I live in Palm Desert CA. It was 112 today. I completely ran out of battery due to the fact that I couldn't get even one single bar of recharge to appear. The autostop wasn't working either. The dealership has my car for the weekend. I wish I had HondaCare for my 2003 hybrid.
I have had problems for a couple of years now. They had my car in the shop for 3 weeks last year trying to diagnose the problem with the battery not charging properly. They updated the program for the computer and replaced the battery. The car worked fine for a time, but I was still only getting mpg in the high 30's. I'm currently getting 35.2 mpg.
Could there be more of us out there with this problem?
Is this an issue that we just have to learn to live with?
If you live in a hot climate...should you just buy a regular civic?

 

At worst a hybrid Civic should get slightly better mileage than a non-hybrid Civic. The hotter it is the BETTER my mileage is. If you really think the pack is causing problems turn it OFF. The car will run without it (I think). There might be something wrong with the car. Perhaps rent and identical car or a Prius and drive it the same way and see if there is a difference?

I suspect that the mileage problem is fast driving and lots of AC use.

 

I wish it were as simple as speed and AC. I use both as little as possible. I often drive 60ish on the freeway (speed limit 70) while drafting off big trucks. Even when it is hot here (under 110) I try not to use the AC. I shouldn't have to drive my car this carefully and uncomfortably to get just 37mpg!
I don't think I need to rent one to know that something is not working right.

 

I don't know if there's a correlation, but I saw this posting on the honda-hybrid yahoo group. It seems to be affecting cars in states where it gets very hot in the summer. Perhaps this will carry over to the HCH:

Jeff

**********************************

Date: May 12, 2006
To: All Honda Sales, Service & Parts Managers
From: American Honda Service Division
RE: Campaign Announcement

American Honda is announcing a product update to replace certain IMA
components to help prevent IMA battery deterioration. We are also
announcing a warranty extension for the IMA battery. Currently, this
product update and warranty extension applies only to states where
there is an abnormally high replacement rate for IMA batteries. These
states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada
and Texas. In these states, the warranty for the IMA battery has been
extended to 10 years of 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

The IMA battery control module(s) allows the battery to overcharge.
Occasional overcharging is a desirable function, but too many
frequently repeated cycles of overcharge can damage the IMA battery.
This damage is the result of excessive current and heat build up.
Unique local topographical and ambient conditions in affected states,
combined with a driving cycle that typically keeps the IMA battery
fully charged, creat this potential problem.

Repair Strategy
On 2000-01 Insights, the product update repair is to replace the
battery condition monitor (BCM) and the motor control module (MCM). On
2002-04 Insights, the product update repair is to replace only the
BCM. For product update repair and warranty information, refer to
Service Bulletin 06-026, Product Update: Premature IMA Battery Module
Failure.

Before beginning work on a vehicle for the product update, verify the
elegibility by checking at least one of these items:

- The customer has a notification letter.
- The vehicle shown on your campaign responsibility report.
- The vehicle is shown as eligible on a VIN status inquiry.

In addition, check for a punch mark above the 14th character of the
engine compartment VIN. A punch mark in that location means the
product update has already been done.

To verify elegibility for the IMA battery warranty extension, you must
do a VIN status inquiry. For more information on the warranty
extension, refer to Service Bulletin 06-027: Warranty Extension: IMA
Battery.

Customer Notification
Customers will be sent a notification of the product update and
warranty extension the week of May 22, 2006. Approximately 4,700
vehicles are affected by this update campaign.

Parts information
A small quantity of IMA repair kits (for 2000-01 Insights) and battery
control monitors (for 2002-04 Insights) will be available the week of
May 15, 2006, through normal channels.

Sincerely,
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Honda Automobile Division

 

There are a number of issues that affect Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries (I work for a major camera company and we use Lithium Ion now almost exclusively; we used to use NiMH and I know a heck of a lot about batteries thanks to many technical presentations from battery makers including Duracell & Energizer).

There are 3 major issues that affect NiMH cells:

Cold, Heat and extreme discharge.

I found a site with great explanations of all 3 issues:

http://www.icculus.org/~luap/nimh.php

Basically temperatures below 0 degrees C, the NiMH cells function poorly. At temperatures above 40 degrees C, the NiMH can break down. Finally when cells hit 0% charge, they can actually invert voltage (this is bad).

Now with all that said, the discharge issue shouldn't be a problem because of the way Honda matches the individual cells that make up a battery (A battery, by definition, is made of 2 or more cells; individual batteries we buy at the store are typically "cells" rather than batteries. You may see 2 D Cells in the pack. Together, they can form a battery-just like a pitcher needs a catcher...), that is, unless the monitoring systems fail.

As far as temperature, we never recommend putting cameras in the trunk for fear of damaging the electronics by extreme heat or cold. Makes one wonder why manufacturers put their batteries in between the rear seats and trunk or below the trunk...

Lithium Ion will replace NiMH when the risk of fire can be reduced (Lithium Ion).

In any event, it sounds like Honda is doing the right thing and if anyone experiences poor heat performance with their Honda, I'd contact Honda's regional service manager and then Honda Torrance if it falls outside the 8 year/80K/120K warranty.

Michael