There is a service bulletin out for all 2006-2008 Civic Hybrids regarding the braking system:
http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SB/A08-057.PDF
"Brake System Makes a Short, Buzzy Grunt When the Brake Pedal is Pressed".... it sounds like a fart, there's no nicer way to put it.

There are two speaker icons you can click on in the above link and it will let you listen to the sound. I'd never really paid attention to it before, but I most definitely have had the sound occasionally in the past and it did it twice today. It also states that this can be extremely difficult to duplicate as the occurrences can be weeks apart.

The 2.5 hour fix is to replace the Master Cylinder and Servo Unit Assembly, which is about a $1500 part!

My local dealership has never given me any if ands or buts about doing any TSB work so I'm going to see if I can get this done along with a 3rd set of sun visors.

 

Thanks Rick!
That's gotta be a first, not one but 2 different Civic "fart" recordings!
I've certainly got/had this issue.
I wonder if the only problem IS the embarrassing noise. Or is its presence a sign that something bad might happen down the line with these two expensive parts?
Let us know how it goes at the dealership.

 

Mine sounded just like the recordings, just maybe a little shorter in duration and it wasn't very loud either. I was moving along slowly with a decent amount of brake pressure, let off mostly, then applied more brake slowly and it did it twice in a row with this method. The brake system on these cars is like nothing else any normal consumer is used to so all the whirling and pumping noises are likely to confuse people.

Whether it indicates a possible future problem I have no idea, I would imagine there would be a recall if it was, but I'm still going to get the updated part.

 

Dropped the car off today. The tech called me a few hours later and asked a few questions about the noise and I said it sounded just like the noise in the TSB. He also asked how often it occurred and I said it was weeks in between. The more I think about it the more I think I'd heard it in the past on a couple of occasions, but just ignored it.

I received a call later saying they were ordering the brake booster setup, about a $2,000 part and the car should be ready to go tomorrow afternoon. All well, at least I'm covered now in case it would have gotten worse in the future.

 

is there a smell as well?

just kidding

 

Only if you feed it gas laced with ethanol made from mexican jumping beans

 

Got the car back today, feels exactly the same, but there's definitely a nice new clean brake booster under the hood. I saw the warranty ticket, they had $2500 written on it! I guess that's what Honda is being billed. I also got a full brake fluid flush out of the deal. I think I may have even gotten a software upgrade while they were at it because everything was reset.

So moral of the story, listen to your brake boosters.

 

I tried for a year to get this fixed by the dealer. Now that my HCHII is out of warranty tey won't even talk to me about it. This is actually pretty dangerous, as is relieves brake pressure, causing the car to not stop as quickly as it should. Is there a recall on it yet? I need this fixed.

 

I'd call Honda and open up a case. Give them the service bulletin number and make sure they know you tried to get the dealer to fix it while you were under warranty. I'm relatively confident they'll fix it for you. I will warn you that Honda's customer number might not even know what a TSB is and if that doesn't get you anywhere ask to speak with your regional warranty supervisor.

 

I appreciate your help, Rick. I'll take care of that next week, after the holiday.

Jay