NHTSA Complaint #10409769 — 2007 HONDA CIVIC

THE VEHICLE'S HYBRID IMA SYSTEM (INTEGRATED MOTOR ASSIST) HAS BEEN STEADILY DETERIORATING SINCE APPROXIMATELY 40000 MILES, BUT BECAME HAZARDOUS AT AROUND 63000. CURRENT MILEAGE IS 78500. THE HYBRID BATTERY SYSTEM MUST RECHARGE SO FREQUENTLY THAT BATTERY ASSIST IS AVAILABLE LESS THAN HALF THE TIME. WHEN ASSIST IS UNAVAILABLE, ACCELERATION IS DANGEROUSLY LOW, MAKING COMMON DRIVING SITUATIONS SUCH AS LEFT TURNS, FREEWAY ONRAMPS, AND MERGING INTO TRAFFIC UNPREDICTABLE AND QUITE HAZARDOUS. HONDA'S ONLY RESPONSE HAS BEEN A SERIES OF INEFFECTIVE SOFTWARE UPDATES. HONDA WILL NOT REPLACE THE BATTERY UNDER WARRANTY UNLESS A WARNING LIGHT APPEARS. YET EVEN THE CURRENT SEVERELY DEGRADED PERFORMANCE OF THE BATTERY DOES NOT TRIGGER THAT WARNING LIGHT. I HAVE BEEN IN SEVERAL "NEAR MISS" SITUATIONS WHEN ACCELERATION WAS SO SLUGGISH THAT I WAS NEARLY UNABLE TO EVADE A DANGEROUS TRAFFIC SITUATION.