Class Action Law Suit
 

If you are an owner of a Honda Civic Hybrid 2006-2010 and have experienced design flaws in 1) the rear tire arms, causing the cars tire tread to be worn down to baldness and or 2) have had your hybrid battery become faulty and no longer hold a charge causing the car to loose power during acceleration and have had Honda "fix" the problem with a "computer update" which changes the way the car runs so that it now mainly runs off of gas instead of battery assist, which also causes the car to get increasingly poorer gas mileage......please contact Attorney Nicholas Chimicles of Haverford, Pa. His law firm is handling a class action law suit against Honda regarding the advertised exaggerated MPG Honda claimed of the cars performance and it's time to file additional suit regarding the faulty design of this car model. Please read this article from the Los Angeles Times:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...507,full.story


Toll Free: 866-399-2487
Voice: 610-642-8500
Fax: 610-649-3633

Here is a link to Honda's website regarding the Class Action Law suit and proposed settlement.

http://www.hchsettlement.com/

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

I have had the Software update done on my car, with the many other updates also..I have not seen any decrease in my MPGs. If I do get to a forced 2 pip soc, now it is taken care of in just a few minutes of driving. Before I would have to deal with it until I got upto highway speeds. I am very pleased with my car now at 59,900 miles. Please remember that you are driving a small engine, it is not a sports car. It will never be one, drive it like it was intended to be and you will be very happy.

Brian

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

+1 for me too.

I got the updates and my mpg is higher and the car runs better too.
Oops... examples like mine don't help the claim for point #2... so make sure these lawyers never hear from people like me, will ya? :D


ks

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

Got mine – MPG and performance are improved – love it! (Please understand: not gloating here, just balancing the OP's multi-post comment. Definitely empathize with those who may experience problems.)

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

I am not an advertiser for that attorney and I am not working for that attorney. I am a hybrid owner extremely unhappy with my car's performance and angry that Honda risked my life and the lives of my passengers because of the car's faulty design. My tires were rubbed bald because of the faulty tire arms twice before Honda admitted the design flaw, fixed the arms but refused to pay for new tires. Bald tires=increased chance of accident and threat to my safety and the safety of others. My car also would experience power loss to the transmission due to battery failure, causing my car's transmission to fail to engage and not accelerate. I would be at stop lights, accelerating onto the freeway, driving up hills (at slow speeds like in a parking garage or on my steep inclined driveway) and I would press the gas pedal all the way to the floor and the car would not go forward but the engine would rev. On the hills, the car actually would begin to roll backwards even with the pedal all the way pressed to the floor. no power to the transmission=SAFETY THREAT!!!!!! When I took my car to Honda and complained about the transmission not working, I was told that a "computer update was needed to fix the problem in the transmission", I had not received Honda's notice regarding the battery issues and was not told prior to the repair about the battery flaw. When I questioned Honda's regional service manager about the cars defects he merely asked me to recreate the problem and because I couldn't after the "fix" he refused to admit any fault that this battery problem may or may not have caused my transmission to fail. All I am trying to do is make people aware that this is a serious problem for many reasons and people need to come forward and contact the appropriate people so our justice department can do it's job.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

I dunno.
I think honda should look at people's complaints about the car and treat them with the respect they deserve and fix the cars that have the probs.
But til 50% of the (100,000+???) US people who got the hch2 step forward and claim fault with the design like you are doing then you cannot possibly speak for my car and my experience and the experience of other people like me. just wanted to say that so you can word things in a fair way.

ks

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

How many miles do you have on your car? I find this difficult to believe.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

Class Action Lawsuit for lawyers = Lawyer's Retirement and Vacation Fund

Class Action Lawsuit for owners = $500 or $1000 coupon for a new Honda, with no admission of guilt or fault on the part of Honda

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

I too had the flawed rear tire arms. I was especially frustrated because I took the car to the dealer for all service -- including tire rotations. The rear belts had started to show and the tires were ruined. Honda gave me a "special" deal on new tires since I had only about 30,000 miles on them.

I'm surprised that anyone could have received the "software upgrade" and experience improved performance. I live in Texas. IMA assist is virtually dead as many others have mentioned. The software update made the problem even worse. It is clear to me that the purpose of the update is to try to keep the batteries within their warranty tolerances so they can avoid replacing them.

I intend to file a small claims suit. The $ damages are within the Texas limit. The letter describing the effects of the update was, in my opinion, misleading -- bordering on fraudulent. By my math, I will lose several hundred dollars due to reduced gas mileage. The car is nerve wracking to drive -- decent acceleration with IMA or like towing a 1000 lb trailer without it. No reasonable person would expect a car's performance to diminish so significantly after 3 years. The software shifts the burden to the gas engine and rarely shuts it off. One would have to expect a reduced life span for the engine itself. Anyway, I feel that Honda has sold a poor design that they refuse to stand behind (in case they get run over).

I'll post here if I have any success.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

Interesting idea, going to small claims court. Decent chance Honda will make you a settlement offer rather than bothering to have someone show up to defend your claim.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

I just bought a 2010 HCH and I'm averaging 45 mpg (2000 miles on the odo), acceleration isn't comparable to a sports car but it's a hybrid, I'm very happy with it.

Only complaint i have is the parking brake which rests on my leg and no distane to empty on display.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

The language of "flawed" and "faulty" control arms seems a little strong, at the least it does not apply universally: maybe there has been a bad batch, or it's the arms in concert with something else.

We have the original control arms, and absolutely no issues. Just getting around to replacing the OEM tires: they have been on for at least 75000 kms (snows on separate rims for maybe 10000 kms). They have around 4mm remaining tread depth, and very uniform wear.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

We purchased our 2007 civic right from the lot in March of 2007. Since then our car has ruined 12 tires, 8 of the OEM's and my set of winters. We had to purchase the winter tires because every time it snowed the car would not travel in a straight line.

It had the upper control arms replaced, removed (they reverted back to the A ones), now just recently replaced again (back to C). It's had at least 4 alignments from 3 different alignment shops. According to the alignment print out it's currently aligned right on the the specified numbers, but is still pulling to the right as it has since we purchased the car - although the rear end isn't jumping around like it did in the past every time we hit a bump.

I've called Honda Canada's "Customer Care" multiple times. Sometimes they return my calls, sometimes they say that they never got any messages. I've asked for the first line reps to pass me to their supervisor, they said it takes 24-48 hours for the case managers to call me. I called on Sept 8th. I reminded them on Sept 24th. Here it is October first and I have not received a call.

Honda Canada stated that they will not cover the cost of my tires. The dealer however has gone out of their way to help and have covered the OEM tires (except for the 1st set that I paid for pro-rated). Neither party will replace the winters. We bought the winters and they helped with snow, but they didn't help at all when there was black ice on the road. Try driving on the 401 30 km/h less then the rest of the traffic (due to the rear of the car swerving all over the place)

The first winter was a nightmare as we were unable to control the car over 60km/hr on snow covered roads, trying driving home from work with the hazard lights on after an unexpected snowfall. Every time we hit a bump the rear end of the car would jump right, pointing us towards oncoming traffic lane.

This is the first Honda I've purchased, in fact it's only the 2nd car I've purchased new, I usually buy used cars 2-3 years old.

I am amazed at the lack of respect from Honda Canada. They don't support their Dealers and they don't support me.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

How many miles (kilometers) does you '07 have on it? When you say the car has ruined 12 tires, do you mean that you've used three front/rear sets? I'm trying to get a sense of how prematurely your tires might be wearing, with some additional specifics. Thanks.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

They were all rear tires, the fronts are fine (until they got rotated anyway). We have ~ 128,000 kms on the car. We first reported the problem at the first oil change. It's mostly the same problem, the insides of the rear tires wear unevenly. The garage referred to is as chopping or scalloping. The rears have been replaced 4 times, they refuse to replace my winter tires. They are all ruined due to rotating them. It's so bad that the rear view mirror kept vibrating off the window until they replaced some kind of spring in it.

So far they haven't been able to fix the problem. I've been willing to work with them, haven't raised a ruckus, but they just can't fix it. Over the years we've had the same annoyances as everyone else, the rear spoiler, the brake farts (though this one fixed itself over time, I can't remember the last time I've heard it). We've had the rotation sensor go (I can't recall the correct name of this one), the front windows jumping off the tracks. The passenger side plastic piece that keeps popping up. These were mostlly all fixed in short order. I wish they could get the rear suspension problem fixed.

I like the car, it gives me something to do while driving, you know, playing the beat my last score driving. This tire thing has taken all the fun out of it, I haven't logged my mileage in a year and a half, the indicated mileage is no where near what it used to be, it currently reads 5.6 l/100 km, when we first got the car I was regularly below 4.8, 3.9 on one particular trip ~ 200km return.

This last rear set was ruined in one oil change interval. We put them on in April, when we got our fall service they were no longer round.

Oh well.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

It sounds like there's more to it than the control arms, since you've gone from orig. to revised, to orig, and back to new again. Just curious, when you stand behind the car and look at it does appear to be "listing" to one side?

Ours looks to be lower on driver's side, but again: we've never had an issue with premature tire wear or vibration.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

No idea, the dealer has serviced the car since purchased. They are well aware of what the car does. I did suggest to them that they take it to a collision shop to see if it's square. I was told that the alignment shop would notice right away if it's anything like that.

I've emailed them plenty of internet links with suggestions like one side lower than the other or the other one with just bad rear design. Honda policy is that they ignore everything but the "Tech Line".

I'm just waiting for the old it's over the warranty sorry....line at the moment. Honda Canada tried that initially. My answer to that was that the problem was reported within the first 10,000 km of ownership, they just haven't fixed it yet.

Who knows it might be fixed now, we won't know until we get a look at the tires.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

I have the same issue with the control arms. My dealer says I have to pay for the new arms, even though the car is still under warranty. My rear tires are severely cupped and the car makes a horrible "roaring" noise going down the road. At least it used to...before I stopped driving it because the IMA/battery died and I had to park it because Honda wouldn't fix that under warranty either.

How about one of you Honda lovers out there that swears by this company buy my car? I'll give you an outstanding deal on it.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

Hi,

I'm a newbie here and have a 2004 HCH Manual that just turned over 85,000 miles. I bought the car in 2006 with 53,000 miles, from a local Honda Certified Used Car dealer. The car has seen mostly urban driving cycles the past 2 years, with the occasional bi-monthly highway trip. A/C does see seasonal use in May-Sept.

On a side note: I recently replaced the under-hood 12V battery (this was NOT really necessary, I just wanted the peace-of mind with winter fast approaching),

And as far as I know the IMA (144V) battery module has never been replaced. The car performs well and typically gets an indicated 38 - 42 mpg in city use and close to 50 mpg highway. (We do live at 5000 ft ASL, which reduces mileage and power.)

About a week ago the IMA and CHECK Engine lights came on. (P1600 and P1433). At the time they come on the SoC dropped from 75% to roughly half that. Throttle response becomes noticeably sluggish, but the REGen/ASSist meter still works. And the SoC gradually moves up and down. The most I have seen it come back to is about 67 % when the codes are thrown.

When I clear the codes, I observe the following: REGen/ASSist immediately at idle shows (GREEN) charge and the SoC rapidly comes up to 100% within a couple of minutes. When the car is driven, throttle response is crisp and instrumentation shows "like-new" REGen/ASSist and SoC behavior in urban driving.

Then, usually with a day or so (usually less than 20-miles) the same codes return (P1600/P1433).

To the best of knowledge, the ECM has NOT been re-flashed or "Upgraded" by Honda.

1) Is there a way to determine the ECM Version level?

2) If Honda flashes the ECM, will it potentially mask the P1433 code? Making them less likely to replace the IMA battery of DC-DC converter under warranty?

3) What is actually happening when the P1433 code is thrown? It seems to put the system into "LIMP" or "LAME" mode?

4) Does anyone have experience with Honda's Certified Used Car Warranty or Third-Party Warranties, with respect to IMA failures?

Any advice (or dare I say Insights?) would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

Note: This Class Action Suit also includes HCH-I's provided you are the original owner, or purchase the vehicle new. Perhaps the moderator of this site can cross-post this into the HCH-I (specific) discussion area?

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

I was an unhappy owner of a 2006 HCH. I bought it certified pre-owned in 2008 with 68,000 miles. I just traded the car in with 129,000 miles for a 2010 Prius III. I had issues with the control arms, but of course I bought the car had newer tires and you won't really start to notice the cupping and road noise until the 12mo/12k certified warranty portion is over. I also used to average closer to 48 mpg, but it dropped significantly to 42 after the latest software update. I'm surprised anybody could get better fuel economy with the new updates, since it's very clear it uses the battery less and engine more. I also started to have recals multiple times per day after the latest software update. I feel very thankful I was able to trade my car in before having to replace my IMA battery. I've read multiple horror stories on this site and others where everything seems to be ok and then all of a sudden the IMA light comes on and your out over $3,000.

Though I can't be a part of the class action suit, I want to express that I feel that the suit is warranted and I hope current HCH owners get justice from Honda.

On a side note, I did have multiple other smaller issues with the car. My 1990 Lexus ES250 with 170,000 was more reliable, my 1977 Mercedes 300D with 200,000 miles was more reliable, and my 1999 Chevy Prism with 150,000 miles was more reliable (to name a few). I'm disappointed in the reliability of Honda. I don't plan on buying a Honda or Acura anytime soon.

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

Okay I'm missing any actual class action lawsuits about the control arms.... Someone have a link to that part?

Re: Class Action Law Suit
 

Class action suits are comical anyway. Read elsewhere about the last class action suit. The two lead plaintiffs got about 20K, the lawyers got millions and everyone else got a coupon for $500-$1,000 off a new Honda. Awesome.