[jimbeemer]

Well, my 2003 Insight is about 8 months old (12K miles) and I had to have it towed in the other day. It was slow to start and then the "warning" signs started to show up -- first battery light, then slow windows, then the ABS turned off, then electric power steering cut off, then dash lights dimmed totally. I managed to get it off the road before it shut down completely. AAA showed up quickly and towed it to the local Honda dealer. Their diagnosis was a bad 12V battery (bad cell?). Unfortunately, none in stock or nearby. Honda is shipping one from California (I'm in Georgia). After 4 days now there is no sign of one. Who knows when it will get here. They would not put a Civic battery in the Insight -- it had to be replaced under warranty with an Insight factory one. The good news is that the dealer gave me a free rental car until it is all taken care of. So far it is a good experience to see how Honda is handling it.

 

[Rick Reece]

Now thats strange. You can't order the OEM battery but they will get one if it dies under warranty. Seams like common sense would have dictated putting a Civic battery in as a loaner until the OEM battery arrives. WOuld have to be cheaper than a rental. Have fun, RIck

 

[figgy]

Sounds like Honda guys are as crazy as some of us drivers :roll:

 

[figgy]

Seriously, could that mean that Honda would say you voided your warranty coverage if you replaced the Insight battery with a Civic battery? That would stink.

 

[Rick]

No they can't void your warranty unless they can prove that a modification you made caused the damage to occur. And especially considering the replacment battery they sell you is a civic battery and not the original type there would be no grounds for the civic battery voiding a warranty.

Now I'd be real curious to see if you actually do get a new Furukawa battery.

 

[jimbeemer]

I'll let you know how this plays out. So far the dealer is treating me well -- and I did not even buy the Insight from that dealer and have never serviced any of my other Hondas there either. I miss driving my Insight and I'm getting tired of putting so much gas in the rental. :wink:

 

[jimbeemer]

OK, I picked up my Insight from the dealer yesterday. Apparently, it was the 12V battery that had a bad cell. They found a new factory battery (in California) and shipped it cross-country by ground. Honda covered the repair and the $375 loaner car rental under warranty. It's running great now. 8)

 

[Jim]

Hmmm. Not too bright? :roll: They could have slapped a Civic battery in for probably less than the cost of the Insight battery plus transportation, and for sure a lot less than the cost of the rental car....

Kinda makes you wonder.

By the way, do you ride a Beemer? Or drive a Beemer?

 

[meow77]

What do you mean you can't order the OEM battery is that to say that when our current 12V battery dies that we can't replace it with an original you have to replace it with something esle? That makes no sense at all!

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Read the thread more carefully Meow.

When Honda is _paying_ under the terms of their warranty they choose to only replace with the exact type. And under the terms of the warranty they provide a rental car until its fixed.

From the bean counter perspective its is expensive. But it shows Hondas commitment to quality. Instead of "slopping" the next best fit battery.

For less than the difference of the additional expense I'd personally like to see them provide a Hawker as a replacement instead.

HTH!

 

[Aaron Cake]

There's also no point to replacing the battery with the stock unit. There are MUCH better, cheaper and lighter batteries available. The Insight does far better with a deep cycle sealed AGM battery then the stock flooded battery based on the charging characteristics of the DC-DC converter.

 

[jimbeemer]

Well, Honda replaced the bad 12V battery at no cost to me and it has been running great since. Honda really does stand behind their products -- my experience with the 17 Hondas I've had has been that the Honda car dealers are much better overall than the Honda motorcycle dealers. I'll keep buying them. 8)

 

[Rick]

So it just randomly hit me the other day why they would have a single Insight OEM Furukawa battery in California.... They have FCX's operating there.

12 volt looks familiar doesn't it? Now I still wounder if you were supposed to get that battery or not.

 

[LoNOx 1]

There's also no point to replacing the battery with the stock unit. There are MUCH better, cheaper and lighter batteries available. The Insight does far better with a deep cycle sealed AGM battery then the stock flooded battery based on the charging characteristics of the DC-DC converter.

After trying three other batteries, I heeded the advice of John Wayland after I read his post on Yahoo http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/honda-hybrid/message/18183
and ordered a group 51 Optima Yellow Top today.
After daily recals and or resets or both this week, I decided see if this improved anything.

 

[Wayne M]

Which dealer??

jimbeemer! Which dealer was that? Just in case the dealers on the south side of Atlanta are not up to that standard.
At Hank Aaron Honda, close to me, my car is the 3rd Insight they've ever seen. No parts in stock other than the oil and filter. :roll: But so far, they treat me OK.

 

[chrs]

There's also no point to replacing the battery with the stock unit. There are MUCH better, cheaper and lighter batteries available. The Insight does far better with a deep cycle sealed AGM battery then the stock flooded battery based on the charging characteristics of the DC-DC converter.

The stock battery is actually very impressive on Ah/lb. Arguably a sealed AGM battery is a better technology, and perhaps the full Ah capacity of the stock battery is not needed, but as far as I can see, you have to either sacrifice Ah capacity or weight if you go with a non-OEM battery.

For the same Ah rating (27 for 5sp), the Hawker Odyssey batteries are 10 lbs heavier (26 lb). The Hawker Genesis is a little lighter, but is still 7 lbs heavier than the OEM (for the same Ah rating). The Optima group 51 is almost as good as the OEM on Ah/lb, but it's bigger than it needs to be, and thus heavier (26 lbs). The closest I've found on weight and Ah rating is thePowerSonic AGM battery, 18.7 lbs and 26 Ah. Unfortunately, it has the wrong terminal type and isn't rated for CCA.

It may be true that an AGM battery has a high useable capacity for the same rated Ah capacity, since the stock battery probably does not like to be discharged very deeply. And it generally a better, longer life technolgy. But when you look at the specs, the OEM battery is not clearly worse on all specs.

Charlie

 

[jimbeemer]

The dealer that replaced my Insight battery was Gwinnett Place Honda near the Gwinnett Mall. However, I usually use Lanier Honda near the Mall of Georgia. Both dealers have been good in the service department.

Jimbeemer