A software fix for Honda’s Civic hybrid model may reduce the vehicle’s fuel efficiency, the Los Angeles Times reports.
According to the publication, Honda is offering a software upgrade on some its Civic hybrid models to customers in the US and Canada after it discovered that batteries used in the model may not last as long as first expected.
The upgrade is designed to prolong the life of the car’s battery by limiting the role of the electric motor and increasing the use of the gasoline engine. However according to the US newspaper, the software update is leading some owners to claim that it has made their cars less environmentally friendly.
One such hybrid owner Jason Marchesano of Overland Park, Kan told the newspaper that the battery in his 2007 Civic hybrid started losing its ability to hold a charge last year. Rather than replace the battery, which was under warranty, the Japanese carmaker loaded a new software programme into the car’s on-board computer that Jason now says made his car sluggish and cut the vehicle’s miles to the gallon efficiency.
After complaining again several weeks ago, Honda installed a second software update, cutting efficiency further. Today Jason says he gets just 33 miles per gallon, compared with 45 when the car was new.
"I’ve been sitting here scratching my head and asking, why did I get a hybrid?" said Marchesano, a computer consultant whose hybrid’s gas mileage these days not much more than the US fuel efficiency rating for the conventional Civic, at around 30 mpg and costs thousands of dollars less.
Now Marchesano and other hybrid owners fear that Honda is sacrificing their vehicles’ performance in order to avoid the huge cost of replacing thousands of faulty batteries, which are still under eight- or 10-year warranties and cost as much as $3,000 each to replace.
Those worries were heightened in recent weeks when the Japanese carmaker sent letters to more than 100,000 owners of 2006, 2007 and 2008 Civics in the US and Canada warning that their batteries ‘may deteriorate and eventually fail’ earlier than expected. The letter said a software patch would fix the problem.
Honda says the free software update is designed to make the car run better.
"This is certainly not a financial decision," Honda spokesman Chris Martin told the newspaper. "This is not just to prolong the life of the battery, it also helps improve the performance."
It does that, he said, by ensuring that the battery doesn’t crash at crucial times. And, he said, it could preserve the battery beyond the warranty period.
Source: LA Times.
