My car ran perfectly. No problems at all. The I got rear ended by a jeep. I drove the car for 2 weeks after the accident without any trouble. My car was at the body shop for 3.5 weeks. It looked great, but when I drove away, it hesitated severely. It happened 3 more times before I drove 5 miles. Then the check IMA system light came on. I drove to a Honda dealer where I discovered chewed up wires under the hood. The wires lead to the break reservoir and shouldn’t affect the performance of the car. The honda service department looked at the codes and said it needed 7updates to the IMA computer and it had absolutely nothing to do with being rear ended or the body work or the chewed wires. Well the hesitation problem was not fixed. Any ideas about what else it could be?
Take the Insight to a good independent mechanic and stay away from dealerships. When wires are chewed in one area…you can just about guarantee that they have been chewed in other areas. In addition…I would highly suspect problems with the fuel pump after the vehicle was rear-ended. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that the dealership never checked out the fuel tank after the collision.
Actually, since it is a hybrid, an independent mechanic may not be able to fix the problem. It should still be under warranty, so you may need to keep pushing the dealer until they find the problem.
Has the dealer driven the car and experienced the hesitation? Is the IMA light out now? Is the CHRG/ASST indicaror behaving normally? A test drive with an OBDII scanner attached might catch it in the act. It certainly seems to be connected to the “fix” rather than the crash. (I’m assuming by “hesitation” you mean you’re pushing on the gas and not accelerating.)
I suspect some connector or another hasn’t been replaced, or switched with the wrong connector. I expect it won’t be anything serious, but you’ll probably need an “Insight” expert to debug this for you. And it may take some time to find out what the problem is, so be prepared to secure (i.e. rent) another car in the meantime.
Thanks for the ideas. I agree something happened when the car got “fixed”. I stressed this to the Honda serviceman. The IMA light is off but it is not driving properly. I left the car at the dealership so they can continue to investigate the problem. I will update when I get the car back next week!
It is no longer under warranty. Honda has a very short warranty: 26,000 miles
“Honda has a very short warranty: 26,000 miles”
My 2010 Insight has this:
Honda Limited Warranty Information
3-Year/36,000-Mile New-Vehicle Limited Warranty.
5-Year/60,000-Mile Powertrain Limited Warranty: Ordinary maintenance or adjustments, parts subject to normal wear and replacement, and certain items are excluded.
Accessory Limited Warranty: All Honda Genuine Accessories are covered for 3 years or 36,000 miles when installed at the time of new-vehicle purchase.
Replacement Parts Limited Warranty: Honda Genuine Parts are covered for 1 year. The warranty coverage for replacement parts purchased from and installed by a Honda dealer includes parts replacement and labor.
Remanufactured Parts Limited Warranty: Every Honda Genuine Remanufactured Part is backed nationwide for 3 years or 36,000 miles.
5-Year/Unlimited-Miles Corrosion Limited Warranty.
Battery-pack limited warranty may vary.
15-year/150,000-mile emissions warranty when the vehicle is registered and normally operated in California and certain states that have adopted California Zero-Emission Vehicle regulations.
Please see your Honda dealer for details.
A hybrid car with a short warranty? O_o aauck!
The dealership says it is a damaged CPU, which apparently cools the battery. Hopefully the insurance company will cover the cost of repairs and a rental for my toad trip! The part takes a week to get in.
Ha! that is a road trip : )
I thought you might be a zoologist. (You do know you can edit your posts by clicking on the gear that appears when you hover over your post, then click “Edit.”)