Honda Hybrids Face Sudden Acceleration Claims

It's Honda's turn. With Toyota still fighting off charges its vehicles have an unintended acceleration problem, Honda owners are complaining of similar incidents, including a fatal accident.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is looking into a complaint filed after a July 2005 crash that killed one person and injured several others.

The agency said that the driver of a 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid reported that she had driven over some rumble strips on the side of a freeway and tried to slow down by hitting the brakes. She said the car accelerated instead and crossed into oncoming traffic.

The accident left a passenger in the Honda dead and its driver disabled. The occupants of two other vehicles were also hurt.

In her complaint, the driver in the 2005 accident said that she had found 22 other incidents that involved inadequate braking performance when driving over uneven road surfaces.

Honda says that its hybrids have the same braking system as its gas-powered vehicles.

Honda owners, including Giselle of Davis, Calif., have reported similar problems to ConsumerAffairs.com.

"I was driving on on the highway, not in any rush as I was on time to work," Giselle said of her 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. "Traffic came to a standstill, then started to move again slowly. Other cars would fill up the space in front of me-I could not keep a car-length's distance between myself and the car ahead of me."

"I was stopped and then as traffic started moving forward, I tapped on the accelerator of my Honda Civic Hybrid 2006, and instead of slightly moving forward, my car surged into the car in front of me at a HIGH acceleration," causing her to rear-end the car in front of her, she said.

Owners of gas-powered Hondas, like Bernard of Milwaukee, have reported similar problems. Bernard said his family's two Honda CRVs tend to surge forward while stopped at intersections.

"The dealers never found any problem, and even writing to Honda HQ resulted in a phone call advising there's no other reports like this. Yet, when we rented a Honda Odyssey in Florida, the very same event occurred," Bernard said.