Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||
| 11/20/2011 | 38000 | 1 | |
| On or around 11/20/2011, the control panel on my 2008 honda civic hybrid lost all power while driving on ih-10 w in houston, tx. as a result, i had no information about my speed, fuel level, rpm, etc. i believe this problem was related to my hybrid battery as it had to be replaced shortly thereafter. currently, i am having trouble with the replacement hybrid battery and honda is refusing to remedy the problem under the warranty. i am writing to the nhtsa implore it to take a closer look at issues with honda's hybrid batteries. it is well known that these batteries are failing at a high rate and there are several class action lawsuits concerning the performance of these batteries. this problem is well known to honda and something needs to be done as it is putting peoples' lives at risk. *tr | |||
| 11/20/2011 | 38000 | ||
| On or around 11/20/2011, the control panel on my 2008 honda civic hybrid lost all power while driving on ih-10 w in houston, tx. as a result, i had no information about my speed, fuel level, rpm, etc. i believe this problem was related to my hybrid battery as it had to be replaced shortly thereafter. currently, i am having trouble with the replacement hybrid battery and honda is refusing to remedy the problem under the warranty. i am writing to the nhtsa implore it to take a closer look at issues with honda's hybrid batteries. it is well known that these batteries are failing at a high rate and there are several class action lawsuits concerning the performance of these batteries. this problem is well known to honda and something needs to be done as it is putting peoples' lives at risk. | |||
| 07/09/2012 | 39600 | ||
| I have owned this car since april 2008 - i don't drive a lot - in 4 years and 3 months i have less than 40,000 miles on the car. i am the original owner - i purchased it new. i noticed a few months back that the hybrid batteries did not appear to be acting right and when i mentioned it during my 30,000 service they said that it was testing ok and there were no problems with it. over the past few months it has steadily gotten worse - to the point where the hybrid batteries would not hold a charge. when i brought it in to the dealership they stated that while they could see that the battery was dead it wasn't giving them the error message or error code that it was supposed to so that they could replace the battery. they had to keep it and drive it around town the entire day and perform tests on it to make the car finally give them the error code necessary to indicate that the hybrid battery was not working so it could be replaced. while these batteries are under warranty and they are replacing them - i don't feel that 4 year lifespan for this type of equipment is adequate - particularly given that i don't drive the car a lot. additionally this is a quite costly part - $4,000 if it was not under warranty. i am concerned that the error message was not displaying despite the months of issues with it - and the fact that the equipment only has a shelf life of 4 years in my location due to the climate. this was not disclosed during my purchase and had it been i would never have purchased a hybrid vehicle. this with the fuel tank defect has me seriously questioning this car maker's quality and durability of their vehicles. | |||
| 10/03/2011 | 50000 | ||
| The battery on my honda civic hybrid has been failing to charge which means my car has no power to move quickly up hills or accelerate when i need to especially as i am merging onto the freeway. there have been numerous dangerous occasions where i may have been the first car at a traffic light, the light will turn green but my car has no power to make it up the hill. there has also been incidents when i am merging onto the freeway but can't get my car to accelerate to an appropriate speed as to not be a danger to the cars already on the freeway. i pray to god that there is not an 18 wheeler approaching behind me in the right lane or the driver would not be able to slow down in time to allow me to merge onto the freeway. there has also been times where my car will not start up immediately in th morning. i have already replaced the starter battery from the honda dealership that cost me over $200.00 after their mandatory adjustment on the ima battery. honda will not replace my ima battery until the light comes on on the dashboard. my car is not yet 4 years old but the battery is already a danger to my safety. something needs to be done before somebody gets killed in their honda hybrid for failing to accelerate at the appropriate times. | |||
| 10/15/2010 | |||
| Purchased vehicle new in march of 2008. in october of 2010 an ima battery update was required by manufacturer. since the update i have taken the vehicle back to the dealer on a monthly basis for almost a year with the following problems, they of course can not get the vehicle to do everything that it does to me and the dealer always tells me it is operating within manufacturers standards. i have given up taking it in every month and now just take it in for its routine maintenance, i give them a printout of my concerns and the tech attaches it to the workorder. a) low fuel mileage, averages 25 to 28 mpg. before ima update, was averaging 35 to 45 mpg. b) slow acceleration from stops, this is very dangerous because we never know if the vehicle is going to move or not. we must leave ourselves alot of space when trying to merge with traffic because of this. c) idles rough, off & on, while stopped or parked, this is using up gas because the ima battery does not come on as much as it used to. d) assist is not coming on as much as it used to, if at all. e) ima battery reading goes from 1-2 bars upto 8 or so in minutes and then back down to 1-2 bars within a minute or less. usually reads about 1-2 bars most of time. ima is charging itself on flat ground, up hills, down hills and when braking. i would trade the vehicle in for another, but am afraid that some other sucker would end up with something that is not operating correctly. i did purchase the extended warranty on this vehicle. | |||
| 09/29/2010 | 30000 | ||
| At approximately 30k miles the hybrid battery charging capacity started to decrease. the battery would not hold a charge as long. honda sent letters out to have a software patch put in to prolong the life of the battery. therefore they know they have a problem. the software made things even worse by degrading mpg and power on acceleration. the electrical motor torque is not enough to make a diff with the underpowered 1.3 engine this car has. too many times when starting from a stop the car has no power and there is a actual delay and very slow acceleration. running the car with the air on is even worse. my wife is afraid to drive this car and honda will not do anything about this . its pushed from dealer to honda corp back and forth. the car is dangerous to drive. | |||
| 12/01/2010 | |||
| I have 2008 honda civic hybrid had no problems until august 2010 when they sent a letter to have a software upgrade for the ima intergrated motor assit battery after having the upgrade i had loss of power when accereration the ima seems towork 50-75 percent less then what it use too also my battery indicator had never been down to 4 bars before the upgrade but after it was done seems like it wants to stay right at 4 most of the time so inturn the ima dosnt use the battery i have lose 10+ mpg i use to get 45-48 now i get 32-35 so now its like driving a under powered civic the worst is when you try to take off or if you need to accelerate to merge on the freeway you might have some ima or not you just dont know | |||
| 08/23/2010 | 45918 | ||
| 2008 honda civic hybrid was modified according to manufacturer's voluntary recall notice 10-034. this modification involved changes to the engine control computer's software flash memory. subsequently, the vehicle demonstrates insufficient power to accelerate safely into highway traffic. when parked on an incline the vehicle exhibits difficulty initiating forward motion and may roll backwards up to three feet before establishing forward progress. this behavior was not observed prior to the engine modification. | |||
| 12/01/2010 | |||
| I have 2008 honda civic hybrid had no problems until august 2010 when they sent a letter to have a software upgrade for the ima intergrated motor assit battery after having the upgrade i had loss of power when accereration the ima seems towork 50-75 percent less then what it use too also my battery indicator had never been down to 4 bars before the upgrade but after it was done seems like it wants to stay right at 4 most of the time so inturn the ima dosnt use the battery i have lose 10+ mpg i use to get 45-48 now i get 32-35 so now its like driving a under powered civic the worst is when you try to take off or if you need to accelerate to merge on the freeway you might have some ima or not you just dont know | |||
| 08/23/2010 | 45918 | ||
| 2008 honda civic hybrid was modified according to manufacturer's voluntary recall notice 10-034. this modification involved changes to the engine control computer's software flash memory. subsequently, the vehicle demonstrates insufficient power to accelerate safely into highway traffic. when parked on an incline the vehicle exhibits difficulty initiating forward motion and may roll backwards up to three feet before establishing forward progress. this behavior was not observed prior to the engine modification. | |||
| 12/01/2010 | |||
| I have 2008 honda civic hybrid had no problems until august 2010 when they sent a letter to have a software upgrade for the ima intergrated motor assit battery after having the upgrade i had loss of power when accereration the ima seems towork 50-75 percent less then what it use too also my battery indicator had never been down to 4 bars before the upgrade but after it was done seems like it wants to stay right at 4 most of the time so inturn the ima dosnt use the battery i have lose 10+ mpg i use to get 45-48 now i get 32-35 so now its like driving a under powered civic the worst is when you try to take off or if you need to accelerate to merge on the freeway you might have some ima or not you just dont know | |||
| 08/23/2010 | 45918 | ||
| 2008 honda civic hybrid was modified according to manufacturer's voluntary recall notice 10-034. this modification involved changes to the engine control computer's software flash memory. subsequently, the vehicle demonstrates insufficient power to accelerate safely into highway traffic. when parked on an incline the vehicle exhibits difficulty initiating forward motion and may roll backwards up to three feet before establishing forward progress. this behavior was not observed prior to the engine modification. | |||
| 11/04/2010 | 31709 | ||
| 2008 honda civic hybrid ima dash light and engine light come on at approximatly 31000 miles. i was driving and all of the sudden the integrated motor assist light on the dash and the engine light came on. i stopped and read that this indicated a problem with the integrated motor assist and that perfomance would be affected which it was. acceleration was sluggish and slow from a stand still. i took it to the dealership immediatly and was asked if i had received a recall notice which i said i had not. they said they were aware of the problem and that it required a software upgrade. i left the car for about 30 minutes and when i returned they said that they flashed the computer and did an upgrade. after this there were no more problems. i have looked at nhtsa and honda site and there is no mention of this problem or a recall listed on any site. i just wanted to let you know that this may be a problem. thank you. | |||
| 07/15/2010 | 50000 | ||
| I have a 2008 honda civic hybrid since it was brand new, never a problem. in july i received a letter explaining a software upgrade that was to help the live of my ima battery. since this upgrade my ima motor does not assist all the time. specifically when going up hills and when trying to merge onto a freeway/highway it will not kick in. i would guess 20% of the time it does not engage at all. i have taken it to darryl waltrip honda in franklin, tn. they saw the problem and agreed it was a problem but then after talking with corporate have decided it is not a problem. i'm nervous that i do not have the proper acceleration in these circumstances. i have now read numerous similar complaints online. something should be done about this. | |||
| 08/12/2010 | 29188 | ||
| Honda software update on my 2008 civic has made my car lethargic to drive. it is now dangerous to drive in normal traffic. gas mileage has dropped from ~40mpg to ~35 forcing me to stop more often to fill up and costing me lots more money to drive. | |||
| 09/14/2010 | 31114 | ||
| The car will not resond properly from stopped postion when acceleration is needed. | |||
| 08/12/2010 | 29188 | ||
| Honda software update on my 2008 civic has made my car lethargic to drive. it is now dangerous to drive in normal traffic. gas mileage has dropped from ~40mpg to ~35 forcing me to stop more often to fill up and costing me lots more money to drive. | |||
| 09/14/2010 | 31114 | ||
| The car will not resond properly from stopped postion when acceleration is needed. | |||
| 08/27/2010 | 41102 | ||
| I received the software update on my 2008 honda civic hybrid on august 27,2010. immediately after retrieving it, i had problems with acceleration. a safety issue when merging onto highway traffic. the problems have not resolved since then and i am always fearful that one day i will get rear-ended as i merge because the car can't accelerate fast enough. | |||
| 08/04/2010 | 9240 | ||
| 2008 honda civic hybrid. had battery computer replaced per honda request and experiencing loss of power going up incllines and going backwards downhill in low gear. had family in car and never had this problem before going up this hill. this car will go up this hill with less people but we never had this problem before. | |||
| 07/01/2010 | |||
| My 2008 honda civic hybrid's ima battery is discharging fully and not recharging itself. this occurs often in my hot city. it makes it a major safety problem when trying to merge lanes. when the battery fails to assist the motor, acceleration is near impossible, making it a major safety complaint. this is well-documented in the press. the failure occurs anytime in heat. software update was performed, and it didn't help the battery to charge. max battery capacity may have declined as a result of this defect. | |||