The dealer where I purchased my 2006 HCH was most supportive when enaged regarding the frequent recals and associated periods of no IMA assist. I won't go into all that they did (they put in significant time) but their hybrid specialist was driving it when a recal and loss of IMA occurred. A device was attached that captured the systems data and he also took pictures of the the indicators on the dash. That seens to be what it took to convince Honda America to authorize replacement of the IMA battery, which is scheduled for Monday.

This dealer was also the only one in the area that was not marking up hybrid civics when they were difficult to get in 2006. That saved me plenty of $ and they continue to make me happy.

 

Replacing my 12V battery last year with an Optima yellow top did help some. Since the latest sw update I've been noticing smaller recals as well, dropping to 1/2 charge rather than 1 or no bars. However, the IMA hangs in this area or an extended period of time, with the associated imitations on assist, until the SoC suddenly jumps to almost full or full. I've got the HCH II shop manual for my vehicle and still can't seem to find the cause beyond a programming issue and degradation of the IMA pack.

My only accessories are fog lights and the occasional phone charger, what gives? I have noticed an improvement with an experiment I performed (and still use). If I plug in the 12V battery overnight on a trickle charger, as though the 12V isn't drawing as much off the IMA pack via the DC-DC converter. I'm still able to average mid-40s when I drive it but my wife, who is not as well-versed in little nuances of the car, only manages 39-40 at best. It's sad that the average, conservative driver cannot do any better with a car that only has 56K miles on it.

 

Glad to here the good news Cali.

It does appear that Honda is realizing that these are battery issues we have experienced.

I'm still concerned about the limitations of their testing in being able to diagnose these issues. We'll have to see over time if they are able to develope testing procedures to properly diagnose these issues and possibly update the software.

I suspect Honda will remain reluctant to diagnose batteries under warranty, due to the cost. We'll have to see if that philosphy changes when the batteries are out of warranty.....

 

Interesting thread.
Now I have something to look forward to in a couple of years.
For now my HCH with 55K and 26 months old runs perfect.
Thanks for the information.

 

Just to add another one. My 2007 (April) has 54k and I've started noticing much more frequent recals probably over the winter. I thought maybe it was the cold weather but they have kept up and probably worsened. I think it takes 2 days of not driving (well 36 hours) to predictably set it up.

My mileage is 46 over the last 5k but I was usually over 50 mpg 20k miles ago. I blamed tires at one point since I went with LRR tires that were not OEM. 1 pair definitely cut me back and those have now been replaced. Overall, my mileage drop could still be the tires.

But either way, the recals are definitely noticeable. In my (non-CA) state, I guess I have to 80k on the warranty for the battery.

Does anyone have any idea on the time/mileage from noticeable recals to IMA light? I would hope/expect that I'd have an IMA light before 80k if this is indeed weak cells.

Also - I've never done a software update or TSB. Any reason to - it sounds like it doesn't really help.