NHTSA Complaint #11475483 — 2006 HONDA CIVIC

Car lost power while trying to make a left turn across traffic. IMA battery charge dropped and no assist was delivered. Oncoming car was able to stop in time, but barely. This has now happened on a number of occasions. Car lost power while climbing a hill in a residential neighborhood (15 MPH) and barely made it to the top. Car lost power while climbing a short steep driveway and could not ascend; had to roll backwards and "force charge" the IMA battery in low gear for 10 minutes, after which I was able to climb the driveway easily. Decided to replace the IMA battery due to obvious malfunction although no codes were being thrown. Problem improved significantly but once again experienced lack of power on steep, low-speed hills and in our driveway. Battery software seems schizophrenic, deciding to charge itself rather than assist when power is needed, such as hills or merging into or across traffic, even when there seems to be ample battery reserve (for example, after swapping out the IMA battery it refused to provide assist on the hill with approximately 40% remaining -- 4 bars -- but will gladly provide assist at 50% + battery charge. Sometimes battery does not charge while braking downhill even though charge is needed. Unpredictable. The sudden loss of power whenever the IMA Assist decides that it *isn't* going to help is extremely dangerous. Honda is aware of this problem but has not offered any solutions outside of 150k / 15 year warranty on the IMA battery, which has lapsed on our 2006. Reluctant to let my young adult daughter drive this car as loss of power while merging or crossing lanes of traffic could result in a serious accident.