RLX Hybrid Total Loss of Power

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Old 03-25-2016, 10:52 AM
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RLX Hybrid Total Loss of Power

Has anyone experienced this? While driving in city traffic, the car said something similar to "Pull over when it is safe to do so". About 5 seconds later the engine died. There was absolutely no power. The 4-way flashers wouldn't work. I couldn't open the glove box to get the number for Acura Roadside Assistance. There I was stuck on a busy 3-lane road with the hood up waiting 20 minutes for the tow truck. By the time we got to the dealership the power was restored

The service department ran full diagnostics and could't find anything other than the 12-volt battery was low, even though it held a charge and the alternator was performing within spec.

That made me wonder, since the engine is off a lot driving in this congested city I call home what does the 12-volt battery power and what does the LI battery power? I'm thinking headlights, wipers, fan, etc. Is it possible the 12-volt battery simply powers too many electric components in the continuous stop and go traffic I deal with and loses power that way?
Old 03-25-2016, 11:48 AM
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Sorry to hear about your problems. I haven't ever had a battery problem. While there are others here with more more technical knowledge, I wonder if it could be a loose connection somewhere. That might explain why things were back to normal after being put on a tow truck. Probably too simple but could be hard to diagnosis. Electrical problems haven't been a big issue on AZ that i can remember and I don't recall any TSBs about electrical items.

Keep us posted how it turns out. It would seem like something easy to fix but perhaps hard to find.
Old 03-25-2016, 12:19 PM
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I will do so. Yikes, a bad connection isn't something I contemplated but it is quite possible. I sure don't want a repeat performance!
Old 03-25-2016, 12:27 PM
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Originally Posted by RobbieN
I will do so. Yikes, a bad connection isn't something I contemplated but it is quite possible. I sure don't want a repeat performance!
I am very sorry to hear this happening to you, because it is a dangerous thing!

The SH-AWD does not have an alternator, and the 12 volt battery i believe gets charged from the high voltage battery....as Tampa mentioned a while back.

This happened a few times on my first 2016 SH, and Acura did a buyback since they could not figure out what was wrong. You may read my post from back then here:

https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...uyback-940053/
Old 03-25-2016, 01:29 PM
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I agree it can be quite dangerous to experience total loss of power. Imagine being in the passing lane of a wide freeway and with no signals!

It's great that Acura gave you a replacement car - there were multiple issues with the first one.
Old 03-25-2016, 01:29 PM
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I've never had this problem. Please do let us know what the result of the investigation is.
Old 03-25-2016, 01:47 PM
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Wow. That's terrible. We have had only the one report of this on the forum, and we have a healthy sample of SH-AWDs here. I urge you to read pgeorg's thread carefully and to keep the pressure on your dealer to diagnose this. If it were me, my first reaction would be to bring the car in and ask them not to give it back to me until they have at least a reasonable theory of what caused the problem. And get a decent loaner while your car is in. To state the obvious, cars are not supposed to behave that way! Seriously.
Old 03-25-2016, 01:59 PM
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^^^
That is what my service department did, they refused to give it back to me (not that i wanted it back in that state), until they had a reasonable explanation as to why this kept happening! Well they never figured it out.....
Old 03-25-2016, 02:09 PM
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The service department appeared quite concerned. They kept the car overnight and replaced the 12v battery, but that was the extent of it. The car has been fine so far. I did have the Nav system on at the time. I think I read somewhere people have had odd electrical problems with the Nav running.
Old 03-25-2016, 04:40 PM
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There were some pretty strange electrical/NAV problems with the 2013 PAWS cars that I remember reading about while waiting for my 2014 SH-AWD, but nothing that we know about as serious as this. And no real serious problems with the SH-AWD. I urge you to push your dealer to do what pgeorg's dealer did. You really should not have to worry about this happening again, and I am certain that if you called Acura directly, they would pay very quick attention to this.
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Old 03-25-2016, 05:09 PM
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Point taken gentlemen. Thanks.
Old 03-26-2016, 08:33 AM
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Originally Posted by fsmith
...I am certain that if you called Acura directly, they would pay very quick attention to this.
I'd like to add my voice to this suggestion.

It's a good idea to have them involved, although it could be that your dealership was alarmed enough to already notify them.

But just in case, you should do it.

In my experience the Twitter account for Acura Client Relations is monitored 24 hours/day and they respond very quickly.

And I must remember that if my car tells me to pull over, I'd better do it sooner than later!

Old 03-31-2016, 10:25 AM
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What is happening lately? Dare I read that the much beloved Sport Hybrid is experiencing total losses of power, moaning from the electric motors, 1st gears that lock up for over 5 minutes until ICE warms up etc.. ???

On behalf of all the long-slighted 'decaf' owners out there on this forum, how about 3 cheers for our clunky suspensions!!!

In all seriousness, good luck OP. That's some scary stuff that hopefully is addressed properly.
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