general problems of the 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid

In the last two weeks I've had two instances where I was attempting to make a left turn at a green light and had to yield to oncoming traffic. However, when the next oncoming vehicle appeared to be far enough away and at a safe distance, I attempted to accelerate and make the turn and my hybrid system a. K. A. Honda's ima (integrated motor assist) would randomly fail to engage, leaving me with almost no acceleration power. It felt like I was driving a lawnmower. The engine would rev up, but the vehicle would not proportionately accelerate. The vehicle is almost impossible to drive uphill in downtown tacoma, wa as it starts rolling back even with accelerator pedal depressed all the way down. I contacted the dealership and was told that although there was a sb-10051509-6014 issued for my specific model, which in effect extended the warranty and my VIN fell under the specified criteria, it was cancelled due to a salvage branded title (a fact I didn't not notice until after I had purchased the vehicle from a private party). This isn't simply a warranty issue. This is in effect a safety issue as the driver is unable to remedy the situation in an emergency. The risk is significantly increased by the fact that the driver making the left turn is facing oncoming traffic which is coming towards the vehicle in full speed. Should a child be present in the rear seat, if the driver is unable to complete the left turn and vacate the intersection in time, the collision could prove fatal, especially since the hybrid battery pack and the high voltage wires are all connected right behind the rear seat.

Tl- the contact owns a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. The contact stated that there was a progressing failure with the ima battery, the vehicle was slow to pick up speed and the low beams failed to illuminate as the failures progressed. In addition, the ima warning light flashed and then the service engine light. One mechanic provided testing and a second mechanic also inspected and diagnosed the failures but was unable to provide a repair solution. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for further inspection and diagnosis. The VIN was not available. The manufacturer was to be contacted to determine if they may be able to provide a repair solution to the dealer. The approximate failure mileage was 140,000. Dyd.

My son started to turn out of a parking lot, accelerating normally. Car responded by accelerating massively --the rpms shot up to the max (7) and he heard it stutter against the top of the dial. He tried to complete the turn, but skidded into a pole, which caused the airbag to deploy. Car continued to race full speed as it bounced over a parking curb back into the lot. Finally the car stopped when the key was turned off.

I purchased the car new in December 2007 and was initially pleased. Unfortunately, the performance of the vehicle has decreased significantly, apparently due to a software update installed by Honda on August 2010 (see service bulletin 10-034). Honda states that the software update was intended to extend the life of the hybrid battery but is silent about the obvious adverse impact on gas mileage, power, and emissions. The hybrid integrated motor assist (ima) assist is operating erratically such that when trying to accelerate (e. G. , when merging onto an interstate or passing on a highway) the car may have the expected response or a very limited response from the unassisted 1. 3 liter engine. Just last week when I was merging onto an interstate one time the ima did not provide any assist and I was concerned due to the fast approaching traffic. I never know whether the car will have the expected acceleration. The ima behavior can vary from minute to minute while driving even under the same conditions. Has dot and NHTSA studied a 2007 Civic Hybrid after the software update was applied?.

Ever since Honda did a software update on my car's engine to extend the life of the battery, my car has had intermittent accelerations issues. For example, last summer, I was at a stop light and when it turned green, my car didn't seem to want to "go". I had to press on the gas pedal about 3 times to get it to "engage" and actually move. Many times the car is sluggish to start from a stop, or accelerate, but it does "go", just not as promptly and quickly as it should. The most recent incidents occurred last month and has prompted this complaint. Both involved merging onto a freeway. In the first instance, I was in the right lane, which I knew would turn exit only a mile or so down the road. There was a truck on my left, followed by a long line of slow moving cars. So I thought, since the truck was right next to me, I would speed up a little bit and bit and get in front of it. To speed up only fast enough to pass this truck, my car revved to over 6000 rpm. It just didn't want to accelerate normally. I did safely make the lane change in front of the truck; the worst thing that would have happened in this case was getting off at an exit I did not intend to get off at. However, the next day, I was merging onto freeway traffic with a typical lane length to allow merging. My car didn't want to accelerate enough to safely accomplish the merge. I had to rev the engine up to over 5000 rpm just to get up to barely 45 mph to accomplish the merge. I feel it is only a matter of time before I get into an accident because of this acceleration issue.

The contact owns a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. The contact stated that after receiving a software update the vehicle would hesitate and take longer to accelerate up to highway speeds. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 70,000 and the current mileage was 77,000.

I bought a new 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid from a certified Honda dealership. The design flaw of the rear tire arms of the vehicle caused the tire arm to rub on the tires of the car until the tires were nearly bald causing the car to shutter and the structure of the tires to weaken endangering me and my passengers. When I took the car to Honda, I was forced to replace the tires prematurely 2 times since owning the car due to the irregular wear on the tires. Honda did not notify me of the problem, refused to pay for new tires but finally admitted after the second pair of tires were rubbed bald, that the tire arm of the car was causing damage to the tires. They repaired the tire arm, but would not pay for new tires. The transmission of the car is also flawed in design. Occasionally when accelerating, the gas pedal of the car can be pushed to the floor and the car will not continue to accelerate and will loose power. This has happened at stop lights, entering the freeway, and going up hills endangering my life and the lives of my passengers. Honda again, did not notify me of the problem, but told me when I brought the car in after experiencing the problems that I needed an upgrade to my computer and that those upgrades may fix the problem. Those updates to the computers effect the battery of the hybrid part of the car's engine. Those batteries are loosing the ability to hold a charge and causing the transmission to fail because the car relies on that battery power to run the engine. The gas mileage of the car has also been steadily declining. When the car was new, it got 45 mpg and Honda advertised it get 50 mpg, the car now gets around 33 mpg. The computer updates are changing the way the car runs off of gas and battery power and Honda is not replacing the faulty batteries. This has endangered my life and the lives of my passengers because the faulty batteries effect how the car operates.

The contact owns a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 mph, the vehicle suddenly increased to 7,000 rpms. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection who informed the contact that they were unable to actually explain why it happened. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 32,000.

I had the software updated in my 07 Civic Hybrid in August 2010. Since the update the car has no electric assist when the battery is half full or less. My battery is in this state at least half of the time and Honda tells me that it is normal and that the lack of power when accelerating is the result of the update. This has made the car feel very unsafe to drive, especially when pulling onto the highway. I was almost rear ended the last week in August pulling on the highway because my car had no pickup as a result of this update.

I have a 2007 Honda 'hybrid'. Recently I received a letter from Honda reference to the batteries. As instructed I went to the dealership and had a new computer chip installed. Problem, my acceleration from start is greatly diminished and my fuel economy has gone down about 3 mpg around town. Please assist. Thankyou.

The contact owns a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. The contact stated that there was a loss of acceleration capabilities which occurred after software upgrade. The contact stated that when he was unable to accelerate on any surface unless it was flat and usually within the city limits. The contact called the dealer who offered no assistance. The contact called the manufacturer several times who also offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 36,000.

Tl- the contact owns a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid. The contact stated while driving up a hill, the vehicle began to hesitate and the rpms increased. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 60,000. Rvk.

I was almost in a serious accident as I went to make a right hand turn, and the car only accelerated at about 1/4 of its normal pace. I had to look down to make sure my foot was on the gas. When this acceleration failure occurred, the battery showed no charge, but it had shown almost a full charge when I first started the car, just a few minutes earlier. My car now cannot hold a charge at all. I park it fully charged, and when I start, it shows fully charged. Within the first mile of driving, it drops to 1 or no bars. It then has trouble accelerating, as the car cannot pull from the ima and it tries to charge the ima, instead of accelerating. This failure is now occurring daily. It is very difficult to drive to work, as I don't know when I can merge onto interstate and if the car will fail. It is usually fine after about 10 miles of driving, but my commute is only 12 miles, so I would say this makes a very large % of my commute dangerous. The service department updated software, but this has not improved the situation at all. I am keeping a journal of these daily activities, as the ima is still under warranty. My gas mileage dropped 20% over the past year, even though I do use ethanol free gas. This was the first indication there was a problem with the ima, but Honda simply gave me the brush off everytime I expressed a concern that this was an early sign that something was wrong.

My Civic Hybrid battery has been declining in power for about the last 2 years, most likely due to a failing hybrid battery that Honda refuses to replace. On numerous occasions, my hybrid batter will fail to provide any assist during accelerations. This seems to occur a couple times a week as the system suddenly notices the battery has no charge (it instantly goes from about 1/2 the bars of charge to just 1). This has happened at a critical moment when I need power to make a left turn when there was heavy traffic and I needed to make a left turn. One normally expects a consistent amount of power when pressing the accelerator, and imagine what harm can occur if suddenly a substantially less mount of power is delivered without any warning whatsoever.

This vehicle is not safe for highway or city driving. It decelerates when you need power, making it very dangerous to merge in high speed or heavy traffic conditions. In the summer when the a/c is running, acceleration is extremely unreliable. The driver's side has severe blind spots. I have also experienced long delays in the engine restarting after pulling out into traffic from a dead stop at lights or stop signs. I have nearly been hit by oncoming traffic -- planning for adequate gaps in traffic is a challenge and very different from the other vehicles I drive. I am an experienced driver with over 37 years behind the wheel and an excellent driving record. I have owned 4 Hondas and this so-called hybrid has been an engineering disaster.