I have a 2022 Honda Civic Sport Hatchback with a CVT and 630 miles on the odometer. Yesterday I drove the car 30 minutes to my friend’s house. Later that evening I drove to a nearby gas station and filled up the car while it was on accessory mode & the headlights were turned on. By the time I got back in the car to start it, the engine would not turn over. All lights and warnings appeared on the dashboard. I was stranded at the pump until roadside assistance came to give me a jump. Why would this happen to a new car? I do not drive it routinely, but I’ve had no issues with the car in the full month that I’ve owned it, let alone the day the battery failed. I would argue this was due to a weakly charged battery but the drive earlier in the day should have allowed the alternator to charge it substantially. Further, the car started without issue prior to getting to the gas station. Thoughts?
I do not drive it routinely
And herein lies the root of the issue.
Do you have any aftermarket accessories plugged into the vehicle?
No aftermarket parts or modifications. Only has a PPF and tinting. Are you suggesting the 30+ minute drive earlier in the day is not a factor in all of this?
Well, the ACC mode + headlights on, may have sufficiently discharged the battery. The fact that it started right up when it was jump started, shows that the battery was low on charge. If you’re suspecting you received a bad battery from Honda, load test it (and the alternator), and proceed accordingly with a warranty replacement.
I do not think so, If the drive to the gas stations was over 5 minutes the battery should've been charged and shouldn't have drained from a couple minutes sitting in ACC w/ headlights.
Apparently Honda puts smaller batteries in new cars to bring manufacturing cost and weight down.
The tray can probably take a bigger one. Perhaps from a V6.
It's also possible the car sat on a lot somewhere with a discharged battery, for a long time, which would permanently degrade its capacity.
filled up the car while it was on accessory mode & the headlights were turned on.
how long was it on for?
The duration of a typical session at the pump. Let’s round it off at 5 minutes.
I mean headlights use a fair bit of power, but still. That's not normal.
ACC mode means stereo, blower, speakers, etc were all on (if I’m not wrong).
You are correct. All were on minus the blower, but including a friend’s phone charging in the passenger seat. I guess this makes sense if the battery was already low and leaving the car in ACC mode for 5 minutes was just the amount of discharge needed to bring it below its required voltage but that just begs two of my biggest questions 1) How can the battery be that discharged after driving it on the highway earlier that day 2) How discharged does a battery need to be for 5 minutes on accessory mode to kill it? That does not sound normal at all. Btw I will load test it this week because I’d like to gauge the battery’s current health status.
I see no reason why the battery wouldn't be full when you arrived at the gas station.
I own a 2022 Civic too and I've had it for a while now and I've never encountered something like this. I have left the car in accessory mode multiple times and still the car turned on very easily afterwards. The batteries are small but powerful enough for the car in my opinion. I think you might want to check if the battery has a defect or something that drained it so much that a 5 minute accessory mode resulted in the car needing a jump start.
Apparently Honda puts smaller batteries in new cars to bring manufacturing cost and weight down.
Image from a brand new Honda Fit sedan -
That thing looks like it would barely power those 12V electric mini-cars toddlers are driving these days
@LawnGuyLandCivic
Yes, it is partially that.
Good 12V ridable toy cars for Toddlers have 12Ah-15Ah and this is only 3x that.
(That's comparing a 2,500 lbs car compared to 70 lbs toy)
Cars typically have much more then that, my trusty Volvo recommends 90Ah white my Ford and Kia both have around 60Ah.