so i was cruising down the road at about 30mph in my 03 civic hybrid. i went to switch lanes and as soon as i turned the wheel the engine shut off. the only thing that was still on was the radio...no cluster lights at all. therefor, because of the radio i know i had power. i pulled over, put it in park, and it started right up like nothing ever happened. i checked the battery, battery connections, and alternator. 1st and only time its done it. i drove around for an hour making abrupt maneuvers to try and duplicate it and couldnt.

now, i have had cars die on me before. everytime they do, the cluster lights always stay on(unless a battery cable came loose). not with this car...only the radio. normally, when you turn the car off the radio stays on until you open the door. when the car died, there wasnt even a key symbol saying it recognized a key was in the ignition. that made me think maybe the chip in the key was going bad. do you think im correct on that assumption? i have since used my second key and it hasnt happened yet. any other ideas...? thanks

 

I think it maybe your key lock went bad. They have known to cause similar symptoms.

 

ya i was thinking after i posted this maybe the tumblers were getting worn. idk, i guess ill see when it finally breaks lol. do you know of an approx replacement price including work or a thread to lead me in that direction. maybe a "do it yourself" thread..that would be cool.

 

Had a similiar problem but not with a HCH. It was the electricial side of the ignition switch. In my case if I moved the key very gently in one direction or another from the run position I could duplicate the shutdown. It was hard to duplicate.

Repaired the electric side of the ignition. May not be be your problem. Honda parts and service might be able to tell you if they have seen this issue. I frequently find a experienced parts guy to be a better source of info than a service rep.

 

Yes, the same thing happened to my wife. She was driving to work at about the same speed \when suddenly no motor no responce to the gas pedal, I do not know if the radio stayed on She pulls over, puts it in park and turns the key off tehn on and it starts back up. We took it to the dealer and hte mechanic says that the computer did not register anyrthing (surprise surprise).
I also mentioned that the car had occasionally had EXTREMELY LOW POWER when starting from a stop on a slight incline. It happened on hot days with the ac running. The battery was below half but not exhausted. The engine did not rise much in rpm. The acceleration could have been doubled if I had gotten out and pushed. Seriously it was still not over 5mph after 30 seconds. This is very dangerous. I have had to pull over toi the side of the road to keep from being rear ended when I am pulling out into traffic.
I suspect the transmission is at the root of it. Anyway the mechanic informed me that this is normal with the hybrids. Folks I am 51, I have been driving all my life. have accelerated from a stop in many underpowered cars (including my civic) where the AC drew a noticable amount of power from the engine. I even make it a habit to turn off the AC in such cars under those circumstances. This is NOT what I am talking about, the incidents I am referring to had way less power than normal. I am not an idiot regardless of what Honda mechanics think of thier customers. Of course the mechanic had no insights other than for us to leave it with him for undetermined length of time. Since it is winter I will wait to see if it happens again but I have to admidt that I am leary of any situation where I have to accelerate quickly.
So far we have had to have a power window fixed, the cruise control fixed, the hybrid system program updated when the hybrid system warning light went on, the warning light for the nitrogen inflated tires is constantly lit. We stopped going in to have it fixed after the fifth time since it was obvious Honda did not have a fix for it. All this not to mention these mystery problems (above) that Honda does not even acknowledge. For a three year old Japanese 25k vehicule that kinda sucks. It seemsthis car is horribly over engineered. I shudder to think what this will cost to maintain when the warranty is up.
How many other have had these problems?

 

I had a 1999 accord that would do the exact same thing. I fixed it by replacing the ignition switch.

 

Yes, that thought (defective ignition switch) has crossed my mind but this car is very low mileage and is under warranty. If cant get the mechaninc to diagnose the problem I cant get it fixed for free. Of course, this is also a shotgun repair technique which may or may not fix the problem. Considering the age of the car this may be an engineering short coming of the hch which should be the reponcibility of the manufacturer. IF I do replace it with a poorly engineered ignition switch I may wind up with the same problem and be out a sustantioal amount of time and/or money.

I'd really like Honda to research and address the problems this car has, including the low power incidents as they can be life threatening when they occur at bad times.

There is a lot I like about the car but that affection is waning as it spends more and more time in the shop.

 

Little old of a thread I know but...
Still have not had the car shut off like it did to date. She has actually been doing very well (knock on wood). The master switch assy is acting up just a little bit when its hot outside but that is it.
To Bernalillo, I also notice a loss in power when its hot outside or if its just warm and ive been driving for a long time. Its never enough to put us in danger by any means. On that though, every vehicle has less power when its hot. Even my 300hp+ truck suffers a bit in the heat. So take a car that has very little pwr to begin with (especially for its Curb Weight), add A/C, add a power robbing CVT, then put it in the heat...ya, its slow as sh*t to be nice.
Every car is different though, and some people just get unlucky with reliability...I have many times. Personally, this is the best, most reliable car Ive ever owned and dont try to make it do things it wasnt designed. Not being an *ss, but if your driving a 70hp civic that weighs 2700lbs on a good day, you probably shouldnt try to "speed race" into traffic. Thats putting yourself in danger. I live in San Diego with heavy traffic and heat and she does just fine. If I know its dangerous to pull out, I wait...nothing is more important to were I cant wait a little longer.
To agree, yes the car was a little over engineered for the time...but it was the first gen as well. Some companies cant even build a regular car. If its a dealer thing...trust me, EVERY dealer is the same, no matter what the make. This is the only vehicle that I have had go over 100k trouble free. I love my honda.

 

The CVT incorporates an automated mechanical clutch. There is no torque converter which is what gives you the "rise in rpms". A clutch, automated or manual, does not allow slippage. Its as if you floor a car with a M/T w/o downshifting. Its not going to gain much speed. The CVT has no gear to downshift to...thats what the "S" and "L" selections are for. That holds the transmission at a lower, specific ratio. From a stop going onto an incline, put the car in "S"...it will raise your rpms about 1k I think. I use it often on the CA hills. LOL...in my HCH, if you floor the gas...I think it goes slower. Now days, they are incorporating torque converters in the CVT to help with the lack of power. Drive a new Maxima or Altima to see what Im talking about.