Loss of power nhsta

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Dataminn

New Member
I am enjoying the Clarity forum, as it has been very helpful to me as I seriously consider purchasing the car. I also appreciate all the “early adopters” who have made my path a little easier. I have concluded that there is only one concern still on my mind as I prepare for the purchase and that regards reports of sudden loss of power on the highway, as reported in a few cases on the nhsta site. Is there anything current on this matter?
 
Not that I know of. The overwhelming majority of us are NOT having this problem. All I do is make sure I’ve got a good amount of charge before starting a trip in HV and I’ve gone up some steep hills with no loss of power and no high reving.
I highly recommend the Clarity. In 13 months and 8,500 miles it’s been bullet proof as to reliability for me.
Just make sure you get all the updates installed before you take it home. Don’t let your dealer say that they are already installed. Make him search by VIN # and check to be sure. Also check that the tire pressure has been adjusted to 36 psi cold from the very high shipping pressure it arrives at the dealer with. And check that the 4 underbody plugs have been installed. These are the two items most often overlooked in dealer prep.
Post back after you take your baby home! Welcome in advance to the club.
 
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As a new Clarity owner since about 10 months and 6,700 miles ago, I can completely agree with @KentuckyKen. I have owned a lot of vehicles since I finished college 35+ years ago, including many very expensive European models, along with a fair assortment of domestic vehicles as well. I can say without hesitation that the Clarity is perhaps the very best car I have owned and driven over that long period by most any measure -- comfort, technology, low cost of ownership, third-party incentives (federal & state), environmental characteristics, reliability, overall quality, etc.

The only thing I regularly complain about is the astoundingly low level of dealership knowledge and support for the model, but auto dealers in general rank about with members of Congress with me -- to be expected and ... tolerated. All of that said, a total power loss that a handful of people report would indeed be a big deal. But, nothing like that has happened to me or as far as I can tell with the vast majority of Clarity drivers, so at a minimum I would say the odds are very much in your favor. Nobody has the perfect product on offer, and I suspect that it is likely to be a software bug of some sort that will be soon be discovered by Honda and fixed for everybody.
 
I agree with Kentuck and Texas. I have on a Clarity Touring since Sept 2018. Have over 8000 miles trouble free. The car is an absolute joy to drive. I had one episode of high revs and loss of power. I think the high revs caused me to let up on the accelerator which led to the loss of power. This has not happened again. I would absolutely buy this again tomorrow if the the one I have now was stolen.
 
Add me to the list of Clarity owners with no issues to report. I've owned mine for about a month, taken a 200 mile road trip and never experienced any loss of power. The quiet ride and excellent build quality has impressed me so far.

I have driven mine about 700 miles so far and have only put in 4 gallons of gas!
 
I, too, have very much enjoyed my 5 moths of Clarity life. I live in an area which is all hills all the time. I have not experienced an loss of power yet.

It seems to me that one of the reasons we find the ICE turn-on so jarring is that the car is so quiet. Although it is hard to judge, I don't think that the one time I heard the angry bees sound that it was actually any louder than the sound I used to hear very frequently from my 2012 Prius Plugin.

For me, this car is very luxurious, but after a lifetime of dinky cars, I am somewhat daunted by the large size. I try to park next to gigantic pickups or honking great SUVs so that it doesn't seem so intimidating.
 
Thanks for the comments, folks. I loved the car during the test drive. I think I’m sold.

By the way, we looked at Prius Prime, Kia Nero, and Hyundai Ioniq. The lack of knowledge concerning this type of car was obvious at all the dealers. I seemed to know more about the cars than the sales staff. Perhaps this is due to the amount of research that customers can do on the internet?

Have you noticed that many dealers don’t display these cars in their showrooms? The Honda guy had to travel to a nearby mall to retrieve a Clarity. Their showroom was new and huge, but no Clarity. They even had an Alfa Romeo, which they do not sell, in the showroom. No Niro or Prime In the showrooms. We found it to be very strange.
 
Dataminn said:
I am enjoying the Clarity forum, as it has been very helpful to me as I seriously consider purchasing the car. I also appreciate all the “early adopters who have made my path a little easier. I have concluded that there is only one concern still on my mind as I prepare for the purchase and that regards reports of sudden loss of power on the highway, as reported in a few cases on the nhsta site. Is there anything current on this matter?
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Sounds like you've done a good job of research and due diligence on a purchase. You seem to have winnowed out the chaff and focused on the one thing remaining important to you. It's always difficult to differentiate between complaints that may be important (such as power loss) and complaints based on ignorance or inappropriate expectations (such as not getting exactly 47 miles per charge all the time). I agree with all the above posts. Great car and all the EV miles make me smile everyday. 7000 miles and about 17 gallons of gas for my first year! A top shelf toast to Honda :D
 
I'm wondering if the power loss that a small number of people have posted about could be what I've experienced regularly when getting off the freeway after an extended uphill at freeway speed in HV. After getting off the freeway and accelerating, there's simply very little power - and angry bees swarm. However, there's always plenty of battery available, so switching to HV off immediately kills the loud engine and acceleration returns to normal. It's something that happens every time I'm on that particular route in the Clarity - and the "cure" is always the same. Turn HV off. It's not the same as power simply disappearing - which I believe one poster wrote about some time ago - but it seems pretty close.
 
Sandroad said:
Sounds like you've done a good job of research and due diligence on a purchase. You seem to have winnowed out the chaff and focused on the one thing remaining important to you. It's always difficult to differentiate between complaints that may be important (such as power loss) and complaints based on ignorance or inappropriate expectations (such as not getting exactly 47 miles per charge all the time). I agree with all the above posts. Great car and all the EV miles make me smile everyday. 7000 miles and about 17 gallons of gas for my first year! A top shelf toast to Honda :D
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This may come as a shock to some on this forum, but I just purchased a Clarity :-)

I did a great deal of research, but so far (a few days), the car is great- offering the expected EV range, comfort and decent build. Road/tire noise is more noticeable in the cabin than my last car, but this could be due to the tire model, and will hopefully subside as the tires are broken in. The noise is much more apparent on non-smooth roads.

I am having an issue with Hondalink remote features activation- but hopefully I can get that resolved soon. This is not an issue with the car itself.

As for the NHTSA reports, they are somewhat concerning and actual power loss for the effected cars is probably a defect in those vehicles. However, the Clarity provides HV Mode to allow the driver to maintain battery charge (for example, on highways). And even without any user selected driving mode, the Clarity should be able to deliver consistent electric and non-electric performance, constantly seeking the optimal balance. Also regenerative braking is cool, helping the car recover needed EV miles.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
Congratulations on your new Clarity. Drive it in good health.

My advice on the HondaLink is to wait a week or so to let the dealer/Honda bureaucracy get all your info into "the system". I did that and the registration was seamless. There are plenty of buttons to press and gadgets to play with in the meantime. You can start by downloading charging apps like ChargePoint and PlugShare and Android Auto or CarPlay.
 
bfd said:
I'm wondering if the power loss that a small number of people have posted about could be what I've experienced regularly when getting off the freeway after an extended uphill at freeway speed in HV. After getting off the freeway and accelerating, there's simply very little power - and angry bees swarm. However, there's always plenty of battery available, so switching to HV off immediately kills the loud engine and acceleration returns to normal. It's something that happens every time I'm on that particular route in the Clarity - and the "cure" is always the same. Turn HV off. It's not the same as power simply disappearing - which I believe one poster wrote about some time ago - but it seems pretty close.
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Does you car loose significant EV miles while on the uphill highway in HV mode?
 
vin seeram said:
Does you car loose significant EV miles while on the uphill highway in HV mode?
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I don't know if I'd say it's significant, but maybe. If I leave home with say 50 estimated EV miles, by the time I get off the freeway (having traveled about 25 miles in HV On all the way) it will read around 28-30 EV miles left - and the gauge itself will be at about 50%. So it's clear that while the car is using gas, it's also using electricity at a relatively high rate - which makes sense because the entire trip is all uphill from about 600ft to 3800ft. It's the power dropoff after getting off the freeway and transitioning to another highway that's always seemed strange. But as I mentioned, I discovered that manually taking the car out of HV mode immediately cuts the whining engine and the acceleration + speed increases immediately.

To me, a sudden loss of power could mean either losing all power as in nothing happens at all when the driver tries to accelerate, but it could also mean what happens in my car when I'm in this one special condition. In both cases, there's a sudden loss of power - relative to what was happening right before the power loss.

I'd rather try to determine if the reports were about a sudden and complete loss of power or just a sudden and partial loss of power
 
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