Rick, thanks for posting the Honda notice to its dealers. I just received my notice today.
Their words on what the problem is:
The Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system in your vehicle assists the gasoline engine for better acceleration. Over time, excessive overcharging cycles of the battery that powers the IMA system can cause early deterioration. These cycles are typically created by operation of the vehicle in unique topographical and local conditions where the IMA battery typically remains fully charged.
Sounds as though they're introducing an even more conservative charging regimen for the NiMh batteries. Perhaps this explains why, for the brief time I've driven my (wife's) brand-new Insight, the IMA battery seems to recharge slower when compared to my 2002 Insight - this is all subjective, as I'm now used to MIMA giving me the ability for really fast regens.
Does this make a case for keeping the IMA battery slightly below full-charge and thus provide a buffer zone to preclude overcharging which is what Honda's worried about? Sure wish we could have a Honda IMA design engineer contribute to this Forum.
In any event, wonderful news about the IMA battery warranty extension. Thank you, Honda.
Now, before taking them up on their offer, I need to properly re-dress and tape up the MIMA wiring and take the labels off the switches and do something with the joystick ...
JoeS.
