Honda - Well known issues with hybrid battery

[Itoda]

I purchased my Honda Civic IMA hybrid 2 years ago, for a large sum of money. It has developed a fault with the IMA battery and will cost $2129 to purchase (and fit) a new IMA battery from Honda. Honda has received reports (from various car magazines) that they are very reliable cars and that is the main reason I purchased a Honda.

The IMA battery draining is a known problem with Honda hybrid cars and I am surprised this has not been resolved before the cars were sold. I cannot pay for another battery and Honda will not help, as it is past the 8 year warranty for IMA battery issues??

Should i go to the small claims court. What other options are available to me?

I bought a set of Team Heko Wind Deflectors
https://giddyuptx.com/weathertech-window-deflectors-problems/
and am having a nightmare fitting them

iv tried putting the clips on the window and shutting the window which should push them right up, but when i do that part of the clip can still be seen from outside the car and the deflectors arent tight into the clips?
then i tried fitting "dry" without clips or tape and the window doesnt shut properly

it seems to "catch " on something about half way up and then when i close it it doesnt close fully, there are gaps at the curved part nearest the window and a cap at the top of the straight edge nearest the door handle? (if yous get my description)
these are 2nd hand and came off a 3 door 1.7CDTi civic but they should still fit i'd think?
any help would be great!

 

[Maroco]

I purchased my Honda Civic IMA hybrid 2 years ago, for a large sum of money. It has developed a fault with the IMA battery and will cost $2129 to purchase (and fit) a new IMA battery from Honda. Honda has received reports (from various car magazines) that they are very reliable cars and that is the main reason I purchased a Honda.

The IMA battery draining is a known problem with Honda hybrid cars and I am surprised this has not been resolved before the cars were sold. I cannot pay for another battery and Honda will not help, as it is past the 8 year warranty for IMA battery issues??

Should i go to the small claims court. What other options are available to me?

Have you called Honda motor co. Or have you just been working with the dealership?

 

[charleswrivers]

Honda will not help, as it is past the 8 year warranty for IMA battery

Considering a battery is a effective a wear product, albeit with a long service life so long as it is not exposed to environmental extremes, discharged deeply and whose life is as dependent on its cycling as much as it’s physical age... I don’t know that you can do anything. If it’s indeed past it’s warranty period, as with any thing you buy, it’s be on you to cover the repair.

Buying an older hybrid car would likely have cost a fraction of its new cost, but the cost of a battery replacement may simply be necessary to keep it going a number of years longer. Concerning its apparent ‘self discharge’, depending on its design, individual cell testing and a partial cell changeout might be possible, but I bet it’s a sealed unit and modular so that it is replaced as a unit. You may, however, be able to cut out a lot of the labor cost to do it yourself, as I assume most of the labor is in the removal of trim/interior to get to the battery itself. Just remember, we’re talking about hundred(s) of volts and not the non-event like accidentally shorting a cars 12v electrical systems out. I’ve seen things disappear in a flash with large, high voltage storage batteries.

 

[turbo lover]

I purchased my Honda Civic IMA hybrid 2 years ago, for a large sum of money. It has developed a fault with the IMA battery and will cost $2129 to purchase (and fit) a new IMA battery from Honda. Honda has received reports (from various car magazines) that they are very reliable cars and that is the main reason I purchased a Honda.

The IMA battery draining is a known problem with Honda hybrid cars and I am surprised this has not been resolved before the cars were sold. I cannot pay for another battery and Honda will not help, as it is past the 8 year warranty for IMA battery issues??

Should i go to the small claims court. What other options are available to me?

Can you buy a rebuilt IMA battery elsewhere for cheaper? Maybe you can find some hybrid-specific message boards to see what other people have done. Unfortunately, Honda IMA hybrids are not very reliable. I don't see you being able to get anything in small claims court, since the car is past its warranty period.

 

[charleswrivers]

I searched and it appears you can buy a refurbished IMA battery for about 1/2 what the OP said they were going to charged (though it doesn’t include installation cost). As a refurb, I think it is old packs that have had either a partial or full cell change-out. If it’s a partial, they should have load tested each individual cell then done an individual cell charge... though I have no idea what they consider ‘reconditioning’ of their cells. They only come with a 1 year warranty with additional warranty at additional cost.

For the money... l’d personally would probably go and source replacement cells and break the pack down and just replace poor performing cells. It’d probably be pretty labor intensive and I assume they’re just a bunch of flat top cells you’ve got to solder tabs back on to... but I bet very few of the hundred/few hundred cells are actually bad. It’s something I’ve done before though, and am aware of the risks involved. It would probably be a total PITA.

You might be able to source a better IMA battery from a car at a salvage yard... or at least get one who you could salvage cells from to replace your worst/failed cells from for substantially less money. If the junkyard offers a refund if they sell you defective battery, I think it’s be the best, cheapest solution with the possibility of receiving a refund and only being our out your time if it doesn’t work.

I don’t know what car we’re talking about and what you paid for it/what it’s worth. If you got into something that seemed a good deal compared to its new cost but it isn’t worth the money to bring it back, you might consider unloading it and not pour a lot of money in it.

Me? If I got a raging deal on it, I’d be looking at the local salvage yards, hoping to be a plug and play replacement but residing myself to building a good pack out of two crapped ones.

 

[TypeSiR]

A used car was bought out of factory warranty. What exactly is there for Honda to cover? If there’s a known battery problem, who’s responsibility is it to do the research before the purchase?

 

[charleswrivers]

@Itoda... realize this is the forum for 10th generations Civics (2016+) and you stating your battery is beyond it's 8 year warranty means we're talking about an older model car. Older than I assume the 2014 you say you have (still a 9th gen) on your profile.

I suggest you find the appropriate forum to discuss this issue with as they folks there will have more experience with this issue. Regardless... if you think you've got a chance at winning a court case for an issue with your car beyond the factory warranty, you may need to reevaluate your prospects for getting this corrected. If there are TSBs/recalls/warranty extension which might cover some or all of this repair like you're hoping for, the folks in the appropriate forum should be able to help you better than us.

I'd seriously consider my suggestion at trying to find a working, used IMA battery from a local salvage yard that will at least warranty the battery for a short period... long enough to at least to know that it works.

A quick search at my local salvage yard down in Jacksonville shows that they price theirs at $250, with a $50 core charge. If Honda doesn't cover anything (and I doubt they will. Why would they? You've got a car over 8 years old and beyond it's battery warranty from what you're saying). Automotive batteries last 3-5 years. LION batteries that get cycled a lot in devices like cell phones and laptops are usually crapped out so far as capacity goes in 2-4 years. The storage batteries in submarines provide good capacity for about 5 years, then are replaced to ensure their capacity is always high to save our bacon if we need it. Pushing a decade in a hybrid battery pack sounds like it gave a good, long service life. Good luck.

http://www.acepickapart.com/pricing.php?a=h

 

[latole]

Honda and Toyota build the best reliable cars based on old generation.
For any new product and more for a completely new ( Hybrid or electric ) we should always be careful before buying.

Electric car are the futur, for now we are in the present; wait an see

 

[repeet]

This all being said. My girlfriend is driving a 2001 Prius with over 120,000 miles on it. The big "motor" battery is still the original and still seems to be working great. The regular "normal" battery, that starts the ICE, that lives in the trunk, can't stand to be neglected for more than a week. She has had to replace that battery four times in the six years that she has owned the car.

I find it a shame that Honda couldn't source a "big" battery as dependable as Toyota did. But obviously they didn't. So research is your friend. Please find the appropriate forum, with the correct membership, that has experience with this technology. Notice that Honda didn't make the Tenth Gen. Civics into hybrids. There is obviously a reason for that.

Ouch!
I just went looking for an appropriate forum to research in, and I can see why you ended up here. The tenth Gen Civic has a much larger web presence that any previous Civic. Follow the guys advice that you see here. Most of us have had some really nice cars, including some exoticars. So the knowledge base is pretty good here. It also speaks well of how wonderful the tenth gen Civic really is. You know that our tenth gen Civics get over 40 mpg on the highway without electric motors. Unless you do mostly city driving, you may want to check into a used one of those.

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