I have had no recal problems and the pack is strong so far. Like I say the SOC did not drop on either occasion. Probably better to have a friend start it on occasion .H

 

Since my last post here I have complained to my dealer, who, even though they installed the update, accepts no responsibility for the outcome. North American Honda said they can't undue the update and has no solution for the loss of power assist, etc.. So, I'm stuck with a different car that may be a safety hazard because of the loss of power assist from the electric motor. Since I have no choice I decided to change how I drive the car in hopes of preserving the batteries and get more power assist when needed. I now drive like an old lady. The car is no fun to drive now. On the positive side, since changing my driving habits, my mileage has improved from 35 mpg to 43mpg. Power assist is slightly better but not anywhere near what it used to be. Battery charge stays between 4 and 5 bars. At the lower end of the 4 bar charge the power assist will not work. Whereas before the power assist would work down to, but not including 1 bar. Not happy, hoping for a class action lawsuit.

 

Sounds like you've got a borderline battery. I doubt that the software update has done it in, ultimately it might help.

If you can take a break from grousing: by your own admission, driving like "an old lady" has got you one heck of an improvement in mileage.

What to do, I dunno. I'd say our battery is very similar to yours, and we've got the update as well, and are noticing similar behaviours. I would stay the course, driving per "old lady", it might grow on you, LOL. You've got 3~4 years of battery warranty left, minimum. You've gotten the updates Honda offered, so you're on pretty good ground I think: still lots of warranty time if it does die.

 

agreed, update is no fix for a bad battery, but seems like its a way that honda is using to get off the hook for replacing them.

I've given up on my HCH...i bought a 95 civic with 203K miles, but runs great. I've got about $900 in it all together with the purchase and tune up. It reliably and consistently gets me on the highway at speed, air condition blows cold, and seems like its going to get 30+ mpg when its all said and done (the next gas tank will tell now that O2 sensor is replaced).

My HCH is parked until I get resolution from Honda on it. My wife and I do not trust it.

 

Gave up on ours. Traded on a new '10 RAV4 (more practical for us right now with dog & 2 kids anyway) while it still had some reasonable trade value left. We were at about 60K miles and averaging 33 mpg + multiple forced recalibrations each week. My feeling is that the software update is just a band-aid. If it is to help prevent damage to our battery, after 60K miles, the damage is already done. We didn't buy this car to get 33 mpg and I have no interest in wasting my time or energy on the aggravation of pursuing Honda to make things right (if they even would). Nor do I want to continue to worry about the safety of my family in driving a car that at times had very little power with no warning.

As longtime Honda owners, we're disappointed and think that Honda could have handled this much better, but will continue to look at Hondas when we buy. Aside from this issue, we liked our Civic and I still have a Ridgeline that I like very much, and still feel that on the whole Honda builds a good product.

Best of luck to those who want to continue the fight, and well wishes to those of you who don't have any of these issues - you are fortunate.

Steve

 

Getting a bit of a mixed results on mine. When going up the hills and the battery is at 3-4 bars, I get no assist and pathetic behavior. On the other hand the new software seems to make it really easy to get ridiculously high mileages when the conditions are right- something on the 50-60 mpg, even up to 90 in some cases. Average is till 43-44, but the bursts are nice. Still not right all around, but at least some improvements

 

Yes, the hill assist cut feature has been exaggerated with this new update...it existed on my previous update but seldom kicked in for me. But if it sees that I'm climbing a hill now, it reduces assist when accelerating moderately to hard on the incline, even when there is plenty of charge and everything is cool. Problem for me is my highway ramp is angled just right that if I have charge and am accelerating lightly to moderately, i'll get full assist, then if I have to gap it to get into a slot, the motion of the extra acceleration triggers the hill assist cut feature, which is very noticeable...its an exercise of nerves for sure. Then as the road flattens back out, full assist will kick back in again without any change in throttle position.

OH yea, and if there are less then 4 bars of assist, forget it. Premium does help quite a bit in these motors though, if I remember right they are pretty high compression and the new software update seems to take advantage of it. When its really hot out, i've noticed the premium helps offset a little bit of the doggedness of no assist.

 

In July I also recieved the "upgrade". My car was running just fine. Now, the IMA doesn't kick in sometimes. Merging on the freeway, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Going up a long steep hill, sometimes it kicks in, sometimes it doesn't.

Darryl Waltrip Honda has the car right now but they told me that this is the way it works. What I'm experiencing is documented and correct. Of course, they didn't tell me that BEFORE the "upgrade". Now I have a weak engine that may or may not have an assist. I agree with some of the above posts, big time safety issue.

Should I allow my 16 y/o daughter to drive this knowing that she may try to merge with no assist?

 

Bruceleeroy.... my 06 with 25k was starting to recal with some frequency. The first thing the dealer did was apply the software upgrade and the performance got much worse. Like you, I was afraid to let anyone drive it for all the reasons mentioned and more. Long story short... the IMA battery was eventually replaced under warranty even though there were no error codes. MPG is back to 44 like before but it does drive different under some conditions. Now the SOC rarely drops below four bars and usually it at five or higher.

Maybe your IMA battery had degraded, not enough to clearly impact performance with the old software but enough that when coupled with the new software, the car became unsafe. That's the position I took with the dealer and Honda America..... the car was unsafe.

After the software "upgrade" was applied but before the new IMA battery, I was getting on the freeway and there was a significant grade, my usual route with just me in the car.... I came very close to being hit when the IMA suddenly dropped to zero. At that point I decided that the problem had to be resolved or I would get rid of the car. Lucky for me, Honda did the right thing and I know it was mostly due to the support from the dealer. They went-to-bat for me with the regional rep. No dealer support = no new battery

 

Another update a few weeks into the post-update driving. As my luck may ave it, the last non-E10 gas stations switched to E10 around the town here, so I am back to that gas. So far though still able to keep the mileage reasonable (46-46mpg). It was a bit unusual to see the other day as my SOCI dropped to 2 bars and I came to a stop light, instead of an autostop, the car idled in a low consumption mode (something like 0.1GPH per Scangauge, with four charge bars showing ). Seems to make sense to make sure the pack is as charged as possible for the take off once the light changes. I have not experienced denied assist just yet, but I also mostly coast and try not to floor things unless absolutely necessary.
I guess my feeling at this stage is the software is not bad, but would've been better to be in the car from the beginning, leading to a much gentler battery cycle life.