I purchased a brand-new 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid and have had it for 3 months now. It has now done 2500kms. I am very pleased with the performance. It averages 5.5km/100k (shown on dashboard display) or around 51 miles per Imperial gallon.

One thing I noticed when I was cleaning the car recently. When I was poking around the front, I noticed a grey-coloured metal grill with lots of cells set back behind the front bumper. This grill had lots of bugs and moths embedded in it. (I do a lot of night driving) When I cleared the bugs from the grill with the nozzle end of a vacuum cleaner, I noticed the surface of the grill cells had 'changed their shade of grey' - where the nozzle had made contact with them. On closer inspection, I noticed they had been slightly damaged by the vacuum cleaner nozzle. The cell metal is extremely soft. Concerned about this, I went back to Honda to ask them if I had caused any problems and why these were so easy to bend during cleaning.

Apparently this cell grill is the cooling system which is set in front of the radiator. The 'damage' I caused is not a problem. When I looked at some second-hand Honda Civics in the yard, I could see that this grill had real bends and dents where small stones and other road debris had gone in and struck it.

However, I do wonder why this cooling system does not have a strike-protector installed in front of it.

 

Not 100% sure, but I'm guessing you're looking at the condenser coil for the air conditioner.

 

Very cool! Makes sense that the car can do this, and would make it feel more like a push-button start.

I discovered this a couple weeks ago and love messing around with this hidden diagnostic menu. Really like the detailed GPS info screen showing number of satellites it sees and their relative positions in orbit above the car.

 

The cell cooling unit appears to cover the entire front area and reaches up to the bonnet, covering the same area as the radiator behind it. If you look right at the bottom of the front of the car, adjacent to the pilot lights, there is an open cavity below the front bumper and registration plate. The metal cell-grill is set well back in the open cavity. What amazes me, is that this unit is exposed to damage from stones - and idiots like me that like to poke vacuum cleaner nozzles in to clean it.

 

Been that way for years.

You can use gutter screen a light weight expanded metal to make what is known as a gutter grill protector. Just wire tie the martial to the back side of your bumper grill opening's.

There are all sorts of ways to protect the coil. Just google around.

I find it funny your so surprised about this. These heat exchangers have been on every car ever made with A/C,,, since what,, the late 1940's.