I have read several posts stating that the regen braking does MOST of the braking... and indeed, some have heard brake noise due to surface rust on the rotors (from non-use!).

I just gave my 2-week old (1,000 miles) '06 HCH its first bath yesterday, and was surprised to find a fair amount of brake dust on the front wheels. Had to do some scrubbing with a wheel brush to get rid of it. Very typical of front disc brakes... especially Honda... but I thought the regen ( and the aero design of the wheel) would basically eliminate it. NOTE: I have not done any hard braking. I'm hoping that this dust is just from the initial "seating" of the new pads against the new rotors, and it will be cleaner from this point forward.

Have others experienced this issue?

 

The easiest way to eliminate brake dust is let your bumper and the car in front of you do the work.

Sorry, trying to be funny. It's probably the brakes just breaking in. I've never had a problem with brake dust on any of my hondas.

 

I had my 60K maintenance done last month and they reported my pads are nearly like new.
Admitted, I use them as little as possible though.

 

The front wheels on my old 95 civic would get so dirty so fast from all the brake dust, the HCH is a nice change. I don't notice a difference between the way the front and back look anymore.

 

A lot depends on how hard you are getting on the brakes, but you will see a little more dust as they seat on the roators.

I look at my wife's hch2 and envy the amount of dust (or lack there of) we get on her fronts. My STi is more dirty after a few miles than hers is after a few thousand.