Thanks for posting about your experience with this update. I've been keenly following this thread, and one or two on cleanmpg on this issue ... and I am still not certain if I should go get the update.

I am leaning towards getting the update since I intentionally cut down assist in city driving while taking off from a stop light, etc. by moving the gear to S -- any amount of being gentle on the throttle is not sufficient to avoid 2-3 bars of assist on D in my case This update appears to do this step for me?

PS: I do a lot of short drives 3-5 miles .. interspersed with a couple of hundred mile highway driving from time to time. In this (rather hot) summer, I've managed 49-50mpg in the city doing this, and avoided a recall for a couple of weeks and 200 miles now after getting a few recals in quick succession in the weeks before; I've also been using a reflector on the rear windscreen in the last 2 weeks hoping to get the battery area to heat up less.

 

I too have been starting to use the S transmission setting quite often when hitting steep upgrades: as long as you're gentle on the gas it mostly avoids assist that you would get in D, and sometimes even starts charging.

I've also just started to use Forced Auto Stop, particularly when stuck in stop-and-go traffic, and more particularly when using AC as well: slip the tran. into Neutral, depress brake pedal, turn engine off via key. For short stops this prevents your AC running of the IMA battery, and ensures complete shut-down. The IMA motor makes for very smooth and easy restarts: you just stay in Neutral, brake pedal depressed, turn the key, and are back in business in a split second.

 

Have been reading this thread as a 07 HAH owner. Honda seems to have blurred the outcome of this update. Obviously they are looking at your battery long term life as the purpose. Owned past warranty it could save you some money if it is still serviceable. Avoid replacing under warranty it saves them some money. Not sure this is a win win.

Anyhow before I ramble has any owner checked with the California Air Resources Board to see what documentation they recieved in regards to this update. They about screwed themselves into the ceiling over the folks converting Toyota products to a plugin configuration so they must have required some documentation on this if it changes the driving characteristics of the car. Especially the amount of and length of the auto-stop function.

Finally it seems like what I read is that the car now uses the IMA more sparingly. Does that make it similiar to the newest HCH? Some members likely have both.

 

The wording of my Canadian letter opens "Dear 2006-2008...", which infers for me that 2009 and onward have this patch, in some form.

 

My understanding is that '09 HCHs came with distinct software from the '06-'08 years. However, the latest update is an enhancement to the '09 version. I would guess that Honda tried to address battery life/power issues in '09, but has now found a more optimal solution.

 

Exactly.

I occasionally turn the engine off like you've described above at stop lights, especially ones I know are long, and the engine is not warmed up, etc. (i.e auto-stop does not kick in). I hardly ever use the A/C so that's not an issue for me ... I tend to turn it on once a month or so to lubricate the IC-based compressor

I do use "forced Auto Stop" in a different sense -- sometimes the engine does not auto-stop unless I shift to neutral at a stop light.

Cheers!
-ag

 

well, have completed my first tank with the software update, here are my impressions, it is an improvement, still not quite perfect, but much better. My driving conditions are much the same with this post update tank as the pre update tank, that is to say, 100% urban driving, hot every day very near 90 +/-, a trip into downtown daily and a/c on 90-95% of the time.
My mileage went up slightly from about 43 to about 44 mpg, my display read very close to actual (within .3 mpg) all driving was done during the heat/sun of day.
I have found the battery indicator as to SOC to be furstrating, it seems to want to be in the 4-5 bar range getting so assist happy above 5 bars so as to quickly burn off any overage, but, the performance of the car does not seem to match the given reading as the car is still providing some assist at 3 bars.
I have had one recalc at a stop (suddenly dropped from 6 bars to 2 bars) which caused the engine to come on and charge at 3 bars, the next stop it was at 3 bars, engine still on, still charging, next stop it was back to 4 bars and auto stop worked....here is what I am thinking is really odd, at 2 bars, it showed no assist bars BUT, it had assist, in that I mean the a/c was on, and the car accelerated normaly for times when the compressor was running...very odd, I did not have to push the engine up to 4000 rpm to get the car to move, about 2200 did the trick just fine.
So, is it worth is, probably, time will tell, I am a low mileage driver and am not sure if that makes any difference. my average mileage in summer is 42-45, fall & spring 45-50, winter 38-42 so my lifetime is just over 42 but that is due to a couple of really bad winters in the cars first 2 years.
I am a bit, in fact quite a bit upset with Honda on this, in fact, I am thinking this may well be my last Honda, it is not like they do not have Hybrid experience, the Insight I, Civic I, Accord v6 hybrid, Civic II is really 4th gen, I am finding this trial and error unacceptable....don't get me wrong, I love this car, and overall am very happy with it, I do not like b/s buckpassing and what appears to be questionable relibility.
I suppose if this patch and the battery hold up, things will change for me, but come on, the first patch fixed a rough transmission, the second that was suppose to fix the battery caused nothing but battery problems in the heat, while completly elminating recals under 70 degrees, this one seems to have fixed it in the heat, now I am afraid of what might happen in the cold.

 

The update isn't about trial and error; its about minimizing the number of battery replacements under warranty. At $2700 a pop, it was removing the profitability margin of the cars for Honda.

 

the guys at cleanmpg say that the hch2 always got updates since the 2006 model was for sale. I reckon there been more than 12 soft updates and each time trying to get a better handle on the prob.
yeah, I think it is trial and error thing cause the history is there to prove it. if there was no precedents then yeah, I would think they just want to avoid battery replacements.

anyways, the updates are doing great on my car and I get less recals and more mpg. so I know they work for me.

ks

 

Then your hybrid battery pack is functioning just fine prior to the software update. It's only a big problem when the battery pack begins to malfunction or if the software update process.

And prior updates don't make future ones OK or beneficial. The one in 2009 took down my MPG a bit - it's obvious based on tank history and timing.

If a car is functioning fine - no need to change. When I was first on this board in 2006, it was all about who get the most MPG - with the competitive range around 53 -54 MPG.

No more of that. Wonder why? It's the same car after all. Cuz it can't be done anymore under the software updates. Honda doesn't want to replace the battery pack under warranty, but what they REALLY want to not have to do is replace it TWICE under warranty, which is exactly where all of this was going.