I have a 2013 Honda Accord that 3 times over the last 30 days the power steering has quit working while making a left or right turn from a stop. Once I muscle the car out of the intersection, I can turn it off and then restart the engine which seems to reset the steering. All 3 times I have taken it back to the Honda service center of the dealer where I purchased it, and all 3 times they can find absolutely nothing wrong with it. Honda’s policy is that they won’t fix/replace anything unless they have a direct problem to fix. This is getting frustrating because I consider it a safety issue. I opened a ticket through “Honda America”, which is their national consumer advocate group, but after talking with the service manager they promptly closed it restating Honda’s policy. Now I don’t know what to do. They refuse to do anything until they can see the car with the issue. If it ever happens at a time when I can leave it running and have them send a tow truck to pick it up, I will. But that could take months, years or never.
Has anyone else out there seen this type of issue?
Have you filed a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA)?
Have you been keeping your copies of the shop orders from when you have brought it in?
Check your state’s Lemon Laws.
Have you filed a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA)?
^^^This. I always recommend taking care of issues at the lowest level possible, but it sounds like you’ve exhausted your options for dealing with Honda directly.
This shouldn’t be happening on a 2013 vehicle. I bet you could have saved a lot of money by buying a defective used vehicle if you wanted to live with problems like this.
I would collect everything in writing, get all opinions in writing, and explore the ‘lemon law’ procedure in your state. Usually 3 unsuccessful attempts to fix a major problem like this can trigger ‘lemon law’ procedures.
new model car and not enought people have the same problem yet
When it happens, you need to gather as many details as possible. Some information that you need is things like outside temperature, how long after starting the engine did it happen, how many miles, how long did it idle when stopped, speed before coming to the stop.
Just a wild guess here, but I suspect that you have electric assist power steering and you were driving at highway speeds before coming to the stop. The reason I suspect this is that at highway speeds, the electric assist is throttled back to keep the steering from becoming too sensitive at those speeds and when you come to a stop, the sensor or computer is not telling the power steering to boost the assist for the lower speed.
BTW, watch the speedometer when this happens. Also when it happens, instead of shutting down teh engine, just shift into neutral then back to drive and see if the steering recovers that way, if it does, report that to the dealer as well.
@JWINK if the dealer is twiddling their thumbs, here are two other options to consider
Bring the car to another dealer
Contact the regional manager. He has the power to make things happen. Whether he will do anything is impossible to say, however.
These kind of things can happen, especially as cars become more and more automated and complicated. Suggest you don’t be too hard on the folks at Honda. They’d fix it straight away for you – that would be my guess – if only they knew how. They can’t work magic though.
As db4690 says, the regional manager is the next step. You will have to be willing to offer to them to take the car and keep it at their shop for many days or weeks or however long it takes them to reproduce the problem. Are you able to be without a car for that length of time? If not, what I’d do most likely, the next time it happens, pull to the side of the road straight away, use your cell phone to call up a tow truck, and have the car towed directly to the Honda shop.
I like what @GeorgeSanJose just said.
If you do choose to have the car towed to the dealer after another power steering failure, be sure to tell your service writer that you did not and do not feel safe driving the car because it just happened again.
Tell them to not bother calling you back until it’s been fixed. “Unable to duplicate” would be an insult to your intelligence after dropping the car off on the hook.
At some point it’s necessary to stop being Mr Nice Guy.
You may want to check the battery.
JWINK I have 2013 Accord and I am having a squeaking problem when I turn to the left. I took it in they heard it but could not fix it because they could not trace it to anything. Told me to bring it back when it gets more repeatable. I have 3000 miles on the car.
hydraulic power steering? elec steering? i am not a honda tech. loss of boost with a non-stalling condition could mean power steering pump or rack. check fluid level in pump reservoir?
@RAZielinski … sometimes this kind of noise, esp on a new car, is sourced from the steering wheel area. Plastic parts rub against each other as the steering wheel is turned. Very likely the case if it changes with cabin temperature, as the materials contract and expand with temperature. Sometimes it will away by itself after a few months. Listen carefully to where the sound is coming from. If from the steering wheel area, or just below the steering wheel, on the steering column, Honda might be able to suggest a lubricant they can apply that is compatible with the materials.
I too, have had this problem. However, when I lose steering I also lose my breaks. I was “luckier” and the dealership was able to recreate the problem. This lead to my 16 day old car being wrecked by the dealership themselves.
AAAAAAAAH I just ran into the same issue! I was on the highway in my 2013 accord, merged into the left lane and very nearly merged into the wall!!! I drove the car with no EPS to the nearest dealership and they’re replacing the steering system, I filed a claim with headquarters also and I told them I saw this and of course the response was “the internet is an open forum,” so if you want to put your claim number with the company that would be helpful to my claim (I wanted to get my car replaced completely but it looks like Lemon Laws are not on our side here, I asked if they could replace it with a steering box from a different year if those haven’t had any problems and naturally the case/ claim manager insisted that Honda does no wrong and it’s the most reliable car on the road blah blah blah). I’ll try and find my claim number and post it on the site as well.
I’m going to get alot of hate for this, but this is why I like older cars.
You don’t have all of these computer and electric systems powering everything. Hydraulic power steering has been tested for decades.
This is the way Recalls often get started. Enough failures, enough complaints, possibly a few fatalities and lawsuits, and the corporate bean counters sitting around the boardroom table will decide it’s time to fish or cut bait after weighing Recall costs against lawsuit judgements.
Denial of problems is pretty much standard procedure for all of them until backed into a corner.
I have a 2013 Honda Civic. This morning my daughter went to start the car so she can go to school. Then she realized that the steering wheel was so stiff. She could not turn the steering wheel. The warning light also came one saying “Please Check Steering System”. Thanks God this did not happen while the car is motion. She could get into an accident. They need to switch it back to hydraulic power assist system. This stupid Electric Power Assist system does not work and it can kill people.
I think it would be a good idea to make threads that have been inactive more than 6 months read-only.