Woman sues Honda over hybrid claims

[dipsydoodle]

A woman who expected her high-tech hybrid to be a high-mileage machine wants car maker Honda to pay for not delivering the 50mpg it promised.

But rather than being one of thousands in a class-action lawsuit, Heather Peters has taken her fight to the small claims court and says it could lead to similar cases throughout the world.

Experts say Ms Peters, of Los Angeles, has a better chance of winning her case in a court with more relaxed standards and could get a payout many times higher than the few hundred dollars offered to class-action plaintiffs.

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If other owners follow her lead, she estimates Honda could be forced to pay as much as $2bn (£1.3bn) in damages.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/motoring-news/woman-sues-honda-over-hybrid-claims-6284788.html

[frylock]

1. have you read her argument?!

"The sales force said 50 miles per gallon, but they didn't say if you run your air conditioning and you remain in stop-and-go traffic, you're going to get 29 to 30 miles per gallon," she said.

"If they did, I would have gotten the regular Civic."

really?!! are you that fucking stupid, lady? ever heard the term "your mileage may vary?" based on her comment, i'm going to have to assume she's one of the multitude of people i see on the highway, every day, driving their hybrid at 75-80 mph.

[dsc]

5. by almost 50% ?

that is very bizarre. I got higher mileage in my non hybrid focus with air. With air I get slightly over 30 on the road without air closer to 35. Even with 130k miles I still get a bit over 30 without air. I can't fathom that being a reasonable amount of difference.

[LiberalEsto]

2. She should get a hybrid shark

Just try returning one of those!

[ixion]

3. That'll get tossed.

She's obviously fishing for a handout, and when it comes down to the fine print, as the article noted, the company said the mileage would vary.

[Ron Obvious]

4. Stop 'n Go driving

I thought stop and go driving was where a hybrid would really shine, seeing as that it would be running on batteries during the acceleration from a stop? I'm surprised the mileage drops as much as that during city driving.

These mileage numbers don't seem very impressive to me either. My Jetta TDI gets about 45 mpg (bio diesel), has a high safety rating and doesn't use a load of toxic batteries to accomplish it.

[quakerboy]

6. I think it depends on what you do while in stop and go

If you are doing lots of things that pull juice from the battery, then its going to kick on the gas engine more often, and your MPG will drop.

My experience in a '10 prius was that over the course of a tank of gas, as long as it was set to "eco" rather than to "use gas give me power all the time" I could not get it to go below 45 MPG. StopNGo, distance, AC on or off, etc. I couldnt seem to get it over 53, though.

[Devil_Fish]

7. I had a Jetta TDI and Loved it untill I got totaled by an SUV.

My next car is going to be a Golf TDI 5 speed. that will get about 45mpg as well, and yes! no toxic batteries, not to mention proven work horse technology. it's not uncommon for diesels to go 500K miles.

Untill I can scrape together $20K I've spent $8K on a commuter that gets 50MPG!! and looks good doing it:

No toxic batteries with this one. If you ride it at 65 it can get up to 57mpg right off the factory floor. I tend to ride at 80~85 and get about 48mpg.

[Ron Obvious]

8. Nice!

Nice-looking bike! While I live in Seattle, I'm currently in So. California and I don't think I'd ever have the guts to ride a motorcycle in traffic here. The riders here seem to have a death wish.

I have no doubt my Jetta will last long enough to become a "Moon Car" (more than 250,000 miles on the clock, i.e. distance earth-moon) just like my previous VW.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

12. That's great, but give me four wheels

when the roads are covered with ice or snow.

[Godot51]

9. The point:

In general I have sympathy for the plaintiff.
The problem is the "best case" advertising. While the woman in question may have been foolish up to a point, such as believing what the manufacturer and sales people claimed, and while her driving may not have been optimal, the truth was disguised. All manufacturers should be put to the test of backing up their ads and claims in the real world environment. That's the only one which counts.

[ixion]

10. if you read the whole article

You'll note that the reason they print 50 mpg is because it is mandated by the feds.

Neil Schmidt, a technical expert for Honda, called Ms Peters' $10,000-dollar (£6,400) claim excessive.

He said the US government had required Honda to post the highest mileage the car could achieve, but said the mileage varied depending on how the car was driven - for instance, if it was often stuck in stop-start traffic.

But Ms Peters said she would have never bought the car if she had known that.

[BadgerKid]

11. I recently shopped hybrids

and much of the current information out there doesn't really agree true with this article. Above all, driving like a maniac, hybrid car or not, and your MPG is going to suffer.

In her favor, though, less was known in 2006 about long-term performances of hybrids (i.e., battery life), and there is always a chance of getting a unscrupulous salesperson. One thing that has changed since 2006 is the new MPG calculation standards that came out in 2007(?).

Toyota, I believe it was, ended up giving free warranty upgrades to some of their hybrids. Maybe there is somethign Honda will decide to do, such as replace her battery if it's found to be defective.

[Romulox]

13. Most hybrid owners would've been better off learning to drive stick. nt

[Dreamer Tatum]

14. +1 nt