Honda Civic Hybrid: Battery Unreliable, Consumer Reports Says

This is not really news of course. My 2007 got a new battery in 2010 at 60k miles. I sold it for less than a non-hybrid would sell for. The KBB lists hybrids and EXs as basically the same value despite a higher initial cost. Now after tax credit the price difference was less than $1000 but if there is no tax credit, it is a pretty big significant cost.

The HCH unfortunately in that vintage (and possibly still) is not a great value proposition. The mileage increase is not all that significant. For above average driving, it probably saves $400 a year. When the resale at 6 years is equal to a non hybrid, the upcharge at $2400 would be break even but the upcharge is higher. The newer Civic has better numbers and is even closer to the hybrid version so the actual savings is less.

Now I suppose the brake pads will save a little money - I didn't need any at 87k when I sold it.

 

car is over priced new.

 

^^^what is the price delta Hybrid vs. ICE? I was seeing maybe $5000 but that seemed high.

The Civic is being used as example a lot in the recent Virginia debates about taxing hybrids. Here the HCH will soon face an extra $100/yr fee unless we can convince the Gov to veto it (this week we should hear).

PS- Sorry to have VA on the mind, but this thread shows another reason why taxing hybrids is bad public policy: the owner has the finance burden of (1) battery replacement+(2) initial higher cost+(3) higher sales tax+(4) higher prop tax (in VA). Adding another (5) $100/yr hybrid fee onto that is just excessive. Why bother with a hybrid under these circumstances? Your state is likely better scenario.

 

Our previous vehicle was a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid, purchased new, late in 2005. The last Honda we've purchase in a string going back to the early '80's. It's with another family member now, doing battery "recalibrations" at least daily. A little explanation:

The car get's usually get's it's perception of the battery's state of charge vicariously. It knows what the battery state was initially, it used the battery, it charged the battery, so it keeps track just by these subtractions and additions. Kind of like a bank account. A recalibration occurs when the car's perception start to stray from the actual state of charge, typically caused by a deteriorating battery.

During a recalibration the car doesn't shut down at stops, idle speed is raised, the car force-charges at idle, acceleration is hampered. Typically this will go on for about 5 minutes or more. The displayed state of charge will be low, then start to climb. In my experience (out of a total of 10 bars charge) it will drop to 2 bars, then climb to 3, then 4, hang there for a while, then suddenly shoot up to 10 bars. Joy, I guess...

Honda has issued a couple of software updates for the car (which we had done). While there's no conclusive proof, one apparent effect of the software updates is the car is VERY reluctant to turn on warning lights, throw codes, as the battery deteriorates.

More importantly: Honda seems very disinterested in their customers. I recently emailed them regarding our Civic, and their response was a curt phone call. Essentially saying "no warning lights means no problems".

 

I drive a 2009 HCH at 117000km (75k miles) I'm now on my third battery.
My average mileage is about 6.2 litres/100km.
I'm very disappointed with the car, currently looking at a Prius C to replace it.

 

Well, it says that the survey matches reports.

I don't know if the battery is unreliable or it was used in a way that caused failure. I guess we'll find out with the Insight.

 

I think the 2013 civic hybrid is sexy as hell but for 24-28k...that's ridiculous.

I was going to buy the 2012 Civic hybrid but it was like 24k

I said screw the features and got the Prius C for 20k

 

Glad I changed my HCH-II for a PiP

 

Glad I traded my Honda Insight for a Prius liftback.

It pains me to say it because, before i owned the 2010 Insight, I was a loyal Honda customer. I can say that their hybrids are all crappy and I wouldn't risk buying another one from them. Toyota excels at hybrids and is the only company I would trust for such a complex technology.

Maybe Honda will get it right with their new hybrid Accords. It would take a lot for them to win me back to buying their hybrid again.

 

When I read your post, I thought for a second that I had written it This was exactly my experience with Honda and the dealer I worked with up until 2 days ago when I traded it in for a Prius. My 2006 was recalibrating twice a day. There were no errors, so "nothing was wrong". Normal behavior I was told. Then a transmission bizarreness and that was the final straw. Only 85K miles? Unacceptable. I strongly suspect that if I had bought a gas model back in 2006, I'd still be driving it and singing its praises. 30 years of Honda ownership down the drain. Honda has really lost its way. Love my two day old Prius.

 

Same here. Daily recals with MPG going down the toilet each time.

I'm really happy that Toyota did a great job with the Prius because if the only hybrids were built by honda, hybrids would have a bad reputation of low reliability.

That's why I traded my 2007 civic instead of my 2004 Prius that still run great.

And the PiP is waaaaaay better.

 

Yeah, unfortunately, the reports from Honda hybrid owners like the above aren't unusual, even on non-Prius forums. Seilerts made this interesting post at Salvage Traction Battery | PriusChat.

It really is too bad and Honda poor hybrid sales aren't surprising. The problem that worries me is that w/Honda switching to li-ion (in the current HCH and Acccord PHEV, for example) is that they couldn't even get NiMH right, after all these years. How much would I want to trust their li-ion implementation?