Thanks Mendel, I'll check that out.

 

Yep, we got our letter too, but let's face it - our nearly 4-year old 2007 has been driven extensively (approaching 80K miles) in hot Texas summers, and most of my driving is stop-and-go. The stupid thing goes into forced recharge every day, even when I don't turn the AC on, and with indicated battery level of 4-6 bars. The batteries have already suffered the 'deterioration' noted in the recall letter - all these changes are going to do are disguise them because of even more constant recharge cycles and less drain on the battery;

These are the documented changes:
- When the car is in auto idle stop, the engine restarts sooner. It also now restarts with only two bars displayed.
- Even with up to four bars displayed, auto idle stop may not occur.
- To ensure there's plenty of power for engine starting and accelerating from a stop, the IMA system reserves more power. This reduces assist as vehicle speed increases.
- The IMA battery level gauge more accurately indicates battery state. You will notice the level bars stay in the middle of the guage much longer.

We do well to get 40 mpg now, down from the halcyon days when 50 was possible - what's it going to be like after the 'fix'? Also would love to have the revised setup go through the EPA mileage run again, it certainly will result in lower mileage overall.

 

I received the formal recall notice but have not yet had the software upgrade. My battery has been discharging at least once a day for the last 2-3 months especially during the hot weather. This is far more frequent than normal and I'm in too many situations with not enough power.

 

I got my recal recall letter, I have not had much problem with recal's averaging 3-5 a year usually when the season changes....however, I have noticed after the last software update, and now that it is good and hot I am having a couple a week when I drive in stop and go driving downtown. I don't find it that much of an issue just needs more gas and kind of throws me off a bit but acceleration is really not that much different than the 2010 Prius I rented last time I was in Seattle. Of course, I make it a point to never get in situations where I have to push the car really hard, that just burns too much gas regardless of the soc.
At any rate, I am scheduled to take it in Friday (8/6/10) & will post my driving impressions.

 

Well just got back from the dealer, took about an hour. when I took the car in, it was at 43.2 mpg & 5 bars charge, the drive to the dealer (8 miles) is mostly downhill & it was cool enough (70) that I did not have the a/c on.
When I picked it up it was at 42.9 & 7 bars of charge.
driving it home, I noticed auto stop worked instantly but that is not a suprise as it was 85 outside and of course a higher state of charge.
I noticed that the assist was more agressive with max from a standstill and as much as 3 bars up to 30 mph when it droped off, the regen was also more aggressive 2-3 bars when I let off the gas insted of 0-1.
Trip home is of course mostly uphill, not a huge grade but about a 800 ft rise in 8 miles.
I had the a/c at 72 when I got home, I had 6 bars and the mpg was 43.2 again, so, my inital response is this is worthwhile.
My real test will be this afternoon, I have to go downtown, bumper to bumper and it should be 90, lets see what happens.

 

How about regen during cruising? The original software on my civic would regen more and more aggressively while cruising as the battery charge diminished. With the first round of software updates that was targeting the battery crashes, this behavior went away, where now I can occasionally force 1 bar of regen while cruising, but for the most part, now it waits for 3-4 bars, then goes into a panicked forced regen, minimal assist until the battery is charged back up again, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Also, on your uphill track home, did it assist constantly or did it back off on the assist eventually? Again, with the current software I have, when I have a long uphill track, it will assist the entire way until the battery is depleted then go into forced recharge, vs. the prior behavior where it would eventually back off the assist as the battery level diminished. Would love to have that original behavior back again.

 

Got the letter as well. I am in no hurry. My oil life is at 70%. I'll prob wait for that.

Cheers, nf

 

FYI, called and verified with the dealership that I do in fact have the recall software. Ugh After given a couple of weeks to let it settle in, its back to the shop to get them to discover the source of the constant crashes (battery pack being my biggest suspect).

 

Here is my stress test, pre update this drive was a sure bet for a recal, at mimimum get it down to 2 bars.
90 degrees on the dot, a/c set for 72, 500 lbs of people in the car, travel fairly open road, again slightly downhill about 2.5 miles, 6 bars most the trip, 7 at the stop where I turn onto a busier street....several lights and moderate trafic 1.5 miles, 7 bars, head into downtown, road construction 1 mile, not good, down to 5 bars, about a mile of slightly uphill rd, remains at 5 bars. steep hill about 1/2 mile then into multi level parking garage, holding at 5 bars.
Climb out of parking garage, 4 bars (getting nervious) back down the hill, lots of regen, two lights to get through signal (now 5:15 oh boy, rush hour) this is where I find out there is now only one auto stop (per stop)with 4 bars.
very heavy traffic for about 2 miles as I head out of downtown, fairly flat streets....4 bars and holding, there is assist at take off only but generaly feels ok, and able to hold its own in the traffic.
head back to the suburbs, moderate traffic again, slight grade, moves up to 5 bars.
6 miles, headed to dinner, rolling hills, speed generally 40 mph, 6 bars, lots of regen on down hill slopes, no assist on up generally 1 bar of regen on flat aeras.
1 mile downhill, 8 bars at bottom of hill.
retrun back up the same hill, down to 5 bars, head on home, about 3 miles by the end of that back up to 6 bars.
other notes, the car generaly feels better, very hard to quantify I will not say peppy because the car by its nature is not a peppy car, it feels more solid, it feels like it is compentent and able to do what it needs to do if that makes any sense, it feels like it did when I bought it.
I have also found that it runs about 1 bar regen on the flats and seems to drop all assist above 30, on long hill there was maybe 1 bar of assist at 45 mph. There seems to be more assist available at take off, usually it maxes out (I do not accelerate hard) then drops quickly at 10 mph to maybe 1 bar at 28mph.
so, that is my one day driving evaluation, I will post more as I drive more.

 

It's now been 10 days since I got the recall update. I've noticed little difference in most parameters, with the exception of 1) crusing regen: I think there's a slight increase in cruising regen and 2) I have never seen less than 4 IMA bars since the update (probably a consequence of No. 1)

I live in a temperate area (SF Bay Area) and was never really getting many forced recals, except when I run the AC on those few hot days. Before I would occassionally get down to 3 and even 2 bars when going up a steep grade.

My mileage hasn't been noticeably affected by the update. I would expect to see a slight decrease, since I think I'm seeing an increase in cruising regen . . . but in the tank since the update I'm still getting right around 50 mpg. (I do drive for high mpg, most of my miles are highway miles and I keep it between 60 and 65).