Yup, that's the trap that most fall into, as you and I did. All kudos to msantos – his efforts to help others have made all the difference for me.

My state of charge (SOC) gauge is my best friend now, and I normally try to use as little battery assist as possible throughout my driving day. I agree with you that Honda's worst mistake was failing to see the need to teach its salespeople and customers how to properly drive an IMA vehicle.

 

I dunno: the car should be a little more bulletproof. If it can be brought to failure by driving technique, and this is not lead-foot aggressive driving, there is something wrong. If you're overtaxing the IMA battery the car's computer should intervene, reduce assist, or whatever.

Whatever way you turn it: Honda dropped the ball.

 

I dont drive the car to use max electricity, I just drive it. I'm not a hypermiller.

But have all the problems.

Honda released an under-engineered product and is trying to put the blame on the drivers. My problems started at 20.000 miles. I have 57000 now and still having problems.

Why should I drive differently a car that has a failure on a component that is covered under warranty? Honda needs to FIX it.

Go to safecar.gov and take a look at all the Honda Civic hybrid complaints. 2 issues are very clear:

- Bad IMA
- Bad control arms

it's all over the place. There is no way the government will not take action on this.

And my 2006 FEH has no problems driven on the same route and milleage. Some times I do close to the milleage the HCH does...

Think about all the resale value we lost due to this non existent problems... try to trade in your car now.

Juan S. Fernandez
2006 HCH
2006 FEH

 

I never read anything that says Honda is "trying to put the blame on the drivers".

if its not official then why say it? So how many complaints do you find on the safecar.gov? as many as there are HCH-II's on the road? I reckon honda made close to 200K of them and if you notice I am one of those not complaining.
then some of people who complain on this forum have low post counts too and they cross post on other forums too. I bet that helps make the internet noise a bit bigger too, just my 2 cents. I aint sayin the problems are not happenin cause I think they are and Honda should fix them ASAP. but I also know that some people only join and post on a forum to complain.

I am not a hypermiler and I don't really like hypermiling anyways but I am a good listener and I like to learn from those who know more than me cause I dont wanna be slapped with the "I told you so" when things begin to happen.

my IMA is good now cause of the software updates and my control arms are good too so theres gotta be a better reason why some people complain and others dont. if honda does not want to explain why, then you gotta ask the people who know and been right all along.
trade in my 50+ MPG car ? what for? its smarter if I wait till the gas prices go to $4/gal. till then I will keep on learning how to be a better driver in a car that pays me back like my hch does.

ks

 

yeah, makes sense. but look and see how many people are saying they think less assist is dangerous? I drive on the freeway all the time but most drivers around me just nail it and drive the car like they stole it.
yeah the car could be better but if the engine just 1.3L then something has to give sooner or later. I am dead sure thats why some ima's will give up the ghost sooner than others.



ks

 

hi there ks, you raise the same point as mSantos has, and while I understand it, I've suffered the same frustrations as fhiebel. I'm not the world's greatest hypermiler, but I have been doing my best to use 'good hybrid SOC hygiene' for my city commute (alas, where I do most of my driving), and the last two software updates have decimated my milage. Most of the strategies I'd adapted to cope with my short, hilly route have been rendered almost ineffective by the new upgrades; I no longer have nearly as much control over when my car gobbles up assist or forces charge, greatly reducing my ability to regulate either with my driving style.

On the other hand, I've never been able to achieve the kind of freeway milage that Steven Villatoro reported. Geeze, Steven, you got 67.3 mpg over the Siskiyous? You're giving me an inferiority complex! I barely made 50 mpg on that route with a lot of work, although I was hauling passengers and luggage. So on the flats, at 60 mph on CC, you're getting over 60 mpg. Wonder if there is something out of whack with my 2008? I've got the tires up to 40 psi and don't use the AC much at all. Any suggestions?

Philip

 

Philip, don't stress... I've never before or since gotten what I achieved on that tank. I drove 400 miles today against a headwind and couldn't even break 50 MPG, sheesh! I don't understand how I got the crazy 67.3, but I did, and yet probably never will again.

 

The best I ever got with our HCHII was in-dash displayed 4.2 liters/100km, which translates to 56 mpg (US). That was on a single "sally up the valley" day trip we did, from North Coquitlam to Harrison Hot Springs, maybe a total of 200 km. That was with trip A set right at the outset. Calculated would likely be a bit better, from past experience, in-dash vs calculated.

Worst case, short trips around town, winter, with winter tires, we're in the mid 6's, equiv to 40mpg US.

 

The best I have got is ~57 over moderate hilly terrains on a nice warm (but not hot) day. In general, I've not had too much trouble getting ~54 mpg in warmer climates in state highway type roads, ~52 on the interstate (driving a bit faster), and perhaps ~48-52 in cooler conditions. My big cuts happen in city driving -- my mpg drops from ~46-49 in summer/fall to ~35-39 in winter (both in Indiana).

Still have not gotten the IMA update ... never got the letter from Honda, so perhaps it does not apply to my 2008? I've been tempted to stop by the service center but they hardly know much about the HCHII, and I am scared!

 

I got my IMA battery replaced under warranty last week and I would like to share my experience. I have an HCH-II 2007 with 30K miles. I've gotten 51mpg lifetime. I use my car for my daily commute to my office: 20 miles, 90% highway, starting with a cold engine, at 60-65mph on highway. My IMA battery started showing signs of deterioration last summer (lower charging capacity, 1-2 recalibrations per week, etc). I installed the latest IMA battery software update at my Honda dealer in August with the hope that it will improve my IMA battery. After the update, the number of recalibrations increased to 1 per trip and eventually 3-4 per trip. Then, one month ago, I got the IMA and Check Engine lights on. I did a power reset to see if I will get the lights on again, and it did so two weeks later. So I decided to go to my Honda dealer (John Eagle Honda in Dallas, Texas). My last tank before that was 46mpg, which was the worst I ever had. I didn't ask them to replace the IMA battery. After waiting 30 minutes, the technician told me that they will replace my IMA battery under warranty and that they have already ordered it. This was Friday. They installed the battery the next Wednesday. It took them about 6 hours. They also updated the IMA software (which is strange because I thought I had the latest). My experience with this dealership was positive (although I didn't buy my car from them and I have only used their service once when I installed the update). The advisor seemed to be knowledgeable about hybrids. He said that this was not a frequent problem with HCH and that the IMA battery is supposed to last a lifetime (hard to believe this after all the posts). He said that the more I use the car the better the battery health will be (I have very low mileage). After I told him that I sometimes do not drive the car for 1-4 weeks because of trips, he said that after days of no use, I should recharge the IMA battery by shifting to Parking and maintain 3000rpm until the battery is full. Is this a good advice? It sounds very wasteful to me. I haven't drive the car much with the new battery, but so far it performs comparable to when the battery was healthy (I get 50-55mpg on my commute, which is typical for this time of year).