general problems of the 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid

I own a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid. That started smelling like gas and now it is leaking really bad to the point tha I am afraid it will catch fire .

Since the Honda ima reprogram my battery pack no longer holds a charge. It is dead every morning. It will build a charge through my 35mi commute, but the charge holds for only a limited amount of time once I exit the highway and utilize surface streets requiring stop and go travel. After sitting a few hours, the battery pack is dead again. The battery pack has died numerous times upon quick acceleration such as entry to a highway. This is unsafe as the vehicle loses its capability to accelerate without the ima. I have taken the car to the local dealer who kept the car for 2 days to test it. They confirmed that the battery pack does not hold a charge, recharges slowly and drains quickly. However they stated that although it was under the warranty period, they would not and could not replace the battery pack due to the lack of a system code or dummy light illumiating. This lack of action by Honda for this common fault in their ima system is unacceptable. When the car was new and the ima system worked, I recieved the mpg as promised and then some. Since the update and the failure of the battery pack, I no longer recieve the epa stated mpg. I basically have a normal civic with hybrid badges. I have been a Honda devoted owner since 1997. This will be my last Honda.

'08 Honda Civic Hybrid experiencing a dramatic decrease in fuel economy. Ima battery suspected. Dealership upgraded software (as per Honda recall) and told me that to get better mpg's I should shut off my heater (we live in wisconsin!) and recommended an air filter change. I stated that an air filter and shutting off the heat would not increase my mpg's from 28-31 back up to it's prior performance range of 40-50. Vehicle is still dramatically underperforming. Note: service advisor @ bergstrom Honda admitted that in his 4 years there that he has seen many Civic Hybrids with severe tire cupping (I previously filed complaints on this issue also, vehicle is going on it's 3rd set of tires within 57,927 miles!) and also mentioned the poor performance after the Honda software upgrades to fix the ima issues. It is my belief that Honda is well aware of the ima issues and is trying to hide them under the software update (to save replacing "x" number of expensive hybrid batterys). I believe that as owners we have lost valuable lifespan on these batterys and that we have lost out on a good portion of our hybrid battery warranty coverage due to Honda's design.