general problems of the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid

Two problems related to exterior lighting have been reported for the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid. The most recently reported issues are listed below.

1 Exterior Lighting problem

Failure Date: 04/06/2016

While driving the low beam sputter and then when out my husband replaced the bulb and after a day it just went out. He replaced again for it was to be inspected the following week. Honda preformed our state inspection and to our dismay they let us know that we needed a new bulb. 3 bulbs in under two weeks. I noticed there was a recall, now my vehicle is listed but my number is not and it is showing symptoms?.

2 Exterior Lighting problem

Failure Date: 04/10/2008

2003 Civic Hybrid- 80k miles. Bought in 2006 with 60k miles. The vehicle hesitates when accelerating from a stop. There is about a 5-8 second delay in pressing the gas and the car going, which has caused me to almost be rear ended a few times. The vehicle also slows down extremely rapidly when the foot is removed from the gas pedal. Even with no pressure applied to the break pedal. To ordinary (not hybrid) cars, it seems like I am pressing my brake, they just see me slowing down, but there are no lights to warn them, I have almost been in two really bad car accidents that were avoided by mere inches when: on the highway I have taken my foot off the accelerator to slow my vehicle, but I did not need the breaks since the car slowed down so fast on it's own. I threw on my emergency lights and tapped the brake to signal to cars behind me who were moving much faster still. I think that Honda should put in smaller lights or a different safety light when you remove your foot from the accelerator on the Civic Hybrids, to avoid rear-ending accidents due to rapid decrease in speed with no usage of the braking system. History of problem: during test drive vehicle made slight shudder noise and hesitation before starting to accelerate. The dealer told me that it was a normal noise for hybrids. I foolishly believed him. A few months later the shuddering was worse and I knew that it wasn't a normal noise for any transmission to be making at 60,000 miles! over the last 2 years I have taken the car to the dealership many times to "fix" this problem, which is only patched up and the shuddering comes back a few thousand miles later. Honda knows about this problem and has a service bulletin for it, yet their dealerships try to put off fixing the problem until someone's warranty is almost over, or over. Honda needs to be held responsible for this faulty vehicle. A recall should be done at the very least, to fix the cars driving around with bad transmissions.


Other Exterior Lighting related problems of the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid

Headlights problems
3
Exterior Lighting problems
2
Headlight Switch problems
1


Safety Ratings of Civic Hybrid Cars
Fuel Economy of Civic Hybrid Vehicles
Civic Hybrid Service Bulletins
Civic Hybrid Safety Recalls
Civic Hybrid Defect Investigations