My car is a 2011 Honda Fit base model and it has 117,000 miles on it. Mind you this is all city miles and the vehicle is used for work starting and stopping, stopping and starting several times a day. The vehicle is used 7 days a week around New York City and it is driven hard.

My battery charging indicator light came on. Along with the light the windshield wipers started to slow down and the headlights looked dim. The accessories like the radar detector in the cigarette lighter would not work. What happened is the alternator went out and the entire electrical system was running off the battery. The car had shut off the cigarette lighter and dimmed the lights to save energy so the engine computer and other vital things could work.

I drove it to the dealership where they first tried to tell me it was the battery, but I know a lot about cars and asked them to test the alternator. After a period of time, they came back and said it was the alternator. I was placed into a loaner car and all was covered under my 7 year/120,000 mile Hondacare warranty I had purchased when I bought the car. Bought the extra warranty for about $750.

This is the first real problem I have had with the fit. I have had other minor problems like the TPMS sensors. I have been through quite a few of them all covered under the warranty. There are a lot of potholes here and so those tend to go out. I have been through 2 air condition fan control switches (the knob you turn to choose the speed) and that is a known issue. Besides other wear-away items like tires and brakes, there have been no other issues. The automatic transmission did start to shift differently at about 30,000 miles and that was cured by flushing the transmission fluid (4 times drain and fill).

I thought I might write a report about this here just in case someone else experiences the same thing. So just trying to be helpful with this factual post.

The loaner car I was given was a Honda CRZ. This is a nice car which has a lot of features I wish the Honda Fit would have. It also seems a bit faster. However, the one fatal flaw is that it gets much worse gas mileage then the Fit. I averaged in the 20s all day today. Since its a hybrid and such a small car, I would expect 30s-40s at the very least. Nope, that car gets in the low to mid 20s. If you granny drive the CRZ, maybe you can get into the 30s.

 

Thank you for your post. I have a 2007 Honda Fit I bought in April 2006. I have an eight-year, 120,000-mile warranty. My alternator gave over the weekend while I was driving across the state. First the battery light came on, then the power steering went about ten minutes alter, quickly followed by the dash instruments. We limped our way to a nearby (Chevy) dealership where we got an estimate of $850 for a new alternator plus a new battery and labor. That's when I googled "honda fit alternator warranty" and found your post.

I didn't think this would have been covered but it was. The Chevy dealer called Hondacare, which offered $440 toward the repair. We instead decided to have the car towed to a Honda dealer, where the whole cost could be recouped. (I had bought a new battery in January so that was under warranty as well.)

Hondacare paid for the tow, repair and a rental car so we could keep on our journey. I only have about 30 days of coverage left, so I am especially happy.

It seems like I did overpay for the warranty though. I paid $1,300 but I've seen many other references to people who got theirs for substantially less. Nevertheless I feel like I've gotten a great value from it.

 

The only major problem I have had is that alternator. Right now I am at 127000 miles and all of the miles have been city driving. I push the car hard as I need to get from stop to stop as fast as possible. I start and stop multiple times per day. The car has been operated every single day since May of 2011 almost like a police car. The engine is starting to get a little buzzy and Ill have that checked out next time. Hopefully its nothing. The engine has always been a little bit noisy though...

 

I have a 2012 and sitting right at 30k at 14 months old, so far the car runs as nice as the day I bought it. Still no rattles an still sports a new car smell, it seems your fit goes through much worse conditions then mine which is 75mph freeway cruising in the mornings and jammed LA traffic for the way home.

 

FYI. A new oem Honda Fit alternator is $871. An aftermarket or remanufactured alternator can be found for $219.45. If you add in dealership labor then its a 1.5 hour operation. The dealership labor rate here is $105 an hour.

The alternator they installed into my fit looks new and OEM under the Hondacare warranty. That one repair alone made up for the cost of the Hondacare warranty.