Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||||
| 406 | 04/16/2006 | 10019973 | Won't move in any gear, whine, grinding noise. *tt | 05/17/2006 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 06/16/2012 | 85000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2006 honda civic hybrid. the contact stated that while driving uphill at 5 mph, the vehicle started losing power slowly and eventually became resistant to acceleration attempts. the engine remained on but there was no power. the contact was still able to drive the vehicle but she had to avoid inclines. the dealer was notified but offered no assistance. the vehicle had not been repaired. the failure and current mileages were 85,000. kmj | |||
| 04/01/2009 | |||
| I'm a honda civic hybrid owner (2006). i have not reported the lack of acceleration to my dealer, assuming that was the low power of the car due to the hybrid nature. the lack of acceleration at times when it's needed has put me in unsafe situations. additionally, my hybrid does not consistently auto stop as designed. | |||
| 02/01/2008 | 40000 | ||
| I would very much like to share my concerns over the safety of the 2006 honda civic hybrid that we purchased new from a dealer. the car performed well for a few years, until honda decided to tell me to go to the dealer and upgrade the software controlling the hybrid motor-battery system. immediately following the software update, the car was utterly devoid of power, and dangerous to drive when merging on the freeway, even when driving alone without other weight in the car. if i drive my two young children with me, it's very scary as the car must be absolutely floored the entire time while merging. no doubt this is strongly affecting the fuel economy of the car as well, as it gets only in the mid 30s, when originally advertised much higher. also, i can't imagine anyone ever buying this car with the pathetic level of power it exhibits, therefore the resale value is now next to nothing. i would be happy to have a software downgrade and get back to original performance, but honda tells me this is not possible for whatever reason. i urge you to begin or continue an investigation concerning the detrimental safety impacts of the 2006 honda civic hybrid software update. **03/01/2012 update bf | |||
| 12/23/2010 | 77077 | ||
| Honda performed an ima software update on 12/22/2010. since that time the availability of electrical assist has been greatly reduced. even when the battery reads full, i cannot be sure that electrical assist will be available, or, if it is available, how long it will last. several times it has suddenly failed in the middle of a merge or lane change. | |||
| 07/15/2010 | 65000 | ||
| On at least four occasions, once while moving at about 30 mph, the entire car shut down. the gas engine shut off, power steering and brakes went dead, and the dash went blank. i had to place the car in park, and then remove and reinsert the key in order to restart. this has happened once, though not while moving, since the ima software update. | |||
| 12/23/2010 | 77077 | ||
| Honda performed an ima software update on 12/22/2010. since that time the availability of electrical assist has been greatly reduced. even when the battery reads full, i cannot be sure that electrical assist will be available, or, if it is available, how long it will last. several times it has suddenly failed in the middle of a merge or lane change. | |||
| 07/15/2010 | 65000 | ||
| On at least four occasions, once while moving at about 30 mph, the entire car shut down. the gas engine shut off, power steering and brakes went dead, and the dash went blank. i had to place the car in park, and then remove and reinsert the key in order to restart. this has happened once, though not while moving, since the ima software update. | |||
| 02/01/2008 | 40000 | ||
| I would very much like to share my concerns over the safety of the 2006 honda civic hybrid that we purchased new from a dealer. the car performed well for a few years, until honda decided to tell me to go to the dealer and upgrade the software controlling the hybrid motor-battery system. immediately following the software update, the car was utterly devoid of power, and dangerous to drive when merging on the freeway, even when driving alone without other weight in the car. if i drive my two young children with me, it's very scary as the car must be absolutely floored the entire time while merging. no doubt this is strongly affecting the fuel economy of the car as well, as it gets only in the mid 30s, when originally advertised much higher. also, i can't imagine anyone ever buying this car with the pathetic level of power it exhibits, therefore the resale value is now next to nothing. i would be happy to have a software downgrade and get back to original performance, but honda tells me this is not possible for whatever reason. i urge you to begin or continue an investigation concerning the detrimental safety impacts of the 2006 honda civic hybrid software update. **03/01/2012 update bf | |||
| 12/23/2010 | 77077 | ||
| Honda performed an ima software update on 12/22/2010. since that time the availability of electrical assist has been greatly reduced. even when the battery reads full, i cannot be sure that electrical assist will be available, or, if it is available, how long it will last. several times it has suddenly failed in the middle of a merge or lane change. | |||
| 07/15/2010 | 65000 | ||
| On at least four occasions, once while moving at about 30 mph, the entire car shut down. the gas engine shut off, power steering and brakes went dead, and the dash went blank. i had to place the car in park, and then remove and reinsert the key in order to restart. this has happened once, though not while moving, since the ima software update. | |||
| 02/01/2008 | 40000 | ||
| I would very much like to share my concerns over the safety of the 2006 honda civic hybrid that we purchased new from a dealer. the car performed well for a few years, until honda decided to tell me to go to the dealer and upgrade the software controlling the hybrid motor-battery system. immediately following the software update, the car was utterly devoid of power, and dangerous to drive when merging on the freeway, even when driving alone without other weight in the car. if i drive my two young children with me, it's very scary as the car must be absolutely floored the entire time while merging. no doubt this is strongly affecting the fuel economy of the car as well, as it gets only in the mid 30s, when originally advertised much higher. also, i can't imagine anyone ever buying this car with the pathetic level of power it exhibits, therefore the resale value is now next to nothing. i would be happy to have a software downgrade and get back to original performance, but honda tells me this is not possible for whatever reason. i urge you to begin or continue an investigation concerning the detrimental safety impacts of the 2006 honda civic hybrid software update. **03/01/2012 update bf | |||
| 12/23/2010 | 77077 | ||
| Honda performed an ima software update on 12/22/2010. since that time the availability of electrical assist has been greatly reduced. even when the battery reads full, i cannot be sure that electrical assist will be available, or, if it is available, how long it will last. several times it has suddenly failed in the middle of a merge or lane change. | |||
| 07/15/2010 | 65000 | ||
| On at least four occasions, once while moving at about 30 mph, the entire car shut down. the gas engine shut off, power steering and brakes went dead, and the dash went blank. i had to place the car in park, and then remove and reinsert the key in order to restart. this has happened once, though not while moving, since the ima software update. | |||
| 02/01/2008 | 40000 | ||
| I would very much like to share my concerns over the safety of the 2006 honda civic hybrid that we purchased new from a dealer. the car performed well for a few years, until honda decided to tell me to go to the dealer and upgrade the software controlling the hybrid motor-battery system. immediately following the software update, the car was utterly devoid of power, and dangerous to drive when merging on the freeway, even when driving alone without other weight in the car. if i drive my two young children with me, it's very scary as the car must be absolutely floored the entire time while merging. no doubt this is strongly affecting the fuel economy of the car as well, as it gets only in the mid 30s, when originally advertised much higher. also, i can't imagine anyone ever buying this car with the pathetic level of power it exhibits, therefore the resale value is now next to nothing. i would be happy to have a software downgrade and get back to original performance, but honda tells me this is not possible for whatever reason. i urge you to begin or continue an investigation concerning the detrimental safety impacts of the 2006 honda civic hybrid software update. | |||
| 12/23/2010 | 77077 | ||
| Honda performed an ima software update on 12/22/2010. since that time the availability of electrical assist has been greatly reduced. even when the battery reads full, i cannot be sure that electrical assist will be available, or, if it is available, how long it will last. several times it has suddenly failed in the middle of a merge or lane change. | |||
| 07/15/2010 | 65000 | ||
| On at least four occasions, once while moving at about 30 mph, the entire car shut down. the gas engine shut off, power steering and brakes went dead, and the dash went blank. i had to place the car in park, and then remove and reinsert the key in order to restart. this has happened once, though not while moving, since the ima software update. | |||
| 02/04/2011 | 52013 | ||
| Bought this car new. i won't even go into the ridiculous 49/51 mpg window sticker that is a blatant lie but that does play into my complaint as you will see. honda, after receiving complaints about the battery pack and having problems with it, has this brainstorm to reflash or reprogram the computer/battery pack as part of a recall this past year. this was done at my last oil change. prior to that time my sole complaint with my car was that the mpg averaged about 35mpg period. since this last recall and reprogram not only has my fuel economy gone down but the performance of the car is essentially unsafe from a stopped position. let's face it, the car never was a nascar but on the other side of the coin it was not a golf car either. now when starting out from a stopped position, whether at a stop light or anywhere and whether the motor has shut off or not, the hybrid is so bogged down that i honestly believe my golf car accelerates better and more quickly. let's set this straight too. i'm 41 and not trying to drag race i'm merely trying to drive the car in a normal safe manner. at times it feels like the car is going to literally die in the middle of a turn or intersection which can be a bad thing once you commit to a turn and there's a 53 foot 100,000lbs of fun coming in your direction. honda has gotten away with ignoring my complaints about the hydroplaning of this vehicle, the ridiculously low fuel economy, and now they will likely do the same with their attempt at making their battery last longer which has made the vehicle less safe for me and my wife and kids. this recall was nothing more than a battery life extender to protect honda's wallet. how about replacing everyone's battery once for the life of the car? that'd make sense to me...you know...the guy that shelled out 24,000.00 for your car expecting to receive mid to upper 40's in fuel economy. fix it | |||
| 04/22/2011 | 70504 | ||
| The integrated motor assist (ima) hybrid system loses power with no known precipitating factors or advance indication of failure. the vehicle will immediately reduce power train output prior to the dash gauges indicating a near-complete loss of ima battery charge and function moments later, with only the internal combustion engine providing motive power. within 3-4 miles of driving, the ima battery charge, as indicated by the dash meter, will then immediately jump to a completely full level in a similarly unexplained fashion. independent of these transient but regular failures of the high-voltage hybrid system, the vehicle functions as expected. currently, i have documented over 160 instances since 4/22/11, occurring an average of once every day the vehicle is driven, increasing to 2-3 times daily since mid-november, 2011 (data available on request). symptoms occur independent of ambient temperature, nature of drive (high/low speed) and despite changing the 12 volt battery and disconnecting or turning off all power accessories possible. following a satisfaction campaign by honda in late summer/fall, 2010 that involved a software update installed at a honda dealership and replacement of the dc-dc converter portion of the hybrid system under recall shortly after, the episodes of loss of power impairing vehicle operation have increased in frequency. an additional software update by honda completed on 11/10/11 has further exacerbated the rate of transient failures of the ima system and impacted vehicle driveability. multiple software updates pertaining the the ima hybrid system have also been installed on the vehicle by honda dealer technicians over the previous 3 years. | |||
| 06/01/2011 | 78000 | ||
| After my 2006 honda civic hybrid received an integrated motor assist (ima) software upgrade in 2010, if the car is parked for one day (such as a sunday, if i do not drive the car) the ima battery will drain within one half mile of leaving my home the next day, on a level roadway, even if the ventilation system and radio are off to reduce electrical load. fuel economy also dropped about 10 mpg after the software upgrade. without ima, the car has slow freeway acceleration, especially when traveling uphill. the honda dealer says they cannot do anything because the ima system light does not illuminate (obd does not show a fault) although the dealer can reproduce the problem after keeping the car overnight. how do you know the ima software upgrade does not prevent the ima light from illuminating when there is an ima battery fault, therefore not requiring honda to replace the ima batteries under warranty? | |||
| 01/06/2011 | 67525 | ||
| 2006 honda civic hybrid experiences frequent, significant loss of power at random times due to battery re-calibrations which a) prevent electric motor assist and b) use engine power for charging resulting in a significant loss of power for accelerating from stop, entering freeways or climbing hills. the honda ima system (integrated motor assist) uses an electric motor to augment the small 1.3l engine. because the electric motor is locked out during battery recalibrations, there is a noticeable 20% loss of power for acceleration. when the gasoline engine is also being taxed with generating electric power for battery recalibration, the total loss of power is very significant and results in an already slow car (0-60 in 13.5 seconds) becoming dangerous when trying to cross intersections or merge into freeway traffic. my research suggests that this problem stems from premature degradation of the hybrid battery pack. | |||
| 05/05/2010 | 60000 | ||
| The integrated motor assist system fails for no apparent reason. this has happened multiple times. the first time i had parked the car overnight and the battery charge indicator was near the top. when i drove to town in the morning and stopped at a stop light on a hill, when i accelerated there was no motor assist and the car was very underpowered. the battery charge indicator showed no charge. it does charge again to normal, but you never know when this may happen. i believe this could be very dangerous in on a freeway on ramp or two lane road passing situation. | |||
| 05/15/2010 | 20000 | ||
| 2006 honda civic hybrid (30,000 miles) has loud rattle noise going over bumps. noise was diagnosed as engine mount cavitation by honda engineer. dealer tried repair recommended by honda engineer consisting of placing o-rings between engine and mount. this eliminated the noise. 1000 miles later the right engine mount broke and engine dropped in frame. dealer replaced right engine mount per tsb but noise still exists and now honda is stating that the noise is a characteristic of the vehicle and refuses to repair. the noise was not present in the first twenty thousand miles of driving. the noise is now a very serious concern of another imminent engine mount failure. if this occurs at high speed and engine again drops in frame, control of the vehicle could be lost. | |||
| 08/01/2009 | 33000 | ||
| Great car for the first 2 years of ownership. started losing hybrid battery power and hybrid assist around 8.09 power and mileage suffer multiple trip to dealer and several software patches installed. vehicle continues to lose battery at worst possible time and suddenly start at stoplights this is my wifes primary vehicle to drive to work and school by herself in the rideshare line. she no longer drives this vehicle because i fear for her saftey on busy california freeways. hybrid battery finally replaced by honda after consuting an attorney and mentioning all the folks on the nhtsa site having the same concern. sudden starts at stops no longer there but still has a total lack of power on acceleration due to new software package desinged to save the battery recieved new recall letter for hybrid system that states it will further reduce hybrid usage, there is no way i am going to have that patch installed this car is useless to my family now and recently tried to trade it in, dealership do not want it due to the rising concern with customer complanits, lousy mileage, etc i would love to talk to somebody about this vehicle and even provide it to you to drive and test. this problem is amplified in warm weather and when the a/c is on. this car did not do this in the first to years of service. thank you and regards, jack batson | |||
| 07/10/2010 | 50000 | ||
| 2006 honda civic hybrid with 58,000 miles and the electric assist motor is not working as designed. i have taken the car to the dealer 3 times and they have told me it is a software problem. the car is difficult to drive without the assisit motor. i think a recall is in order. | |||
| 01/17/2010 | 78000 | 1 | |
| Going up a steep grade the car slows down and eventually stops. have to wait for traffic to go by then backup into driveway and go down hill. car rpm up to 5000 but car doesn't move. *tr | |||
| 10/21/2009 | 30000 | 1 | |
| Electronic motor assist (ema) battery failure in a 2006 honda civic hybrid. the car had 60,000 miles on it and the battery that powers the electronic motor failed. when the batteries become faulty: gas mileage is decreased as well as the car's overall horsepower(by about 20-25 hp if i am correct). this makes driving the car unpredictable when in traffic. the $3,000 battery was replaced by honda through warranty(stops at 80,000 miles). honda had stated that the batteries should last at least 100,000 miles. the batteries seem to be going be failing in 50,000-70,000 mileage area at an extraordinary rate. i believe this may be my second replacement as in 2007 i had a complete ema failure on the highway. the electronic motor assist failed 100%. all the lights on my dashboard turned on and the rpms shot way up. the dealership had my car for over a week and then told me that it needed a software update which takes minutes to update. *tr | |||
| 07/12/2008 | 33475 | 1 | |
| 2006 honda civic hybrid during hot weather the air conditioning was operated on the coldest setting, this caused the high voltage battery to loose charge .when i went to accelerate into traffic the car lost power and had trouble getting up to speed (i was almost hit by another car coming up in the lane) the car was taken into the dealer on 7/17, 8/14, 8/18, 8/27, 9/9 through 9/30/08 during which time no problems were found with the car. on 9/30/08 i took a test drive with the technician and within 5 minutes he was able to duplicate the failure. upon returning to the dealer his manager told him not to document his findings because honda, although aware of the problem, did not know how to fix it. because they would not fix the problem and because i could not sell the car with this problem to someone else i traded the car in. i later found the car on the used car lot for sale. *tr | |||
| 11/14/2007 | 1 | 07/31/2006 | |
| Honda civic hybrid 2006 problem with random surging: i was driving on hwy 50 eastbound to sacramento, when traffic came to a standstill, then started to move again slowly. other cars would fill up the space in front of me-i could not keep a car-lengths distance between myself and the car ahead of me. i was stopped and then as traffic started moving forward, i tapped on the accelerator of my honda civic hybrid 2006, and instead of slightly moving forward, my car surged into the car in front of me at a high acceleration-i did not see the exact degree on my dash, but heard the engine revving loudly. i noticed this (to greater or lesser degrees) a handful of times after owning the car for a year and a half, but in those instances, the acceleration may not have been as great and/or i had a much safer distance between cars and i had time to put on the brakes. when this happened i thought, i bought a hybrid-lemon and honda would have to address this-but i found similar complaints online and other reports that honda would not address the issue. this may be in part as the events cannot be readily reproduced to have the issue fixed. http://www.hybridcars.com/forums/hybrid-diesel-t436p10.html i have owned 2 honda civics (non-hybrid), and i have been a satisfied honda customer until i bought this hybrid. my car is currently at the honda dealer with the damage being assessed (cannot check mileage on the car and other information to fill out all the info you want), and no one yet has called me back from honda. i am concerned about the safety issue above, and whether or not honda will address the problem. although the random acceleration-surges are uncommon occurrences, they may be deadly occurrences. however, these occurrences should be preventable, if the government would investigate. sincerely, g. melendres, md *tr | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 12/15/2010 | 44000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2006 honda civic hybrid. while at a stopped sign the contact applied pressure to the accelerator peddle and the vehicle would not accelerate. the contact experienced loss of power. the contact stated there was a smell in the vehicle as if something was burning. the vehicle was taken to the dealer. the technicians were unable to duplicate the failure. the manufacturer was contacted and stated they were aware of the failure but there was no repair available for repair. the technicians burnished the start clutch and replaced the transmission fluid. the contact continued to experience the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 44,000. ds | |||
| 09/26/2010 | |||
| Since my 2006 honda civic hybrid received the battery system software upgrade in late 2010, the car has had greatly reduced available power and acceleration. the fuel efficiency has reduced by ~10 mpg, which is infuriating, but there is a larger safety issue because of the limited battery power available for acceleration. intermittently, but repeatedly, when accelerating, especially from a stop to turn left through a gap in traffic or to merge on a freeway from the entrance ramp, a dangerous situation has occurred because the engine-battery combination does not supply adequate power and acceleration. i was nearly side-swiped the first time after the battery update when i was caught by surprise at the utter lack of power as i tried to turn into traffic. my honda dealership has been unresponsive my complaints and requests to revert the software to the old version, with which my car worked fine. | |||
| 01/07/2010 | 100 | 1 | |
| We have a 2006 honda civic hybrid that we would like to report a defect on. when the vehicle is shifted to either drive or reverse, the vehicle would suddenly lurch even though the foot is on the brake pedal. a few times where my wife was driving the vehicle she didn't exert enough force on the brake pedal and caused for the vehicle to move even though it was not intended. luckily the only incident have been minor with regards to the bumper hitting the wall or another vehicle. we believe this issue needs to be fix especially in the event that the vehicle is parked in a steep slope that will cause the vehicle to accelerate and potentially cause a major accident. *tr | |||
| 12/17/2009 | 78000 | 1 | |
| Going up steep hill behind traffic going 10 to15 mph. the car just lacks power and rolls back. almost hit car behind. had to roll down hill. it has happened 3 times and the dealer says nothing is wrong. *tr | |||
| 08/10/2007 | 50000 | 2 | 11/17/2005 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2006 honda civic hybrid which was purchased in november 2005. she noticed a significant decrease in the gas mileage between 10 to 15 mpg. she also stated that while driving uphill or accelerating the vehicle would lose power. there were no recalls pertaining to the failure. the failure mileage was 50,000 and the current mileage was 100,000. updated 10/26/09. *lj the consumer stated since the vehicle passed the 50,000 mile mark, it looses power when traveling up hill and/or acceleration. the dealer performed computer upgrades but to no avail. updated 10/26/09. *jb | |||
| 04/15/2009 | 86500 | 1 | |
| Last year i had to have the catalytic converter replaced due to failure and at that time i informed the honda dealer service technician hat the rpm's on the car were staying high even when the car was idle. the service tech said they checked the vehicle and could not replicate the issue and said they found nothing wrong with it. now here we are 16000 miles later and i have a transmission failure. the car makes a clicking noise while in gear no other symptoms at this point. i have taken it to the dealer and they are aware of the failure, but are only willing to help me with 25% of the bill because i performed my own transmission fluid change and the warranty is up. this is the third problem i have had with the car in the three years i have had it. *tr | |||
| 11/14/2007 | 1 | 07/31/2006 | |
| Honda civic hybrid 2006 problem with random surging: i was driving on hwy 50 eastbound to sacramento, when traffic came to a standstill, then started to move again slowly. other cars would fill up the space in front of me-i could not keep a car-lengths distance between myself and the car ahead of me. i was stopped and then as traffic started moving forward, i tapped on the accelerator of my honda civic hybrid 2006, and instead of slightly moving forward, my car surged into the car in front of me at a high acceleration-i did not see the exact degree on my dash, but heard the engine revving loudly. i noticed this (to greater or lesser degrees) a handful of times after owning the car for a year and a half, but in those instances, the acceleration may not have been as great and/or i had a much safer distance between cars and i had time to put on the brakes. when this happened i thought, i bought a hybrid-lemon and honda would have to address this-but i found similar complaints online and other reports that honda would not address the issue. this may be in part as the events cannot be readily reproduced to have the issue fixed. http://www.hybridcars.com/forums/hybrid-diesel-t436p10.html i have owned 2 honda civics (non-hybrid), and i have been a satisfied honda customer until i bought this hybrid. my car is currently at the honda dealer with the damage being assessed (cannot check mileage on the car and other information to fill out all the info you want), and no one yet has called me back from honda. i am concerned about the safety issue above, and whether or not honda will address the problem. although the random acceleration-surges are uncommon occurrences, they may be deadly occurrences. however, these occurrences should be preventable, if the government would investigate. sincerely, g. melendres, md *tr | |||
| 02/13/2006 | 0 | 1 | 02/13/2006 |
| Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle consistently rolled backwards at red lights, in between the time it took to switch pedals from braking to accelerating. the vehicle had an automatic transmission. the vehicle was not taken to a service dealer. the dealer expressed due to the lighter transmission, this was a regular problem with these vehicles. updated 9/15/2006 - *nm | |||
| 04/09/2006 | 100 | 100 | 03/26/2006 |
| Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle's automatic transmission shifted too easily while driving various speeds on normal road conditions. the vehicle also rolled backwards before moving forward during acceleration on a level-driving surface. | |||