Battery Dead problems of the 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid

The contact owns a 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid. The contact stated that while traveling 45 mph, the vehicle lost acceleration power. The vehicle was shut off and restarted as it resumed normal function. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was determined that the hybrid battery failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was 45,000. The current mileage was 91,000.

The car has a propensity to lurch forward at low speeds. When making a turn or stopping at a light the engine intermittently will rev and thrust the vehicle forward. If the driver is not knowledgeable or prepared for this tendency, the vehicle can thrust forward and strike whatever is in its path. The second problem that I have encountered is that the vehicle uses a malfunctioning integrated motor assist (ima) feature that is supposed to give the vehicle extra power to enter a highway and safely merge with oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, this feature is unreliable and can leave the vehicle and driver in a position of not having enough power to safely merge with high speed traffic. This differential in speed is very unsafe. In 2011 I had the li battery for my hybrid vehicle replaced. This battery failed in less than a year. I was told by the senior mechanic at the Honda dealership that Honda corporation was aware of this defect. And that Honda knowingly replaced the li batteries last year with known defective batteries as a quick fix to appease customers. There is something seriously wrong with this technology, and I believe that Honda is intentionally not disclosing the true nature of the problem with these hybrid vehicles. I would be interested in knowing if the Honda Civic Hybrids are experiencing a higher than normal accident rate due to engine surging at low speeds and inability to safely merge with highway traffic because of loss of power due to the ima system.

I have owned a 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid since 12/8/08 and have had numerous problems with the battery and the hybrid system. On October 5, 2009, as I was entering an on-ramp in arlington, va, the ima system completely failed and the regular internal combustible engine (ice) revved to over 4500 rpm to provide power on the on-ramp due to there being no ima assistance. Without the hybrid power assist, I was nearly hit by other traffic. At that time, the ima warning light and check engine light illuminated. I brought the vehicle to ourisman and they spent several days getting a new ima battery system ordered and installed, claiming there was a bad cell in the 10-month old ima battery. In Nov and Dec 09, I discovered the car battery dead twice in the garage. On the night of February 13, 2010, the electrical system (battery and hybrid drive) failed on a busy street off of military rd, NW. The car was backing out of a driveway into the road when it completely died. As there was no power for hazard lights, I personally directed traffic around the dead car until I could get a jump. After a battery jump, I tried to charge the battery for a time, but when I put the car into reverse, the car died again and I had to get a second jump. 15 minutes later, I disconnected the cables and drove to ourisman Honda in bethesda, MD. On the way, the vehicle almost died twice but I was able to get the car to ourisman Honda. They replaced the battery, but a week later on February 23, 2010, the car died again and I was barely able to get it to ourisman Honda for service again. After several days, they identified the problem as being with the relay near the hybrid system. The car still acts strangely and they hybrid assist does not work as well as it used to. Acceleration is not normal, the hybrid assist does not come on at normal times, and there are incidents of acceleration and engine revving when I release the gas to brake before a stop sign.