Well, they died. So my dealer tells me. Bad news is Honda says that the batteries are not part of the power train therfore, no coverage. I specifically asked this question when I bought the car. I was assured that the IMA system was covered for 100K. I am now told that the IMA system is covered for 80K. Well my car has 84418 on it. Honda may extend some "goodwill" to me. I am waiting for a call back. I sure hope they do. if not $2754 for the parts and $350 for the labor. Anyone else have this problem?
Batteries
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So wait, did you buy the extended warranty then? If it was a Honda care warranty they do specifically cover the battery pack. Always get these things in writing when buying an extended warrranty. Unfortunately your 4,418 miles out of Honda's 8 year 80K mile warranty on the IMA system.
So I guess this is the first time this has really came up outside of warranty. I think one reason why the battery replacment is so expensive is mainly because they not only replace the battery pack and it's surrounding box, but also the BCM and MCM as one piece (correct me if I'm wrong there). My theory on it this whole time has been that the pack could be rebuilt for much cheaper if one could acquire just the sticks of 6 cells and then cut and do whatever is necessary to put the voltage and temperature sensors in the pack. It would probably take a good bit of time, but it could potnetially save a thousand bucks or two. Now, anyone know if Panasonic will sell the individual cells?
Ohh, and where do you live? Perhaps a fellow owner can offer some assistance.
So I guess this is the first time this has really came up outside of warranty. I think one reason why the battery replacment is so expensive is mainly because they not only replace the battery pack and it's surrounding box, but also the BCM and MCM as one piece (correct me if I'm wrong there). My theory on it this whole time has been that the pack could be rebuilt for much cheaper if one could acquire just the sticks of 6 cells and then cut and do whatever is necessary to put the voltage and temperature sensors in the pack. It would probably take a good bit of time, but it could potnetially save a thousand bucks or two. Now, anyone know if Panasonic will sell the individual cells?
Ohh, and where do you live? Perhaps a fellow owner can offer some assistance.
Sorry to hear about that, Sucitivel!
The battery cells alone are worth about $2k. Add to that the packaging for the battery pack, plus cable harnesses, and you easily exceeded the price you are paying. The also replaced BCM and MCM as Rick points out, come free (but then, you wouldn't really need them...)
But what I'm curious about is the history: What happened before the IMA light came on? Did you have a lot of recals? Any other problems? Did it just die out of the blue?
What are your driving conditions? Where are you located? City/highway? hills? ...
It would be great if you could give us a detailed report so we can see what we have to expect!
Thanks!
As much as I feel your pain being hit with this bill, I think considering what you get for it it's not that outrageous! Unfortunately, the standard warranty only covers you to 80k. Really bad timing!Sucitivel said:
The battery cells alone are worth about $2k. Add to that the packaging for the battery pack, plus cable harnesses, and you easily exceeded the price you are paying. The also replaced BCM and MCM as Rick points out, come free (but then, you wouldn't really need them...)
But what I'm curious about is the history: What happened before the IMA light came on? Did you have a lot of recals? Any other problems? Did it just die out of the blue?
What are your driving conditions? Where are you located? City/highway? hills? ...
It would be great if you could give us a detailed report so we can see what we have to expect!
Thanks!
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Sorry to read about this. Here's a reference to the Honda factory warranty on the IMA. It's 8 years, 80,000 miles.
http://www.insightcentral.net/KB/faq-pu ... l#Warranty
http://www.insightcentral.net/KB/faq-pu ... l#Warranty
Here's the information I got from the Insurance company:
"M&M Service in Quinque, VA, on 33 between Ruckersville & Stanardsville has the car."
I have not gone there to find the car yet and have no idea how much they'd charge for the batteries. I also don't know what effect on the batteries there would be for it not being charged or discharged since last February/March. They worked flawlessly up to that point, and the accident was not nearly serious enough to damage the batteries. Neither the smack to the driver's side front wheel and door, nor the shredding the passenger side got by the Jaws of Life should have harmed the battery.
You are welcome to look them up. Good luck.
"M&M Service in Quinque, VA, on 33 between Ruckersville & Stanardsville has the car."
I have not gone there to find the car yet and have no idea how much they'd charge for the batteries. I also don't know what effect on the batteries there would be for it not being charged or discharged since last February/March. They worked flawlessly up to that point, and the accident was not nearly serious enough to damage the batteries. Neither the smack to the driver's side front wheel and door, nor the shredding the passenger side got by the Jaws of Life should have harmed the battery.
You are welcome to look them up. Good luck.
Might be worth looking into getting an extended warrantee. You can get up to 7yrs/100,000 mile coverage at http://hondawarranty.com [url edited by moderator], and it covers the IMA. You have to have less than 42,000 miles on the car, and it has to be no more than 42 months old. Cost is around$900 to $1,000. I'd like to wait and see if any more batteries die in the near future before I get the coverage, but I'm quickly closing in on 42,000 miles, so I have to decide now.
Just an idea for those with more electrical/mechanical ability than money: If the battery pack dies, it's probably from just a few cells going bad, not every cell all at once, right? And the individual D cells in the pack are a standard item that you can get for a few dollars per. So if someone can figure out an easy way to tell which individual cells are bad, just replace those, and so battery replacement becomes an ongoing minor expense rather than a several thousand dollar hit.
Easier said than done. First off they are not standard batteries. Each one had a threaded screw terminal on the end and the rows of them screw in to eachother, it's not an easy solder tab project. The other thing is the panasonics are made to move almost 100 amps, try doing that from a nimh you buy at radio shack. You'd be extremely lucky to get more than 10 amps out of a off the shelf rechargable battery like that, probably less.
The other problem is in cars that would say have in the upwards of 100,000 miles plus the batteries by that time are going to be starting to get weak anyways. So say you have a depleted capacity of about 4 ah instead of the 6.5 ah of a new panasonic nimh. So you replace a cell you can say is dieing the pack is still only as good as the weakest battery. And so at this point those new batteries are being held at a different soc as the rest of the old parts of the pack which will shorten the life of those batteries by either over or under charging them.
Also on a side note, I did email panasonic and inquire if the batteries could be individually purchased. They told me to contact the vehicle manufacturer. I wish I knew someone who was a distributer or something for panasonic.
As far as the extended warranty, I'm buying it personally. The only thing I noticed that wasn't specifically spelled out from hondawarranty.com was that they didn't say the DC/DC converter is covered. Not a likely part to break, yet one that lists for around $1500. If you buy the warranty I would specifically request to get it in writing that the DC/DC is covered.
The other problem is in cars that would say have in the upwards of 100,000 miles plus the batteries by that time are going to be starting to get weak anyways. So say you have a depleted capacity of about 4 ah instead of the 6.5 ah of a new panasonic nimh. So you replace a cell you can say is dieing the pack is still only as good as the weakest battery. And so at this point those new batteries are being held at a different soc as the rest of the old parts of the pack which will shorten the life of those batteries by either over or under charging them.
Also on a side note, I did email panasonic and inquire if the batteries could be individually purchased. They told me to contact the vehicle manufacturer. I wish I knew someone who was a distributer or something for panasonic.
As far as the extended warranty, I'm buying it personally. The only thing I noticed that wasn't specifically spelled out from hondawarranty.com was that they didn't say the DC/DC converter is covered. Not a likely part to break, yet one that lists for around $1500. If you buy the warranty I would specifically request to get it in writing that the DC/DC is covered.
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I think he was pretty clear; he had 84k miles on his car, which exceeded the 80k mile factory warranty on the IMA for the Honda Insight.
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