[Wolverine51]

On 1/3/2019 I sent the following message to American Honda. I received an automatic acknowledgement saying I would be contacted within 3 business days, After more than a week had passed, I phoned Honda Customer Support, and after checking with their technical backup, I was told that they felt that pages 460 and 461 of the Owner's Manual was sufficient information to protect Insight owners from these two hazards. Since I definitely feel otherwise, I am making this information available here.


"I bought my 2019 Insight on 12/13/2018, and I'm generally very pleased with it.

However, I want to draw your attention to two alarming, and potentially dangerous, matters regarding the Owner's Guide and the Owner's Manual for the 2019 Honda Insight:

(1) Today I was driving out of a shopping center onto a heavily traveled road, having frequent stop signs, but still posted with a 40 MPH speed limit. At the first stop my car automatically went into "Park" mode. I managed to select "Neutral", turned off "Park" and selected "Drive" again. But I had no idea what the problem could be.

This happened for several more stops before I noticed the "Open Door" warning on the dashboard. I then realized what the problem might be and quickly re-closed the driver's side door.

Before that, I was being harassed by the traffic behind me. It was not a safe position to be in.

Neither the Owner's Guide nor the Owner's Manual (so far as I can find) has any mention of this automatic-park feature. That is a very bad oversight.


(2) The Owner's Guide has no mention of the special hazard of not being inside the Insight when going through some types of commercial car washes.

The Owner's Manual gives directions for dealing with this, but not until page 461, and the index doesn't list this as a topic at all.

What makes this especially bad is that many owners will not take the iniative to download the Owner's Manual, or they won't read it clear through if they do. And I suppose other owner's will neither download the manual nor order the printed manual (which in any case won't be in their hands for weeks after they have been driving their new car).

I believe these matters are important enough to call for warnings to be sent to every Insight owner"


I welcome all comments

 

[insightfully]

Interesting points...

While the manual says a door and/or trunk open message should appear on the driver information interface (p43), I've had two occasions where the trunk wasn't latched but was "closed enough" for the sensor to not provide the warning message. Maybe this was the case with your drivers door as well, where the warning wasn't constant.

It would be nice if the manual combined all the "car wash tips" and watchouts all in one place, along with the "car wash mode" section on p461. There's a warning that the door may unlock in heavy rain or car wash (p170), auto wipers should be turned off (p201), auto-parking brake feature should be temporarily deactivated (p534), brake hold should be turned off (p538), and door mirrors folded in (p597). The info is pretty spread out and not easy to find at once when prepping for an automated car wash.

 

[andrew28]

I guess this car has more secrets to be discovered. :smile_big: Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Wolverine51]

And all Owners Manual pages associated with "Color Audio" should have been separated from those pages associated with "Display Audio"

Maybe two separate manuals, not one manual of 652 pages

 

[J. Bond]

"The Owner's Guide has no mention of the special hazard of not being inside the Insight when going through some types of commercial car washes."

Appreciate the heads-up. Could you explain what the hazards are?

 

[andrew28]

"The Owner's Guide has no mention of the special hazard of not being inside the Insight when going through some types of commercial car washes."

Appreciate the heads-up. Could you explain what the hazards are?

This is just off the top of my head from what I remember.... I think it is a safety mechanism which prevents the car from staying in neutral if you open the car door. I think you have to hold the neutral button for a couple of seconds to allow it to stay in neutral upon opening the car door. Also to turn off auto rain sensing wipers if you have the touring trim.

 

[muur]

(1) Today I was driving out of a shopping center onto a heavily traveled road, having frequent stop signs, but still posted with a 40 MPH speed limit. At the first stop my car automatically went into "Park" mode. I managed to select "Neutral", turned off "Park" and selected "Drive" again. But I had no idea what the problem could be.

This happened for several more stops before I noticed the "Open Door" warning on the dashboard. I then realized what the problem might be and quickly re-closed the driver's side door.

Before that, I was being harassed by the traffic behind me. It was not a safe position to be in.

Neither the Owner's Guide nor the Owner's Manual (so far as I can find) has any mention of this automatic-park feature. That is a very bad oversight.

Page 460 in the manual...

Were you wearing your seatbelt? That's one of the conditions:

If you open the driver’s door under the following conditions, the shift position automatically changes to (P;
• The vehicle is stationary with the power mode in ON, or moving at 1 mph (2 km/h)
or slower.
• The transmission is in other than P.
• You have unfastened the driver side seat belt.

 

[hasarad]

I got frustrated when trying to drive my car up onto ramps for an oil change. I normally open the door and look at the ramp when I drive up. That's not possible with auto-park! If there is a way to temporarily (one-off) deactivate it, I'd like to know.

On the other hand, auto-park has saved me as I once exited my car without putting it in park myself or turning it off. It's so quiet, it's easy to do it you get distracted (which I was).

 

[Wolverine51]

I'm still confused re the Owners Manual page 461 description of the "Car Wash Mode"

 

[insightfully]

I got frustrated when trying to drive my car up onto ramps for an oil change. I normally open the door and look at the ramp when I drive up. That's not possible with auto-park! If there is a way to temporarily (one-off) deactivate it, I'd like to know.

On the other hand, auto-park has saved me as I once exited my car without putting it in park myself or turning it off. It's so quiet, it's easy to do it you get distracted (which I was).

One-off deactivation doesn't seem possible from a Honda-recommended standpoint; however a loophole to "auto-park" when the door opens seems to be speeds >1 mph.

Since higher speed may not be advisable for approaching a ramp, the "head-out-the-window" approach seems the next best option.

 

[Mobilcams]

Fasten your seatbelt then open the door. If you aren’t wearing your seatbelt and open the door it will go into park.

 

[insightfully]

It would be nice if the manual combined all the "car wash tips" and watchouts all in one place, along with the "car wash mode" section on p461. There's a warning that the door may unlock in heavy rain or car wash (p170), auto wipers should be turned off (p201), auto-parking brake feature should be temporarily deactivated (p534), brake hold should be turned off (p538), and door mirrors folded in (p597). The info is pretty spread out and not easy to find at once when prepping for an automated car wash.

With warmer weather now here, I'm following up up on my own post. I put all the "car wash" tips from various manual pages into a single document for my own glove box quick reference, since I don't go through automatic car washes often enough to remember each step. Sharing in case others want to use as well...

 

[Wolverine51]

Insightfully, you are a treasure! An example of what the best help in a forum can be like.