NHTSA Complaint #10331674 — 2007 HONDA CIVIC

MY 2007 HONDA CIVIC HYBRID IMA BATTERY IS DISCHARGING/RECALIBRATING RANDOMLY CAUSING LOSS OF POWER. PRIOR TO THIS DATE I HAD TAKEN IT TO THE DEALERSHIP TO TRY AND FIND A PROBLEM SINCE THIS BEGAN OCCURRING FREQUENTLY AND WAS A NEW ISSUE WITH THE CAR. NO PROBLEMS WERE FOUND. ON THIS DATE, THE IMA BATTERY DISCHARGED WHILE MAKING A LEFT AT AN INTERSECTION, POWER WAS DRAINED, A CAR ALMOST HIT ME BECAUSE MY CAR COULD NOT ACCELERATE FAST ENOUGH TO GET OUT OF THE WAY. GIVEN THAT THIS HAPPENS RANDOMLY THERE IS NO WAY TO PREDICT WHEN A RECALIBRATION/DISCHARGE WILL HAPPEN. IT HAS SINCE BEEN TAKEN BACK TO THE DEALER MULTIPLE TIMES. BECAUSE THERE IS NO ERROR CODE INDICATING THERE IS A PROBLEM THEY ARE REFUSING TO WORK ON IT EVEN THOUGH THE CAR IS STILL 100% UNDER WARRANTY. MANY OTHERS HAVE EXPERIENCED THE SAME ISSUE WITH THE BATTERIES AND THE CAR POWER LOSS. THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET THE IMA BATTERY REPLACED HAVE REPORTED THE CAR BACK TO NORMAL WORKING CONDITIONS. I SHOULD NOTE, THAT WHEN I FIRST GOT MY CAR THE DISCHARGE/RECALIBRATION WOULD HAPPEN ONCE EVERY SEVERAL MONTHS. THIS NUMBER HAS BEEN INCREASING RAPIDLY AND NOW THE VEHICLE DOES THIS AT LEAST FOUR TIMES A WEEK. IN FEBRUARY IT DID IT TWO TIMES A WEEK, AND ABOUT 7 MONTHS AGO IT STARTED DOING IT ONCE A WEEK. THE MORE THIS OCCURS THE MORE I AM AT RISK FOR AN ACCIDENT. THE CAR SIMPLY DOES NOT HAVE POWER TO GET OUT OF THE WAY AND BECAUSE IT IS SUCH A DRASTIC CHANGE FROM NORMAL OPERATING CONDITIONS THE DRIVER CANNOT COMPENSATE. HONDA IS REFUSING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THERE IS AN ISSUE AND HAS BEEN COMPLETELY UNRESPONSIVE TO MY CONCERNS. *TR