2006 Honda Civic Hybrid Engine cooling Problems

“I would very much like to share my concerns over the safety of the 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid that we purchased new from a dealer. The car performed well for a few years, until Honda decided to tell me to go to the dealer and upgrade the software controlling the hybrid motor-battery system. Immediately following the software update, the car was utterly devoid of power, and dangerous to drive when merging on the freeway, even when driving alone without other weight in the car. …”

“Bought this car new. I won't even go into the ridiculous 49/51 mpg window sticker that is a blatant lie but that does play into my complaint as you will see. Honda, after receiving complaints about the battery pack and having problems with it, has this brainstorm to reflash or reprogram the computer/battery pack as part of a recall this past year. This was done at my last oil change. Prior to that time my sole complaint with my car was that the mpg averaged about 35mpg period. …”

“While driving at about 20 MPH, the transmission disengaged from the engine. When accelerator was pressed, the engine would freely rev to the redline but there was no movement of the car. The car was going up a hill when this happened. The car was rolled backward, almost into traffic at a busy intersection. Car had to be towed to the dealer. At the dealer big island Honda, they did not experience the malfunction and could not solve the problem. We drove the car home. The next day we drove it again and the problem flared up again. …”

“After my 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid received an integrated motor assist (ima) software upgrade in 2010, if the car is parked for one day (such as a sunday, if I do not drive the car) the ima battery will drain within one half mile of leaving my home the next day, on a level roadway, even if the ventilation system and radio are off to reduce electrical load. Fuel economy also dropped about 10 mpg after the software upgrade. Without ima, the car has slow freeway acceleration, especially when traveling uphill. …”

“Honda did a recall on the software, supposedly to save the hybrid batteries for early failure. After the change the car experienced les miles per gallon gas efficiency, and worse, the car's acceleration was drastically reduced. Now when I try to enter a freeway I feel I am taking my life in my own hand. It is difficult to get up to speed quickly enough to match traffic. Also when I try to cross traffic lanes from a stop sign or light I am fearful the car will accelerate quickly enough to get across. I'd like to go back to the original software, I felt it was safer!”