no IMA assist, which was a safety concern.

The dealer's mechanic with the most hybrid experience drove the car for a few days and sent data to the "tech line". The first response was that there were no error codes and the battery was OK. The mechanic knew things were not right but the dealer could not authorize the IMA battery replacement.

After speaking with the service manager and mechanic over several weeks and stressing that there was a safety issue, the service manager had a face-to-face with the Honda America regional rep. The outcome of the meeting was that the battery was replaced at no charge to me. Parts and labor were $3,085. Since then everything operates as it should and MPG is around 44.

I believe the fact that I had purchased the HCH from the dealer and have had my Accord serviced there for a number of years was taken into consideration. Hopefully you will not get the run-around like some other have experienced.

BTW - On page 213 of the 2006 owners manual there is a NOTICE

"If this vehicle is unused for over one month. the service life of the 158v Nickel-Metal Hydride bettery will be reduced and the battery may be permanently damaged."

Are there any warnings of this nature in the 2009 manual?

 

Good to hear your experience, and positive outcome. I don't have access to my manual, so I can't answer your question.

When I bought my car new, it failed to start and had to be jump started. The dealer explained that it had sat on the lot for quite some time following its boat trip. Interesting theory – thanks!

 

I dunno. My car was bought used, and as far as I know it sat on the lot for quite a while (6 months between the previous owner and myself). Maybe the dealership started it up every day, or it went out for frequent test-drives, but the battery has been good. Of course, it's a first-gen, so its IMA is different than your 2nd-gen. I've never had a re-cal yet.

Steve, if I remember correctly you mentioned that you were out on the road away from home with your family, driving across various states in the west. In your travels, have you been in many locations where the weather was particularly hot? Extreme heat can cause troubles with the IMA battery.

Good luck with all this.

 

Gairwyn, you are correct about my travels. I put 16K miles on my HCH in six months. But it was during winter, so the car was never in temps above the low-70s. Plus, here in coastal San Diego we rarely see temps above the mid- to high-70s even in the summer, so really my HCH has never been exposed to temperature extremes. Good thought, however... thanks!

 

Well, at least you're well within the warranty limits.

Let us know how it goes for you.

 

Good news to report. The senior Honda rep today drove my car, witnessed the erratic SOC behavior, and authorized a new IMA pack.

My service advisor commented that they had never seen an IMA pack fail so early (31K miles). It'll take 3-5 business days for the parts to arrive. The next question is: Once it's repaired, should I then keep it or sell it?

 

I think I would keep it unless of course you can get new price. What is a new 2012 HCH3 worth Steve? Have you priced the new cars you like! They are not going down in price.But its your call! H

 

Harold, I'm done with "interim" hybrid technologies, so there'll be no HCH3 in my future.

I've got my eye on a couple of zoom-zoom cars. The jury's still out, though!

 

Miata is nice! H