Hi All,

I recently have taken protective custody over my wife's 2010 HCH. I looked over her maintenance binder and then looked online to see what pesky problems these cars have. IMA battery issues seem to be the be the one glaring issue for owners. So I checked her binder and noticed that the IMA battery was already replaced (under warranty) at 46,000 miles. The car is now approaching 90,000 miles. I did find the current warranty is 10 years/150,000 miles.

Questions:
1) Does Honda still honor the 10 year/150,000 mile warranty even if you had your battery replaced once before?
2) Has anyone had to have their battery replaced twice or more, in less than 150k miles?

Thanks!

 

1) Yes. 09-11 is covered in all states for 10yr/150K miles. Doesn't matter how many times it's been replaced.
2) Personally, no; however, the 3-4 year failure rate on the 09-10 models was 30%... nearly 1 in 3 batteries in the 09-10 MY failed in 3-4 years. I think it's safe to assume the answer to #2 is yes. I can say for certain that my 06 was replaced twice in 8yr/120K miles.

09-11 HCH2 hybrid pack is hands-down the worst hybrid battery pack on the market. They screwed it up worse than the 06-08 battery pack by creating even more hot spots.

Oddly enough the 06-11 HCH2 use the same Sanyo cells as the 2010-2014 G2 insight and the Ford Escape Hybrid... two of the best battery packs ever made...

Honda made a big mistake when they designed their own battery instead of letting the pros do it.

 

Thanks for the thorough response. We'll probably keep it a bit longer given the 150k warranty. Also the trade-in value isn't exactly spectacular, so as long as I don't need to replace a $3k battery, I'll ride the car out.

 

If you start to see a drop in mileage that isn't attributable to changes in:

weather
driver habits
terrain
driving pattern

Start documenting it, and watch the SoC gauge like a hawk for positive and negative recalibarations as follows:

Negative recalibration (recal, ree-kal):

Normal driving is interrupted by a loss in power, and the SoC gauge "marches" down at 1 bar per second to 2 bars. At 2 bars, the car will show charging on the gauge in all but the highest power demand situations. After a brief period that feels all too long, one of two things will happen: 1) it stops force charging at 3 bars and normal operation resumes. Gauge will eventually return to the typical 5-7 bar range; 2) A POSiTIVE RECAL (ree-kal) occurs: car stops charging, and the gauge marches to full at 1 bar/second.

Negative recals followed by positive recals are a sign of substantial deterioration. The may occur from time to time, but once you start seeing an mpg drop accompanied by recals, they will happen on a regular basis.

Dealers can be real b!tches about replacing a battery before it has coded. It's important to document:

1) your pre-issue mpg to serve as your basis
2) time and date of every positive and negative recalibration.

Dealers will swear up and down that they can't measure this, but Honda Diagnostic System (HDS) will report a "IMA Battery Usable Capacity" value. When a battery is deteriorated, this value is very low.

I have attached an HDS printout produced immediately following installation of a Bumblebee Battery. I have highlighted the capacity line as well as several other key values.

Honda really effed up the batteries for 06-11. Horrible horrible design. In NJ, your lower temperatures may help a lot.

 

I have a 2005 HCH which I purchased used with 128k miles. The hybrid battery was shot & all I could find were batteries costing around $2k or a bumblebee battery also costing slightly more, but with the promise of the bumblebee one made of a better and more efficient method using different technology. I simply did not have the money to fork out, and had been panicking as to what I'd do. I'd been driving the car but the hybrid battery would eventually drain the battery under the hood, I'm assuming that is what happened. I had to invest in a trickle charger and most importantly a jump box, as my Honda was having to be jumped most every time I went anywhere. I didn't even know what the assist WAS on the dash!! I was stressed out!!! Then I decided to take a chance on a grid charger made by a private company that sold the product on eBay. At least there was a warranty, and what could it hurt?? Let me tell you I AM SO GLAD!!! Now my '05 Honda Civic Hybrid is a DREAM COME TRUE! It actually acts like a hybrid now, shutting off as it's supposed to and regaining it's wonderful gas mileage I'd never gotten to see since I bought the car. This actually balances the individual cells and lets the hybrid battery truly charge to the individual cell's capacity. I highly recommend it rather than replacing the battery, especially if it is no longer covered under warranty. It was told that this charger may potentially solve many of the hybrid problems, although no guarantees were made; it was taking a chance to try it. Well IT WORKED so I say go for it because now I truly LOVE MY HYBRID!

 

Hello,

I plan to get a 2011 civic hy. Just want to make sure that, the current owner replace the IMA battery at dealer 3 years ago. Is that mean the new battery also have a 10 year warranty or i have to calculate the 10 year from the 2011(which means i will not be covered by 2021).

Thanks

 

Hello,

I plan to get a 2011 civic hy. Just want to make sure that, the current owner replace the IMA battery at dealer 3 years ago. Is that mean the new battery also have a 10 year warranty or i have to calculate the 10 year from the 2011(which means i will not be covered by 2021).

Thanks

 

It's okay to use common sense. Applying common sense to your question is helped by expanding the scope. Let's say a battery was replaced 9.5 years into the warranty. If the new battery has a 10 year warranty, then that would mean Honda would be warrantying the original vehicle for 19.5 years. That fails the common sense test. You now have your answer.

TRUE common sense in this situation is to absolutely, positively RUN AWAY FROM THAT FREAKIN' CAR! DO NOT PURCHASE IT!!!!

Unless you don't mind
1) fighting with honda about replacement before the warranty expires when YOU KNOW it's deteriorating, but they refuse because it hasn't coded OR
2) paying for a new battery shortly after the warranty expires.

 

Good explaination. I got it now.

 

Well here is another option, possibly. When I first bought my 05 Honda Civic Hybrid in 2017, the only thing I could do to drive the car was jump it off while I waited to see if I was going to buy a new battery. The cost for a new battery was so high and the car was not under warranty anymore. I did some research and I found a grid charger for my particular model of car. I paid about $300 for it and I want you to know that my car has been perfect and a dream come true ever since! I've had no problems with it whatsoever! I just hook it up to the charger - I don't even have to do it once a month but I try to do that just to keep it in top condition and in optimum working order - and my hybrid car is right now! I get great gas mileage, my battery recharges itself just by normal use it shuts off when I come to a stop sign like it is supposed to, and starts back up when I take my foot off the brake. It's awesome and I would not trade it for anything in the world, and I didn't have to buy a new battery costing 3 Grand or more I spent $300 on a grid charger and it has been excellent ever since.