general problems of the 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid

Cvt is slipping, hard to power up hills, doesn't kick in after a stop and sometimes stays on or speeds up around corners. Just had the transmission oil changed and problem has not improved.

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?.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I have a Honda Civic Hybrid 2006, last days I have my ima light and check engine light come up, I went o the dealer o'hare Honda and they refused me to do the a recall update to the software and fix my check engine light and ima light that is related to the electric engine with battery. I will mention that the warranty book says that they need to fix these issues under a federal law 8/80k but they treat me bad and not even open to discuss. When I asked to talk with somebody else they old that no manager was Friday at 12 pm. I mention that my warranty was canceled and car mileage is 78. 000, I don't feel comfortable to drive this car is losses power and is dangerous when you try to pass another car or an intersection with these issues.

Summary: my 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid received the integrated motor assist (ima) software upgrade in 2010, since then vehicle performance is unreliable. If the car is not used for about 10 hours or more I. E. One day the ima battery will drain in less than a mile of leaving my home the next day, on a level roadway. This leaves me with the gas engine only and driveability in traffic suffers a lot with slow acceleration and poor overtaking capability to the point of being dangerous. After about 2-3 miles the ima system will start to indicate charging and within a short distance the ima indicator will suddenly jump from 3 bars (low) to 8 bars (full) in a matter of 3-5 seconds. This is not normal nimh battery behavior my Honda dealer says they cannot do anything because the ima system light does not illuminate (obd does not show a fault). In my opinion from driving the vehicle the ima software upgrade has done nothing to solve the basic problem and has reduced my economy by about 8 mpg!.

Bought car in may 2006, by Aug 2006 I was only getting 36 miles per gallon. Brought car to dealer. They said they replaced a part to fix problem. Problem not fixed! brought car back 3 more times and dealer said I was driving the car wrong. I told them to keep the car for a week, they did but still could not get the mileage over 37 mpg. They told us they didn't know what the problem was and there was nothing they could do about it. Went through 3 back tires on drivers side. They still wouldn't do anything about it! I had to pay for it! the car was getting worse and worse. Finally we took it to another dealer. They found that something was broken by the back tire (which is why I had to keep replacing them) and I needed a new transmission. All of that was covered under warranty. That was in September 2010. They also told me that's why I never got the mileage I was supposed to get. That was when they told me that I needed to get the software update!! now my car is not drivable! the battery doesn't charge, the car cant accelerate! the service manager and the foreman told Honda America that the car is not safe and Honda America doesn't care! I filed a claim and I was told that there is no problem with the car. I just need to get used to driving it differently! when I pressed them and told them my car is now undrivable, I was told that they had nothing else to say to me! Honda really messed this one up! people are going to get killed driving these cars. . . . And they know it! my car was a lemon since the day I bought it! paid $5,000. 00 extra for it , never got the mpg, and now I cant drive it!.

I have a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. The problem is infrequent but potentially dangerous. While driving the car losses all power. The engine continues running but the accelerator pedal has no effect. The power steering and brakes continue working but there is no power. It lasts seconds. I have always stopped the car by braking and then started it up. It takes about 30 seconds before the power returns. It has never happened on the highway. This could be very dangerous with traffic around. A few days ago while driving up a 7 mile dirt road going about 15 to 25 mph it happened 3 times in less than 5 minutes. It was near the end of the road. The battery indicator on the hybrid showed it to be about 60% charged. No engine check light went on. Honda has not been able to solve the problem. They have tried. I am concerned about the computer system since there are idiosyncrasies with the system. For example, the battery charge light can suddenly showed the battery nearly uncharged and then suddenly show it normally charged. This should take time since the battery should charge over time. The stalling has happened during the times where the battery charge light shows a sudden change especially when I was running the air conditioning. However, with the 3 most recent episodes no air conditioning was on and the battery charge light showed a normal charge. Also the indicator that shows the mpg I am getting at that moment can go to zero when costing down a hill. I should be registering a maximum mpg reading in that setting.

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.

Several times in the past the acceleration in my 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid has failed to provide the extra burst of speed when needed, making me uncomfortable in traffic. When this situation happens as I am leaving my subdivision I feel helpless in a situation of which I have little control. When I need to make turn from my subdivision from a stop, I need to rapidly accelerate to 45 mph uphill. Much of the time there is traffic approaching from the left which I am unable see to until they are on the crest of that hill, approx. 150' away. As you can see, I depend on the hybrid system working properly for that extra burst of speed. When this happens I notice the ima battery charge indicator showing the battery is in a depleted state. I do not know why this occurs so rapidly when 99% of the time it is just fine. I was relieved that Honda motor CO. Was proactive in notifying me of a software patch to enhance the performance of the ima system of which I had immediately installed. What my wife and I have noticed since the software patch was installed is the engine revs up higher during acceleration then there is a momentary hesitation before the ima system assisted the engine to get up to speed. Also since the patch was installed, the ima battery level indicator is at or near full charge. I have noticed an apparent decrease in fuel efficiency, but I am still compiling data to make an exact determination of the extent of that problem.

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 assist motor. I think a recall is in order.

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.

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.

The integrated motor assist (ima) battery is failing prematurely on my car, the assist works sporadically. When passing traffic on the highway I have to really mash the gas pedal to the floor, because the assist is absent for lack of power. Honda installed a software fix(bulletin 10-034) that greatly reduces the battery ability to function at full capacity, so they could make the battery last longer and not have to replace them under warranty. I get the code p0a7f (one of the blocks in the battery pack has deteriorated: its dynamic resistance is too high) on my car computer. Honda erased it manually and sent me home without replacing my ima battery. When coming to a stop the car surges as I make a complete stop, because the car is regenerating power to replenish the spent battery. The so called patch 10-034 is really making the car unstable to drive, the engine reeves very high without much power produced in passing or entering highways situations. When the car was working fine, a little touch of the gas would have been enough to pass traffic or climb steep hills. Now the assist only works sometimes and keeps me guessing if I will have enough power to pass or not. The ima battery is definitely not up to the job.

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.

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.

The contact owns a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. When the accelerator pedal was engaged he noticed that the vehicle was not as powerful as usual. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated that the integrated motor assist was experiencing intermittent failures. The vehicle was not repaired. The problem had continued to occur intermittently. The vehicle was taken back to an authorized dealer where the software system was updated. The failure became progressively worse. The failure mileage was 43,381 and the current mileage was 56,000. The consumer stated the safety issued is that ima batteries lose their ability to hold a charge and the reprogramming implemented by Honda causes the acceleration capability of the vehicle to become extremely erratic. Sometimes, it will accelerate normally and sometimes it doesn't. Updated 03/11/11.

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 wife's 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 safety on busy California freeways. Hybrid battery finally replaced by Honda after consulting 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 designed to save the battery received 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 complaints, 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. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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.

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.

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. . Read more...

2006 Honda Civic Hybrid drops battery charge and assist suddenly, then slowly recharges, with no warning, leaving car with less power and acceleration than expected. Becomes a safety hazard on freeway onramps, passing or any time you need to move fast to avoid something. Car needs to be revved to 5k to get over 35mph, after that gas engine itself starts to pick up speed. Mileage has dropped from 45+ to middle 30's since it started happening 2 years ago. Happening at least twice a week, some times twice a day. Took to Honda dealer and they forced me to change the 12v battery pack at my cost, which made no difference. I happens more in summer. I cannot reproduce it at will no error codes are stored and no problem lights are turned on, so Honda says there is nothing wrong. . Read more...