My mother-in-law’s well-maintenanced Accord LX has 80K miles on it. She commutes by train, so she uses it for errands, except for 6 or so times a year when we drive to family events out of state (my wife & I have no car). 6 months ago, I took the wheel on one of these trips and on regular streets had no isues, but I was surprised when I got on the highway: The steering had a significant delay! I had to be very careful to increment my corrections to avoid oversteer. At times I felt I was hydroplaning (with not a raindrop in sight). Mom took the car in to the Honda dealer who proclaimed that the fluid levels were fine & there was no “problem”. This was just due to the age of the car & that a lot of money could be spend fixing/eliminating it. I just drove it 300 miles and quite frankly, don’t want to take it on any more long trips without getting the problem fixed. Is this an expected result of wear & tear? Nothing’s leaking, so I’m thinking the dealer is just trying to sell her a new car.
The dealer isn’t doing [i]anything{/i]. Take it to an independent repair shop. Something is worn in the steering. One can guess at what those parts may be; but, the only way to actually know is to inspect it. The repair won’t, necessarily, be expensive. The steering sounds dangerous. Don’t delay.