Table 1 shows one common unknown or other related problems of the 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Unknown Or Other problems |
I have owned this car since April 2008 - I don't drive a lot - in 4 years and 3 months I have less than 40,000 miles on the car. I am the original owner - I purchased it new. I noticed a few months back that the hybrid batteries did not appear to be acting right and when I mentioned it during my 30,000 service they said that it was testing ok and there were no problems with it. Over the past few months it has steadily gotten worse - to the point where the hybrid batteries would not hold a charge. When I brought it in to the dealership they stated that while they could see that the battery was dead it wasn't giving them the "error message" or "error code" that it was supposed to so that they could replace the battery. They had to keep it and drive it around town the entire day and perform tests on it to make the car finally give them the error code necessary to indicate that the hybrid battery was not working so it could be replaced. While these batteries are under warranty and they are replacing them - I don't feel that 4 year lifespan for this type of equipment is adequate - particularly given that I don't drive the car a lot. Additionally this is a quite costly part - $4,000 if it was not under warranty. I am concerned that the error message was not displaying despite the months of issues with it - and the fact that the equipment only has a shelf life of 4 years in my location due to the climate. This was not disclosed during my purchase and had it been I would never have purchased a hybrid vehicle. This with the fuel tank defect has me seriously questioning this car maker's quality and durability of their vehicles.
Purchased vehicle new in March of 2008. In October of 2010 an ima battery update was required by manufacturer. Since the update I have taken the vehicle back to the dealer on a monthly basis for almost a year with the following problems, they of course can not get the vehicle to do everything that it does to me and the dealer always tells me it is operating within manufacturers standards. I have given up taking it in every month and now just take it in for its routine maintenance, I give them a printout of my concerns and the tech attaches it to the workorder. A) low fuel mileage, averages 25 to 28 mpg. Before ima update, was averaging 35 to 45 mpg. B) slow acceleration from stops, this is very dangerous because we never know if the vehicle is going to move or not. We must leave ourselves alot of space when trying to merge with traffic because of this. C) idles rough, off & on, while stopped or parked, this is using up gas because the ima battery does not come on as much as it used to. D) assist is not coming on as much as it used to, if at all. E) ima battery reading goes from 1-2 bars upto 8 or so in minutes and then back down to 1-2 bars within a minute or less. Usually reads about 1-2 bars most of time. Ima is charging itself on flat ground, up hills, down hills and when braking. I would trade the vehicle in for another, but am afraid that some other sucker would end up with something that is not operating correctly. I did purchase the extended warranty on this vehicle.
At approximately 30k miles the hybrid battery charging capacity started to decrease. The battery would not hold a charge as long. Honda sent letters out to have a software patch put in to prolong the life of the battery. Therefore they know they have a problem. The software made things even worse by degrading mpg and power on acceleration. The electrical motor torque is not enough to make a diff with the underpowered 1. 3 engine this car has. Too many times when starting from a stop the car has no power and there is a actual delay and very slow acceleration. Running the car with the air on is even worse. My wife is afraid to drive this car and Honda will not do anything about this . Its pushed from dealer to Honda corp back and forth. The car is dangerous to drive.