My 2007 Fit Sport's original battery is being replaced under warranty by Honda because it died today. My car is a little under two years old with less than 11,000 miles on it.

Late December, 2008: For the first time ever, my car did not start. It had not been driven for a week. Temperatures had gotten down to 20F at night.

The car has a Guidepoint vehicle tracking/recovery system and a remote starter installed, both done by the Honda dealer before they gave the car to me.

I had the car jumped and took it to my dealer. They homed in on the Guidepoint and told me it would drain the battery. They tested my battery. It wasn't in perfect condition but it was still good enough to be considered a "good" battery. It tested at about 340 out of 370. I resolved to drive the car at least every other day.

January 8, 2009: I posted in the Fit forums that my car would not start again. This time, it had been idle for only a few days.

I had it jumped again and drove straight to my dealer. Again, they potentially blamed Guidepoint, the cold weather, anything and everything. Again, I sat for an hour while they ran diagnostic tests. These tests showed that my battery was halfway to dead (317 out of 370) but still "good" according to Honda's metrics.

I resolved the drive the car daily!

Today, January 27: The car did not start. It was driven every single day last week and then sat idle for two days over the weekend. Again, the car had to be jumped and driven to the dealer. Again, I had to sit for an hour while they ran ever more complicated tests.

They tested for any stealth current draws. The current draw when my car is "asleep" is only 60 milliamps. This is within the "normal" range according to Honda. Guidepoint is not and has never been the problem. The remote starter is not and has never been the problem.

The battery failed all tests. In just a month, the battery was tested three different times and it steadily got worse each time. This time, it tested somewhere in the 200's out of 370. Finally, I will get a new battery under warranty.

Be warned: batteries have been rationed by Honda. They are having a shortage and thus dealerships can't keep any replacements on hand. They must now be ordered on an as-needed basis using the parts ordering system. This means that I need to keep driving my car with a crappy battery in it until they call me to tell me my battery has arrived at the dealership.

Then I can, no doubt, look forward to sitting at the dealership for an hour. Again. Sigh.

 

How warm did it get on those days? I know there was another thread somewhere talking about condensation as a main factor in poor battery life.

Why are the batteries being rationed by Honda?

 

Mine was replaced at 28000 miles. I had the same problem, i would drive it everyday then a couple days i didnt drive it and it drained. Then after that, it wouldn't hold a charge and needed to be charged everyday. Got it replaced under warranty. They had one in stock tho and replaced it on the spot.

 

Over the weekend when my battery died, it was getting down as low as 12F and about as high as 39F.

I'd be interested to know anything you read regarding environmental conditions that affect battery life! I know heat can kill a battery and cold makes a battery less effective for starting an engine, but aside from that I know very little.

Honda apparently is running low on Fit batteries in stock. They're expecting a fresh delivery from their supplier in early February. Until then, they're preventing US dealers from ordering batteries in bulk to have on hand. They must be ordered one by one for necessary vehicle repairs. (The guy at the dealership showed me a memo from Honda they had received so he could better explain why they couldn't replace my battery right then.)

 

After all your troubles on a car with only 11k miles, I would push for them to comp the battery under warranty or otherwise. You should get at least 5-6 years out of an OEM battery.

 

Yesterday, January 27, 2009, my 2008 Blue Honda Fit Sport Automatic would not start and had to be jumped twice. I immediately went to the service department of my local Honda Dealership. They said the battery was covered under warranty (Bought 4/1/08 with Mileage of 5,000 miles) and would be replaced quickly. Then the Service Advisor came in and said "You are not going to believe this!" There is not replacement Honda Fit battery in Dallas County, Texas and one must be ordered. They kept my car and got me a rental car to drive until my Fit is fixed. I have not heard back as to when a battery will be shipped in. The dealer said that the same battery is used in their Hybrid cars.

What is so special about this battery? (Voltage, size, etc?)

 

At least they were kind enough to give you a loaner car! They sent me home with mine. I wonder how many times it will need a jumpstart between now and getting the new battery delivered.

As for what's special about the batteries... maybe somebody can interpret this memo and tell us. This is the copy of the memo that the Honda tech cited as the reason why they didn't have any batteries in stock.

Translation: AHM (American Honda Motor) has cancelled all normal deliveries of Fit/Hybrid batteries to dealerships because demand is greater than supply.

AHM will also selectively cancel SNC battery orders out of your multi-part orders, but we will still ship you the non-SNC batteries (normal car batteries).

If you previously ordered a SNC battery for a dead car, we'll still ship it to you.

Beginning 1/23/09, you can only order SNC batteries through the parts ordering system for repair purposes.

This policy will remain in effect until we are sure we have enough batteries in stock to keep up with demand. Deliveries for SNC batteries will begin approximately February 1, 2009. We will keep you posted.

AHM is currently hoping we get some more SNC batteries soon before all the dealerships and the customers who have to wait put our heads on pikes.


The 31500-SNC-00100M in the title of the memo seems to be the part number of the battery.

The lack of batteries appears to affect Honda hybrids as well.

Does SNC refer to the supplier of the battery... or do Fits have sealed nickel-cadmium batteries instead of the usual lead acid batteries?

 

Thanks for the GREAT reply! I wonder what these Special batteries cost?

 

Is there an aftermarket battery that will work?

 

I'm glad all that typing was of some use to you!

I did a quick search for the part number and came up with a price range of $85-$100.

 

I checked on-line with several battery suppliers and not one of them has a battery for the Fit. Seems like we're stuck with Honda for the time being.

Perhaps there is a motorcycle battery that will do in a pinch?

 

I saw a discussion about this in these forums. For what it's worth, my dealer strongly warned me against using an aftermarket battery. They hinted it might void the warranty.

Here's the link if you're interested: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...-top-d51r.html

It seems to require modification of your car in order to make the battery fit.

 

Group 51R will drop right in (though it is slightly longer), and most batteries in that size are approx. 500 CCA.

The Fit battery is group 151R and nobody makes it but Yuasa for Honda.

Just get the 51R and be happy that it's slightly more powerful than the original.

 

Here is the battery on a web site:



(US Honda) part's listed on this site:
Honda Parts at HondaPartsDeals.com: Honda Accessory, Honda Car Parts, Honda Auto Parts, Honda Accord Parts
as:
Part No: 31500-SNC-00100M
Description: BATTERY (44B19L-S)
Price: $68.45

 

I was just thinking about my 1996 Ford Ranger XLT that I drove for 100,000 miles on the original battery. It still was not causing any problems when I decided to purchase a new one before that winter started up. I drove on the original battery for 9 years! The guys in the garage were shocked!

Cat :x

 

kinda too lazy to read the thread, but here is your problem: "My car is a little under two years old with less than 11,000 miles on it."

unless you had the car on a battery manager while you were not using the car, your milage is too short to fully charge the battery.

 

Just got my Blue 2008 Honda Fit back from the Honda Dealer Service Department yesterday (2-2-09) when a replacement battery came in finally. The Service Assistant said that a Honda Dealer in San Antonio, TX has 26 Honda Fits awaiting new batteries. It sounds like a recall is needed.

 

Nonsense. Battery that cannot hold a charge != battery that hasn't been charged enough.

(Kinda too lazy to give you a verbose reply.)

 

Twenty-six! Good gravy. I bet I'm on a huge waiting list at my dealership, too, since my dealer is the biggest in my area.

Did an unexpected amount of 2-3 year old batteries die?
Is the manufacturer not able to keep up with regular demand?

Sigh.

 

With 26 Honda Fits needing batteries in San Antonio - It appears to be a large batch of defective batteries when installed at manufacturing plant in Japan. My dealer said they are trying to get a supply of replacement batteries to have on hand since it is quite a well liked and popular car.

Evidently the battery manufacturer is having a hard time putting out a good supply of the battery due to the warranty replacement demand and people upgrading their old lead-acid batteries to the new nickel-cadmium batteries and thus an over-demand and limited supply.

The dealer said that a replacement lead-acid battery would not work in the Honda Fit. I wonder if the alternator is different also and will not charge a lead-acid battery.