2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Engine Problems

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  20100%
• 25k–50k
  00%
• 50k–75k
  00%
• 75k–100k
  00%
• 100k–150k
  00%
• 150k+
  00%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

Hello, I have received a safety recall notice (23V-858) from Honda back in February and another one in July. I have tried to get them to repair it a few times, but they said they do not have the part yet but should have it sometime in the fall. They are telling me that they are only fixing cars with issues at the moment, which I cannot with 100% certainty say my car has the issue they are talking about. The CSR told me that I would have to pay for diagnostics if they found my car not having the issue in question, which of course I do not want to do. My question is, does Honda not have the duty to fix my car in a timely manner if they have issued a recall for it? I have been waiting for at least 7 months now? That is way too long? Thank you for your attention in this matter [redacted]

Since fuel pump recall fix by dealership, "Emission System Problem" started appearing in my car due to the way fuel pump recall was fixed. They already attempted to fix the issue 5 times but unable to provide permanent fix. Honda corporate office also not willing to help. This is a safety issue as when I drive the car, I smell gas and my car is constantly with dealership without permanent fix.

I will first start with our problems/concerns. We had experienced a complete lost power in freeway speed (65 mph) when the battery is depleted, that is when the battery bar goes to zero bar instead of 2 bars usually. I attached a photo from the video I took for your reference. This experience was the engine ramp up and not getting any power while driving on freeway, escpecially obvious during uphill slope. It is a safety hazard where we had to manuver in order avoid traffic since we could not maintain freeway speed. This originally happened around 2022, but we checked with Norm Reeves Honda Cerritos and they told us nothing is wrong and because there was no fault code, nothing they can do. When the Recall service canoaign 24-031 came, we were relieved because we think the problem is going to be fixed. …

4 times engine went into extreme high rev like being stuck wide open In first gear with sudden loss of speed twice on the freeway. Extremely dangerous. Reported to Honda, they denied everything and maintained that "high revs" is normal as stated In the owners manual. Tis is extreme high revs and sudden loss of speed, it is not normal. 5 or 6 other Clarity owners are complaining about this issue and about Honda ignoring the issue. I requested through arbitration to be reimbursed as I brought my car for repair 4 times (2 different dealers) and for a multitude of electronic issues related to hv. Honda denied everything and found excuses for every single issue. I was denied reimbursement and now I am still stuck with the same problems that continue every day! I have detailed notes, dates, videos, photos, testimonies of other owners that I would be happy to share. …

The Clarity PHEV is incompatible with public charging stations (e.g. Chargepoint) that feature dual charging ports and an energy management controller (emc). The vehicle's onboard charger will shut off when it senses the charging station's emc is activated when both ports are engaged for simultaneous charging. Multiple failed attempts to restart charging will result In a "total system failure" warning from the instrument panel causing the vehicle to not start and drive. Owners could be stuck In a parking stall for up to 4 hours to allow the system to self-heal/recover from the total system failure before being able to start and drive the car. Issue has been diagnosed by Honda dealership, but no information from Honda or the dealership on a future software update to resolve the problem. …

While driving on the interstate through the mountains, the car was able to keep up with traffic at the bottom of the mountain. However, as I approached the summit, no matter how far down I pushed the accelerator pedal, the car would not increase speed. With the pedal completely floored (past the Hybrid system click point) the car would still not pickup speed, nor did it sound like the engine was even trying to rev higher. As I kept approaching the summit with the pedal floored, the car started to slowly lose speed. As a result, I was not able to keep with traffic and had to move to the far right lane. During this experience, the car was operating In Hybrid mode with about 10% battery charge saved. My previous PHEV never experienced this type of behavior even though it had less system horsepower and torque. To experience this was disappointing. …

I have advised the dealership that I only had about 3 hours of highway miles on my ice but at 6000 miles the car alerted me to bring In my car for service. I want to take care of my car but the mintainance cost and needlesly changing the engine oil and fiter steers me away from trusting the maintanance suggested to us by Honda. Everyone knows dealers make more profit from maintanance that from sales. If Clarity customers (and all Hybrid cars that use a combination of electric propulsion and internal cumbustion) are needlessly paying dealerships for maintainance I see a form of customer deciept. I wouldnt be surprised if Honda would show me a document proving to dealerships that the sale of this car will make maintainance faster, cheaper, and require less mechanically skilled labor to service - thus allowing the dealership to make the necessary changes to their sevice centers.

Car revs up when driving down the highway but drops speed to 10mph. It has done this 2 times once In town and once on us 23 while driving 70mph. Their are several complaints about the car doing the same thing to other Clarity owners and this is a highly dangerous situation that Honda should take care of! Reineke Honda In findlay ohio had my car for about 3 weeks and while test driving it the car did the same thing for the service manager mike stevens. They took a control box off a brand new Clarity per Honda's suggestion and I am driving the car and had no new problems so far. They were not sure this would fix the issue but so far it hasn't happened again. This is a dangerous failure In the car and I am lucky I wasn't driving In columbus, ohio the 2nd time the car did it or I would have been rear ended! Honda needs to make sure this problem is fixed!!!

I am submitting my onlycomplaint about my new Honda Clarity. This is a known issue by Honda that is all over the internet yet it appears Honda is ignoring the issue. The Clarity looses power when it converts from battery to engine power upon low battery status. This is drastically noticed if the vehicle is traveling at a high speed such as the 75 MPH speed limit of our interstates In nebraska or if the vehicle is under hard acceleration such as when I was entering the interstate from the on ramp. Instead of merging into 75 MPH traffic I became an accident waiting to happen as the car would not accelerate beyond about 40-50 MPH for approximately 1 mile. My dealer said Honda is denying that this is a problem even though there are many similar complaints on the internet. Someone is going to get In a bad accident due to this major manufacturer defect.

While I was checking the engine oil level, I smelled a strong gasoline odor. Since this particular engine has a known oil dilution problem I had oil analysis done and the results came back indicating that there is a significant level of fuel In the oil which can damage the internal components of the engine and eventually result In an engine failure. I called Honda corporate office to register the issue and on feb 24th, I had my oil sampled. I received the results on March 3rd and immediately called Honda the same day to share the analysis. I have not received any recourse as of yet and pending a response.

Engine complaints in other Clarity Plug-In Hybrid years