Is anyone having repeated battery failures on the 3rd generation Honda Fits, I just came back from the dealer who replaced the battery for the 4th time on my 2016 Fit and I am ready to go to American Honda and need help. So here's the background: My wife has a 2015 Fit which averages 12,000 miles a year local driving. The battery went dead the around 20,000 miles and my wife replaced it without telling me and they told her they could charge it or she could buy one, so they did not replaced under the 3yr/36,000 mile "bumper to bumper" warranty. It lasted for around 16 months just past 36,000 miles then went dead, no click just lights and that's when I found out she had already replaced it, so had it replaced under battery warranty, Then it lasted 14,000 miles and went dead with lights and click so had it replaced under warranty. It went dead soon after that with a odd starting sound so took it in and they replaced it under warranty, but it would not crank and so they replaced the starter.

So maybe that was the issue, but wait. I have the 2016 Fit, and battery went dead at 32,000 miles so replaced under the 3yr/36,000 mile "bumper to bumper" warranty. This battery went dead a few months later still under the 3yr/36,000 mile "bumper to bumper" warranty but they refused to honor it and I had to buy a new battery at around 34,000 miles. This one lasted till yesterday around 40,000 miles then it went dead, with lights, warning to charge. Got AAA flat bed and after quick charge it turned over and got to dealer last night, then went to put it into service this morning but dead, but had clicks. They replaced the battery and I talked to the service manager and he suggested a full test of both so they are going to do a full examination of both cars to see if they can find anything. Any ideas?

 

Nobody has had battery issues on the Fits?

Here is what I have come across on the 2015 Fit.

 

Here is something I came across on the new Honda Fits...

"My 2019 honda fit is 6 months old. went on 2 week vacation and battery is
dead.

service says if i leave this car in driveway for one week and it's not driven this
is what happens. is this really normal??????"https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t79904_ds1049785

 

I have a 2017 LX CVT with 72K miles. I have left it parked for one month when I was traveling. The car started right up when I got back. Still the original battery from Nov 2016 purchase. So, there must be some parasitic drain that causes you to have to replace the battery so frequently.

 

I would agree and went over that with the Honda dealer on both of the Honda Fits and they couldnt find nothing so going for a full test on both on Monday. Now my family has had Honda since forever, Accords, Civics, Passports, etc and they have sat around or been used daily and the battery holds, so I cant figure it out except this battery is smaller and less CCA amperage which I suspect is the cause.

 

[QUOTE=Reddogs;1457948]I would agree and went over that with the Honda dealer on both of the Honda Fits and they couldnt find nothing so going for a full test on both on Monday. Now my family has had Honda since forever, Accords, Civics, Passports, etc and they have sat around or been used daily and the battery holds, so I cant figure it out except this battery is smaller and less CCA amperage which I suspect is the cause.[/QUOTE

You need to find what is causing the power consumption. Replacing it with a "bigger" battery is not the answer. OK, for most Americans, yes, bigger is always better.

 

[QUOTE=Reddogs;1457948]I would agree and went over that with the Honda dealer on both of the Honda Fits and they couldnt find nothing so going for a full test on both on Monday. Now my family has had Honda since forever, Accords, Civics, Passports, etc and they have sat around or been used daily and the battery holds, so I cant figure it out except this battery is smaller and less CCA amperage which I suspect is the cause.[/QUOTE

You have almost convinced yourself that it is not a battery problem since having own several Hondas before and have not encountered battery problems. You need to find out what is causing the power consumption. You have replaced the battery several times, so that tells you it is not the battery! Replacing it with a "bigger" battery is not the answer. It may go longer before it is completely drained, but that does not solve the problem.

 

[QUOTE=wasserball;1457955]That is the thing, the basic check done yesterday found no power consumption/drain, so it seems to point to a problem of the battery. As how could 3 batteries go from perfect starting one day to completely dead or unable to crank the next day.

My assessment is:
1) The battery is too small and lacks cold cranking amps to handle the job
or 2) Their is a underlying issue that is causing it to not sending the right amount of charge from the alternator
or 3) The Honda batteries for this particular size are defective or substandard, which I find hard to accept..

 

I also checked and their is a recall for the start stop button starting issue, but the dealer doesnt believe it is that...

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...84331-0001.pdf

 

Alternator? Or something really weird- they presumably check for parasitic drain with the hood up. Maybe closing the hood changes something? Or your spouse keeps leaving the lights on? Or the lights are set on automatic but aren't going off all the time? Do you park on a hill? Maybe something happens when the car isn't level.

 

We've been lucky.....dunno if my battery is original (Jan '15 build, bought it CPO June '16, so quite likely) but it and the alternator still test fine as of last week. Looking at my lawn tractor, the batteries are about the same size, maybe I should buy a few lawn tractor batteries at $29 each from Home Depot - kidding of course, am sure the Fit battery is more robust, but I only get 2 seasons of cutting out of my tractor batteries, gonna invest in a charger/maintenance device this fall......but I've never in my life seen a battery in a car as small as the Fit's. Yet, mine still tests fine as well as the alternator, so.....I dunno....luck of the draw, I suppose, my wife drives a '10 Kia Forte SX, and I've probably put 3 batteries in it, but alternator tests fine still.

 

Well, it could be the Alternator doesn't charge enough on small trips, but I drive at least 10+ miles just to get into town to say nothing of the beach. The only drain is the security system and they wont or cant turn that off from what service said. The first time they said we left the lights on because it was dead with no clicks or warning on dash, but after the fourth time, I don't think anything was left on. Service keeps turning it to automatic, I don't know why, so that's a question. Not many hills in Florida, but does anyone know if security goes off with movement as the cat does sleep on the cars at night.

 

I had batteries dying on my 1987 Integra. Spent over $500 (a lot of money back then- the car cost under $12,000) trying to get it diagnosed and fixed. Finally the dealer figured out it was the security system they'd installed.

When you say security system do you mean the Honda built-in one, or something added? Either way maybe pull the fuse for that and see if the problem goes away.

Can they tell you the current draw for the security system?

 

I had my battery die about 6 months after buying my 2015, but it was clearly a dead cell and replaced under warranty. Since then I've thought my battery was dead three other times. Twice a simple cleaning of the terminals and reapplication of dielectric grease fixed it right up. The third time I'm pretty sure it was a low battery from leaving the doors open while cleaning it combined with a bunch quick round trips that were 5 miles or so with 2 to 3 starts on each of the trips. Don't ask me why, but the terminals on my car seem to be more sensitive to corrosion than any other car I've had before.

When the battery actually dies I'll be pulling and trimming the battery tray to fit a size 51R. Many people on here have done it and it is extremely simple to do.

 

Definitely NOT normal. My '15 Fit has been through seven winters and 84,000 miles and the original battery still works fine. It was tested last week and still puts out 322 cold cranking amps out of a rated 340. Last winter I had shoulder surgery and the car sat for a month and still started.

 

Thats one way to test for it, will see what the dealer says when they test.

 

Yes, I told her about the 51R solution, but my wife thinks it will void her warranty as she has the extended Honda Warranty.

 

The extended Honda Warranty doesn't mean much if the battery can't hold a charge.

If you were really worried about the 51R voiding the warranty, you could call Honda corporate for clarification. I can't imagine they would hold you to the 151R battery to maintain the warranty, but who knows.

 

Does anybody know how it affects the warranty?

 

Well, we went to take the cars in for the extended testing and while talking to the service advisor, he is constantly getting phone calls on guess what, dead battery issues and questions. Thats making me scratch my head to say the least.