2006 Honda Civic Hybrid Transmission and drivetrain Problems

“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. …”

“Summary: my 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid received the integrated motor assist (ima) software upgrade in 2010, since then vehicle performance is unreliable. If the car is not used for about 10 hours or more I.e. One day the ima battery will drain in less than a mile of leaving my home the next day, on a level roadway. This leaves me with the gas engine only and driveability in traffic suffers a lot with slow acceleration and poor overtaking capability to the point of being dangerous. …”

“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 performed an ima software update on 12/22/2010. Since that time the availability of electrical assist has been greatly reduced. Even when the battery reads full, I cannot be sure that electrical assist will be available, or, if it is available, how long it will last. Several times it has suddenly failed in the middle of a merge or lane change.”