Honda Civic Hybrid Only Gets 30 Miles Per Gallon? L.A.'s Heather Peters Sues ... The Right Way

By Dennis Romero Wed., Dec. 28 2011 at 8:08 AM

The Civic Hybrid: A profile only a mother could love.

So you bought an ugly, slab-sided Honda Civic hybrid thinking it would, despite its Danny DeVito looks, become the next "it" car for the eco hipsters.

Wrong again, ethanol breath.

Turns out earlier models of the Civic hybrid came with way less gas mileage than advertised -- 30 versus 50 -- as a result of technical difficulties. Early Priuses gave you 40. And so ...

... L.A.'s own Heather Peters has been on a one-woman crusade against the Torrance-based American Honda Motor Co.

And if we were Honda, we might be scared. Her strategy could cost the company a lot of dough.

That's because, according to the Los Angeles Times ...

... A proposed class-action lawsuit settlement that would give trial lawyers $8.5 million while Civic owners would get as little as $100 and rebate coupons for the purchase of a new vehicle.

But Peters would forgo the measly settlement. She has taken matters into her own hands by bringing Honda into small claims court, where she could stand to win as much as $10,000, and where Honda can't bring its army of high-priced attorneys into the room.

Not only that, but she started DontSettleWithHonda.com to encourage others to opt out of the settlement and take Honda straight to small claims, as she's doing.

Godspeed, Heather. With good gas mileage to boot.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

Civic, Honda, hybrid, lawsuit, mileage, Prius, Small Claims, Torrance

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Richard10570

Buy a Prius, it's mileage ratings actually also apply to the real world.

Twobees

Sorry folks. I have to laugh at the fuel mileage deviation from the EPA numbers on the Honda. All of the many German cars we have had have ALWAYS EXCEEDED the EPA numbers at speeds higher than the 55 mph at which the "highway" mileage is calculated. Here's one example - a BMW 328i 4 door with a/t rated at 28 mpg highway got 31 mpg for a 400 mile trip at an average 85 mph.

Barbara Oinonen West

I purchased a 2006 Honda Hybrid that was suppost to get 49 to 50 mpg. It got 35 mpg. When I took it back to Pacific Honda, they tested the car and told me they showed the car got over 100 mpg. I want to join the small claim protest. I paid a lot more for the hybrid and the car dealers were awful.

While I am not a hybrid owner, I have owned several Hondas throughout my life. I had a 1998 Civic hatchback CX that got upwards of 41mpg. What completely baffles me is some of these so-called "hybrids" Honda is now manufacturing. Take the new CR-Z hatchback, the new version of the CRX from the late 80's and early 90's. Aside from vastly improving the looks of the old CRX, the new CR-Z gets WORSE mileage. The old CRX was getting over 45mpg with a gas engine! Can you tell me what exactly Honda's point was in re-creating this vehicle as a hybrid? Would be curious to hear about the new Insight's gas mileage. At least Honda vastly improved the looks of the Insight when compared to the earlier version. Honda needs to go back to its roots, stop overcharging for their vehicles, and get back to manufacturing excellent vehicles that are affordable to the people.

D'ja

You can't collect a gov't rebate on a non-hybrid vehicle, and you need to sell enough of the weed whackers to get your fleet mileage down so that you can sell enough cars (re: trucks) that real people want.