I have a 2015 Honda fit ex-l plus navigation automatic I have had the car since August and typically drive it once or twice a week, today I go out to go shopping and find a dead fit parked in my garage. We jump in the crv that is ten years old and leave our dead brand new car when we come back husband puts it on the charger and we call Honda they have us drive it over after we get it started and battery tests good. We were told a bad battery can test good if it runs for awhile which it did to get there. I bought this car to have a reliable second car for when my husband is gone in the other car, I wanted a new car not a used one for this specific reason I'm really second guessing the reliability

 

After leaving Honda we went to menards and picked up a peak brand battery jumper to have on hand menards has one model on sale for $34

 

Only driving once or twice a week makes your car very susceptible to parasitic draws. Do you have ANY aftermarket electrical components installed in the car? Do you have anything plugged into USB ports or 12v outlets. If you leave a dome light on, forget about it, would be dead overnight.

I recall one member had a meter plugged into the OBDII port and it was drawing just enough energy to drain the battery between driving.

That said, Honda has acknowledged issues with the some of the stock batteries. If you can't find a parasitic draw and it happens again, I'd turn up the heat if they try to jack you around on a replacement.

 

Nothing left plugged in, everything turned off when parked (radio,heated seats, lights) doors closed securely. My husband said maybe I need to start it more...ummm no once a week should be plenty when we go out and do some driving. I plan on raising a huge stink with Honda if this happens again as I don't know what caused it. I even considered buying a new battery but why if that's not the issue?

 

Parked one week should not kill a battery. I once chased a parasitic draw on a Chevy. While researching it I found that GM has a design point that says there vehicles should start after a 30 day parking period. I also found that their design point was no more than 20 milliamps draw. Eventually got that Chey draw down to 18 ma. I do not know Honda's specs but I assume it has to be something similar.

If this is a continuing problem, you need to find what is killing the battery. One thing you can do is to disconnect the battery one time when it will be parked for 3 or more days and see if the battery is dead when you return. (You will need the radio code to reprogram the radio if you do this.). If the battery is still dead when you return, you have a bad battery. If it is not dead, then you have something drawing power and running the battery down.

 

Take the vehicle back to the dealer. Defective batteries are a known issue with earlier shipments of this car.

 

We all have some electric draw from that continual blinking radio alarm. I live in Florida, and have had two honda's that needed a new battery exchange after 5 months of use, and I drive very little, but the OP drives even less. However, honda will replace a bad battery FREE of charge during the warranty period.

 

They didn't want to swap out the battery yesterday since it's the first time it happened and the battery tested good. He did say I can periodically bring it by to be checked but I don't really want to do that too much. He also told me their were no issues with the battery that he's aware of. I doubt they'd fess up to knowing that, I was told if it keeps happening I may get a battery. Now on to the radio code we have to retrieve that online right? The reasons this car doesn't get driven much is I work from home. It's a second car for us so when I do need to go in to the office I can. Our primary car is still our trusty 2005 crv. I suspect that'll change come spring when the weather is nicer. I'm Leary of driving this car or any different car in the winter until I become more used to how it handles. I've drove the crv for the past ten years

 

There are two issues here...one, the car does draw energy from the battery all the time, as as mentioned above, its called "draw". Your radio clock, and internal computer system still uses constant energy, but it should be very low (like .01Ma). Usually a battery can handle that for about two weeks, if not longer. When I was having issues with my Chrysler minivan, I discovered a statement in the manual that suggested removing a certain fuse if the van was going to be parked for two weeks,or longer, like at an airport. They (dealer) should check to validate that your car is properly going into sleep mode, and thus not using excessive battery energy, when turned off. Any amount of excessive energy usage when the vehicle is turned off is called "parasitic draw", and it can be from normal stock vehicle components, or owner add-on's that are using power when they shouldn't. When the car is off and has not been disturbed for a few minutes (doors not being open, key not being close to the vehicle, door locks not being operated, etc) it should go into sleep mode, and that mode uses very little battery energy...usually .01 Ma or so. If the vehicle is not going into sleep mode, it will drain the battery over the course of a day or two. Checking this is fairly simple, but you need to understand how.

Second, it takes a lot of battery power to start a car, even if it starts right up...and as a result you have to drive a car long enough to recharge that usage, along with normal maintenance/upkeep of the battery. Short trips, the involve multiple engine starts can drain a battery.

 

Bad batteries can happen. It happened to me on my previous car. Lucky I had the battery booster handy to give me a jump start then drove it to the dealer. They tested the battery and said it was bad even tho it was only a year old. The old car I owned did sat on the lot for a year before I bought it so who knows how often the dealer fire up the engines to keep the battery in good shape. Guess only test drives.

So I would imagine the battery should last at least a month before it needs to be driven to keep it charged. I'd keep the battery booster handy until you or Honda figures it out.

Which reminds me I need to plug in my battery booster to recharge as the manual stated to do this monthly.

 

Took the car out today had another oddity happen, the back up camera didn't shut off when we went forward, we drove a couple of blocks and had to pull over shut the car off and restart the car. My husband thinks the radio had to reset itself after the battery was dead yesterday. I'm thinking I possibly have a bad radio unit and that's what caused the issue in the first place that drained the battery I guess I have to watch it because I couldn't recreate the problem

 

Btw I have made no changes to anything electrical in this car it's all stock and the trips we take in it usually can be to the store and back but often we end up going 30 miles or more on the highway when we take it out so I highly doubt it's the few short trips this car makes. I'm just going to have to watch this car and take it to Honda if any other quirks pop up. I used to love this car and I am wishing I would have saved the money and just bought a used car. I wanted a new car to avoid these problems and I have to say my other car is a 2005 Honda crv and I don't think Honda quality is the same as it was ten years ago. A friend of mine has a 2013 crv and while it seems like they tried to make the interior a tad more plush, if that's the word I think my 2005 is better built

 

^^^ what he said, and hold the dealer's feet to the fire. They love to try to turn the blame back to you with "we can't find the problem, it must be your driving habits."

If you drive the car more than a mile per week it should keep the battery charged.

There was a known problem of high incidence of bad batteries and Honda decided to install them and let the owners find out when they are stranded. Honda admitted it inadvertently when they instructed dealers to retain replaced batteries for later inspection.

 

OP, next time it doesn't start have it towed directly to the dealership using their road service to pay for it. Then, if they don't fix the problem, check your state lemon law guide to see how many times you need to do this until you put a claim in for total refund. A new car should not have a dead battery after just a few days of sitting idle, not even for a few weeks. And it's not your task to have to diagnose the problem either.

 

Is everything all right with the fuse? I mean whether you're required to fix the fuse very often?

 

Well said. It's not your problem--it's theirs.

 

And casually mention the fact that you are paying attention to the Lemon Law when you bring the car in. They'll work a lot harder to find the problem when they are aware that the customer is savvy and the clock is ticking.

The goal, of course, is not to have to invoke the lemon law, but it is a useful motivational tool.

 

This is exactly what I'm going to do

 

Hi Mysticangel,

Sorry to hear about your 12V battery situations. It does sound very unusual to be experiencing this on a brand new vehicle. We can speak to the dealership if you want to ensure that the process was followed correctly and justly. If you are interested please private message us with your full name, VIN, mileage and dealer so we can better assist you.

Thank you,

Jonathan Yu

 

Fast-forward 2 years. I'm reviving this thread because my new 2016 Fit EX CVT - which I started leasing less than 2 months ago and now has about 1,200 miles on it - would not start this (Sunday) morning.

I called Honda Roadside Assistance, who came and looked under the hood and showed me the bad battery: corroded, cracked, and leaking battery acid. They gave me a jump start, and I drove it directly to the Honda dealership, where I left it overnight and dropped the smart key in the Night Drop with a note. (I also mentioned the crappy/noisy/sticky front wiper blades in my note.)

I'll be calling the dealer's Service Department first thing tomorrow (Monday) morning. This and other battery- and wiper-related threads here indicate these are Known Issues. I would like HondaCustSvc to respond.