It would be very interesting to know what percentage of Clarity owners are experiencing AC problems. That's not to say they shouldn't fix it. Even if it's just one person, they should fix it. I'd just like to know the numbers. These reports of AC problems are very disturbing. The AC is only slightly less important to me than the brakes.
Clarity A/C problem (and warranty extension on pg 10)
- Thread starter Benoit Paquette
- Start date
- Replies 393
- Views 155K
Valente
Active Member
Sounds like everyone is eventually. My first break down was at 38,000 mi then again at 47,000 mi.
Both of those break-downs were air conditioning? Both the compressor? That's interesting. I imagine they're selling a lot more of these cars in other countries. I wonder if the original parts are the problem and when you get it replaced they are still using problematic parts. I'm glad I got that extended warranty, but I hope I won't experience these problems. I'd be writing to Honda, too. If mine goes out in the first year, I will try to pursue my Lemon Law remedies. But it sounds like I'm not likely to have problems that quickly.
Valente
Active Member
Yep - both times the AC. The first time they said the refrigerant needed replacing = $300. The 2nd time they said it was evaporator core....paid for under the extended warranty I purchased. I suppose the next time will be compressor.
Oh, okay, but the first one was the dealer's fault. It sounds like it was just the same underlying failure incident both times. The dealer just didn't do the work necessary to find the problem the first time, which is aggravating, but at least it's not an indication that the new parts fail that quickly. I'd like to think you'll get another 43K out of this one.
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I agree. I would be interested in knowing whether these are only 2018's or if there are 2019's with AC problems.
craze1cars
Well-Known Member
Well, just going back to the beginning of this post, I see 9 individuals reporting AC problems. At quick glance it’s mostly condensers being replaced to fix leaks, and one Evaporator.
Certainly not ideal, but given the fact that this is a Clarity specific forum? Not terrible. Hard to call the problems widespread. These cars aren’t new anymore. Warranties are starting to expire, and things are gonna start to break. Those who have something break are far more likely to come here and post about it than those who have icy cold and trouble free AC...
Certainly not ideal, but given the fact that this is a Clarity specific forum? Not terrible. Hard to call the problems widespread. These cars aren’t new anymore. Warranties are starting to expire, and things are gonna start to break. Those who have something break are far more likely to come here and post about it than those who have icy cold and trouble free AC...
I believe that Clarity PHEVs are sold only in the US, Canada, and Japan. The Japanese version is more expensive (so probably not a big seller), but includes a DCFC charging port, which accounts for some of the extra cost.
Chris McGee
New Member
UPDATE: Excited to say that Honda Corp came through and covered 70% of the cost! After 48 hrs my car was repaired, I'm very impressed with the service received. The service writers stated it looked like a rock hit it which I've read others have had that issue too. Will continue to look at new Accords in the near future after all.
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
Glad to hear that you got a satisfactory result in the end, and not all dealers are crooks.
No need at this point, but in general, when a claim is made of physical damage like this, I would always insist on seeing the damage first-hand. They should provide the old part to you as evidence. Damage from a rock would generally not be covered by the warranty (although your insurance may provide some help).
Great! I'm glad to hear it. Now you'll have a brand new one, so the 30% you'll pay isn't a waste.
Yes. Email [email protected]. Website = https://voltshelf.weebly.com/new-honda-clarityscreen-claritymat-and-clarityport.html. The thread is https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/high-temperature.8228/#post-92645 Post #7 & 11. #11 shows a picture of the screen. Several of us got the screen. It is really well done and easy to attach. I also got the Clarity Port to cover the charge port when it is snowing.
Arctiic
Member
So I had a bit of a scare yesterday, and lo and behold, it seems I'm not alone with the A/C issue? I'm not sure if there's any commonality between what everyone has experienced (I'll take the time to comb through this thread more thoroughly before EOD), but here's what I've experienced:
Yesterday at around 08:00AM PST (in California), I'm waiting in my car with a few hours to kill and decided to take a nap. At around 10:00AM, I wake up completely drenched and nearly suffocating due to the heat. I'm nearly incoherent, and thought it was simply that hot outside...until I crack the window open, and immediately feel a (comparatively) cool draft come in. Confused, I double check and my A/C is certainly set to the coolest temperature setting (display shows Lo) and I'm not in Auto mode (fans are maxed, air is set to circulate and A/C is On via Climate screen). I look at the dash and I notice the temperature reading seems to be inaccurate; going through the system settings, I use the available option to offset the temperature reading by the maximum allowed value (+5°F), and immediately the A/C kicks on and cools the car down. However, the effect seems to be only temporary and eventually I have to switch to Fresh Air Mode just to bring in cool air to the cabin from outside. Shortly after that, I believe in one of my attempts to find out the root cause of the issue via the diagnostics menu or after I had rebooted the head unit, one of the sensors must have reset and immediately tripped the temperature protection feature to shutoff the cameras and etc due to excessive heat. And now, at present, the sensor readout seems to be hit-or-miss; I can't tell for certain but my speculation is that there's maybe a system process that — not immediately, but eventually — throws an error, causing related threads to hang (such as I/O stream for the sensor in question), which could explain the intermittency experienced. And as there was recently at least one OTA update that I happened to notice, my guess is this may be a software issue rather than hardware.
Just in case though, I make an attempt to locate the exact sensor in question, which if I'm not mistaken should be this part. I found a diagram on Google...
...but I'm not sure if this is located in the engine bay or cabin interior (under dash cover)?
Wanted to see if anyone else has experienced anything similar and what the resolution method was, etc. I'll read through the thread when I'm able to, but I just wanted to post my experience up first in case it helps with narrowing down the cause.
PS: I didn't see anything out of the norm in diagnostics menu, except I did notice yesterday there was an error that isn't usually there, but going back today to take a picture it no longer shows any error present...
...It was the entry listed as "ST_SW_PAD", which according to the Diagnostics Manual:
Yesterday at around 08:00AM PST (in California), I'm waiting in my car with a few hours to kill and decided to take a nap. At around 10:00AM, I wake up completely drenched and nearly suffocating due to the heat. I'm nearly incoherent, and thought it was simply that hot outside...until I crack the window open, and immediately feel a (comparatively) cool draft come in. Confused, I double check and my A/C is certainly set to the coolest temperature setting (display shows Lo) and I'm not in Auto mode (fans are maxed, air is set to circulate and A/C is On via Climate screen). I look at the dash and I notice the temperature reading seems to be inaccurate; going through the system settings, I use the available option to offset the temperature reading by the maximum allowed value (+5°F), and immediately the A/C kicks on and cools the car down. However, the effect seems to be only temporary and eventually I have to switch to Fresh Air Mode just to bring in cool air to the cabin from outside. Shortly after that, I believe in one of my attempts to find out the root cause of the issue via the diagnostics menu or after I had rebooted the head unit, one of the sensors must have reset and immediately tripped the temperature protection feature to shutoff the cameras and etc due to excessive heat. And now, at present, the sensor readout seems to be hit-or-miss; I can't tell for certain but my speculation is that there's maybe a system process that — not immediately, but eventually — throws an error, causing related threads to hang (such as I/O stream for the sensor in question), which could explain the intermittency experienced. And as there was recently at least one OTA update that I happened to notice, my guess is this may be a software issue rather than hardware.
Just in case though, I make an attempt to locate the exact sensor in question, which if I'm not mistaken should be this part. I found a diagram on Google...
...but I'm not sure if this is located in the engine bay or cabin interior (under dash cover)?
Wanted to see if anyone else has experienced anything similar and what the resolution method was, etc. I'll read through the thread when I'm able to, but I just wanted to post my experience up first in case it helps with narrowing down the cause.
PS: I didn't see anything out of the norm in diagnostics menu, except I did notice yesterday there was an error that isn't usually there, but going back today to take a picture it no longer shows any error present...
...It was the entry listed as "ST_SW_PAD", which according to the Diagnostics Manual:
. Doesn't sound like it pertains to the issue here, but nothing else stood out aside from that.
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
A slight departure from your main issue, but I have never seen any evidence that Honda is capable, or has ever executed an OTA update. Has anyone else here ever seen what may have been an OTA update?
Arctiic
Member
There's no question the units are capable of them, I believe if your vehicle comes equipped with a TCU then it should have OTA update capabilities (example 2018 Accord). The part that I do question is whether or not there are any forced silent (background) updates / hotfixes that get applied without any notification or prompt, which I believe there's been at least one since I initially purchased my vehicle (my suspicions are due to a sudden change in the diagnostics menu, which led to the loss of the USB host-/device-type management screen).
EDIT: I just realized there may be some vernacular relativity, I am specifically referring to the HMI unit firmware and/or Android environment. It's also possible that I may have done something to trip Watchdog / whitelist protection, or unwittingly broken it myself (I have tweaked the kernel here and there, but mostly for the bt and media modules).
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Found the AC in my 2018 Clarity didn't work when I turned it on this week for the first time this season. Was really disappointed! I had VW 's in the past with no AC problems, 14 years in one particular TDI. I think Honda should be taking action to provide fix. I'm just beyond warranty now, so I'm going to need Honda to step up and cover repair. Civics have been getting extended coverage for AC failures. Similar defective AC condensers may have been used on our Claritys.
Valente
Active Member
UGH. Sounds like just about everyone on this forum has had or will have AC failures. My first failure was at 38,000 mi.... just over the warranty. Second failure was at 48,000 mi. Good luck trying to get Honda to cover the repair. I called Honda Corp in Torrance, CA (800) 999-1009 and they brushed me off. Fortunately, I purchased a crappy 3rd party non-Honda warranty and they will pay for the 2nd failure. I had to pay $300 for the first failure. (refrigerant) which lasted a few months.
How can you be out of warranty? Even a 2018 isn't three years old yet.
I wondered the same thing until I remembered there's a warranty mileage limit, too.
Valente
Active Member
Refrigerant is only covered up to 24,000 mi. Full warranty expires at 36,000 mi or 3 years.