I've taken the cautious approach and not gotten the recall update yet.

How's power, mileage, and battery management since your update?

I noticed the 2011 HCHII hwy mileage went down to 43mpg. Is this related?

Thanks, nf

 

Honestly, I don't see a big difference. My fuel consumption might have gone up a bit but it may be just normal fluctuations, time will tell. (Got it done barely 2 tanks ago).

A coworker that also has a 2008 HCH says he went from 6l/100km to over 8l/100km! but I'm still maintaining my yearly average of 4.8l/100km in Montreal, Canada (cold winters!).

I used to keep the battery charge indicator in the 6/8 to 7/8 range, now I see alot more of 4/8 than I used to but I assume this is to counter the "memory effect" present in NiMH batteries.

Daniel

 

I took in my 06 HCH with around 24K because of the frequent recals and performance concerns. The first thing they did was update the software and things got much worse. Long story short... although there were no error codes, with the support of the dealer, Honda America authorized free replacement of the IMA battery. About 4k later I am still averaging around 44MPG.

My theory is that if the battery is marginal the software update will cause reduced performance and MGP and Honda America often will not replace the battery. The dealer where I purchased the car went to bat for me with Honda America.

 

I find no problem with the changes. Its just not as aggressive. I am still averaging the same FE and I have never had a recal with my 06, and I don't want one! H

 

I've been getting horrible mileage since I got the update. I was averaging ~5.6l/100km before the update but after the update I've been getting 6.8-7.2l/100km. Another thing I noticed is that if I have 4-5 bars of charge and I try to accelerate from a dead stop I have to floor the gas pedal to get any acceleration at all and even then it takes a good 5 seconds to get up to 30km/h. I even had a full service done (oil + transmission fluid change and tire rotation) recently and I still get crappy mileage compared to what I was getting before the update and compared to what I was getting around this time last year.

 

Have you ever had your wheel alignment checked. After having my upper control arms replaced[rear] and a complete alignment done by Honda where I purchased my car[College Honda in Victoria BC] my car burnt off the rear tires, Obviously they screwed up,but they would not admit it. I was on holidays and Honda in Cathedral grove California installed new Dunlaps and did a 4 wheel alignment, Car performed much better after this correction FE wise and of course power improved. H

 

I will get an alignment soon just in case but I highly doubt that all my problems are due to wheel alignment since everything went downhill right after the update

 

Well, I finally got the SW Recall update today. When I picked the car up the SA told me the mileage would be worse. Well, that was all I needed to hear. I babied that car back to work and got 52.3 mpg.

The reverse psych part of the recall really has value.

I'll update after a bit more driving, but we are just thawing out from single digit temps so I think my mileage will be improving no matter what.

Cheers, nf

 

I am sure they will noflash. Your IMA will monitoring things much better as well. As your SOC gets down the assist is used much less and for shorter distances. I have not gone bellow 4 bars SOC since the up-dates and my FE has improved tremendously. H

 

OK what this update does(correct me if I'm wrong Honda) is impose tighter limits on the IMA system. As in you won't get assist with less than 3-4 bars and some people say it doesn't light up the 8th bar anymore. So Honda has made a patch to make the HCH more like the prius as far as software battery saving features go. I am shocked that Honda ever overlooked this in the first place or maybe they thought owners would read the manual and learn how to operate the car unrestrained.

If that's the case Honda took a big gamble in order to deliver cars which performed comparably to the prius but without a total redesign of the system. I think the gamble is a draw pretty much they didn't gain anything and most people who had good batteries took the 1-2 second hit from 0-60 with no ill will.

It's the other ones who's batteries were already failing who got hit hard by this. Honda should have explained what they were trying to accomplish with this TSB a little better. Because if you get this update(if it works just like I think it does) then your car will pretty much quit using the IMA system altogether you might get 10-30 seconds of assist but it sure won't work as advertised. Hopefully Honda will just replace them all(the defective packs or the ones destroyed by over-cycling). Which is what they should do if they detect anything wrong with your pack at the same time they perform this TSB that should be a recall.

P.S. I know one Great PR move Honda could do to help make up for this snafu, and that is to offer free of charge Hybrid driving lessons to new buyers who have never owned a hybrid before. Now wouldn't that just put Honda a step ahead/apart from every other car company. Plus it would mean that drivers of Honda Hybrids would pollute and guzzle less gas too right?

PPS Please add a "Don't plan to update" box to the poll, I voted thumbs down, but would have……..