At approx 36k miles, the vehicle began exhibiting a behavior where, at highway speeds, the steering sticks while driving straight. To make a minor steering adjustment, the amount of force required to initiate a steering change would cause steering to become unstuck and then over steer. Minor steering adjustments are not possible and the vehicle is difficult to control and maintain within the driving lane. This issue initially would occur randomly but has progressed and is occurring more often.
2016 Honda Civic steering complaints
Page 13 of 16: complaints 341 to 370 of 446, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Upon starting vehicle, multiple warning lights appeared on dashboard. Lights indicated brake system issue, power steering issue, hill start assist issue, ABS system issue. Power steering does not work. Car is not safe to drive.
During a recent road trip we were driving on the freeway for extended periods. During this time, there were times when the steering became very difficult. This car has lane keep assist and other safety mechanisms, but those were turned off. However, it is as if it was trying to steer for me, but in the wrong direction. For example during a turn, it would become difficult to straighten the wheel - it wouldn't click, but it would offer strong resistance. I don't know if the power steering assist is just stopping working in one direction? In general it becomes overly difficult to steer as if it is "fighting" against the driver. The steering becomes "sticky" particularly on turns. I've researched this in different car forums and it is a common complaint. It is generally at highway speeds, it is intermittent, and it is usually after driving the car for a while. Because it is making the car difficult to stay in the proper lane this could cause an accident. The car only has 44k miles and has been well maintained. During a recent inspection for this problem at the dealer they found nothing obvious but we could not recreate the problem. Some people have reported replacing the power steering rack has resolved the problem. This should be investigated as it is a dangerous condition when it occurs.
Over 40 MPH and especially on highway, the steering wheel is very jerky. A slight adjustment causes the steering wheel to jerk in the hands right or left depending on which way it is being turned. It feels like the steering wheel is stuck and breaking loose.
When I steer on the highway going over 40 MPH the cars steering wheel would feel stuck and when I applied more pressure it jerks the whole car.
There's a "catch" in the steering. While driving, if slight turn, can feel a catch and slight "tick" not very loud.
When driving at speeds 40mph+ the steering wheel feels stuck. Making minor adjustments when the wheel is centered will have a resistance to them and sometimes makes a clicking sound like the steering is catching on something.
At speeds over about 45mph the steering sticks briefly and correction causes a sudden jerk in the needed direction. This is constant and always occurs. It seems to have become worse with time and is annoying and disconcerting, especially to passengers and anyone who drives the car rarely or has not driven the car before.
Like so many others, my 2016 civic has the sticky steering problem. At highway speeds the steering wheel "sticks" and does not allow small steering adjustments. Trying to move the car a little left or right, to change lanes for example, is dangerous -- applying enough pressure to get the wheel to move makes the car jerk. I see stories in forums about this getting covered under warranty. Seems unfair I have to pay $3k to fix a safety issue because my car has 40,000 miles on it.
Tl* the contact owns a 2016 honda civic. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 MPH and attempting to turn, the steering wheel ceased, causing the vehicle to over steer. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the holler honda dealer located at 2211 n semoran blvd, orlando, fl 32807, where a diagnostic test was performed. The contact would be contacted with the result of the test. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the dealer for a diagnostic test. The contact was informed that the failure was a known issue and referenced the federal safety agency campaign number: 18v663000 (steering). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 32,239.
When car is driven for about 20 minutes and it's hot out the steering begins to drift to the left or right and gets stuck and needs to be recentered often causing an over correction and jerk to the other side. This is constant. Does not occur as much at lower speeds but always at over 50 MPH.
I noticed that the steering wheel would start being sticky or knotchy. The electronic steering worked fine but for subtle movements you feel resistance. The resistance makes it difficult to change lanes, as it feels like a force is acting in opposite direction and it takes more strength then necessary to make subtle movements. The issue happens while vehicle is in motion. Does not feel safe in my opinion I have read forums where dealers have covered this issue under warranty, so it should be a known issue .
While driving at high way speeds, the car's steering feels stiff when adjusting to keep the car straight. It doesn't pull as if the alignment is off. The steering feels stuck when I am trying to keep the car straight and I have to over compensate which makes the car jerk. I have checked on civic forums and it seems to be a common problem my model civic. Many others have identified the problem as the power steering rack.. Honda has issued a recall for 2017 and above make civics but my 2016 is not covered.
When driving highway speeds, the steering becomes sticky and feels as if there are notches or clicks that the steering gets to stuck in. When moving the wheel left or right to "unstick" the steering, the car feels like it's over correcting. The steering is not smooth and it is hard to keep the car moving in a steady straight line. This happens more noticeably in warmer weather, later in the day and on the highway at speeds over 5 MPH. The transmission is manual and happens in any gear over 45-50 MPH.
After about 30-40min of driving on the highway, usually higher speeds, the steering wheel gets sticky and stiff at times. Feel really dangerous when changing lanes and or making slight corrections in movement. Currently my vehicle has 16k miles on it.
The steering wheel sticks when initially making minor turns or adjustments while driving causing jerking movements which magnifies at higher speeds causing the vehicle to swerve. This can be felt at all speeds including while still.
The stability braking system suddenly fail. Parking brake does not work. The brake warning lights on the dash are on. The dealer claimed they had already fixed the recall but obviously not because the problem is still there.
Steering starts to stick above speeds of 45 MPH. When trying to correct from center within the lane, the steering wheel seems to stick and then jumps and over-corrects. I then have to compensate and shift the steering wheel to the opposite side and it sticks and jumps again. It makes the car harder to control/unstable and you feel like the car is bopping within the lane from the many adjustments required to center the car within the lane. I don't have confidence in it's safety any longer.
When driving on the highway at high speed (60 - 70 MPH) my steering began to "stick". It was difficult to make the normal small steering adjustments to the right or left that are needed on the highway to go straight and stay in your lane. The sticking required me to use more force, which makes it more difficult to stay in the lane and more likely to accidentally hit someone. The problem has occurred on 4 occasions. It happens on hot days (85 - 90 f degrees) after about 30 minutes of highway driving. Once it starts, it continues as long as the driving continues.
The steering feels "sticky". Most notable at highway speeds but I suspect it is occurring otherwise, just not as noticeable when you have to turn the wheel completely vs just staying in lane. When this occurs, it is a constant wrestling match to keep the car going in the direction you'd like. What would typically be a gradual and easy constant course correction is transformed into a struggle to get the steering wheel out of the stuck (might be the wrong word, but it's easy movement is greatly hindered) position. This results in an over-correction because once you overcome the "stuck" the wheel is jerked further than intended. The steering wheel sticking causes the car to careen all over the lane and road.
I bought the car used with only 20,000 miles after driving the car on the highway for at least 15 minutes suddenly the car begins to drift ever so slightly one way or another. When I go to correct, the steering wheel resists. It doesn't freeze but it sort of "sticks" until I apply a bit more pressure, after which it suddenly releases, corrects, and acts completely normal. Moments later however, it drifts the opposite direction, and I am forced to repeat the same process all over again. End result is I begin drifting slightly back and forth down the highway repeatedly, all the while fighting with a steering wheel that doesn't seem to want to let go. I have been reading many complaints of this being a recall on the car in the 2017 / 2018 model year. Why not in 2016?
Tl* the contact owns a 2016 honda civic. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle loss power steering assist and became difficult to steer in either direction. The vehicle was taken to braman honda of palm beach located at 6200 lake worth rd, green acres, fl 33463, to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the steering rack was defective and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired and the failure was remedied. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 30,217.
After driving the car on the highway for at least 15 minutes suddenly the car begins to drift ever so slightly one way or another. When I go to correct, the steering wheel resists. It doesn't freeze but it sort of "sticks" until I apply a bit more pressure, after which it suddenly releases, corrects, and acts completely normal. Moments later however, it drifts the opposite direction, and I am forced to repeat the same process all over again. End result is I begin drifting slightly back and forth down the highway repeatedly, all the while fighting with a steering wheel that doesn't seem to want to let go this seems to be more noticeable when temperatures are higher around 80+ degrees f.
When driving on a warm day on the highway, the steering becomes very notchy when going straight. When driving, there is constant minor adjustments needed to be made to go straight, however, each time I try to make these adjustments, the steering wheel is stuck so I am slightly drifting left or right. To realign myself, I have to jar the steering wheel left or right to get it out of this stuck position which causes me to go too far and towards other lanes. Essentially I am driving zig zag the entire time trying to stay in a lane. This link has the same exact complaints from many other customers: https://www.carcomplaints.com/honda/civic/2016/steering/steering.shtml.
2016 honda civic ex steering wheel sticky , stiff & jerky. My vehicle does not have lane keeping assist. The power steering works fine for large movements but for subtle movements, it would cause resistance and jerk when you add more force to turn. This issue does not matter with vehicle speed, stopped or moving produces the same result and only requires the engine to be running. This issue causes jerky lane position and potentially dangerous over correction at highway speeds. The resistance makes it difficult to change lanes, as it feels like a force is acting in opposite direction and it takes more to make subtle movements. Please look at a video I found from a fellow civic owner. This is exactly the same problem I am trying to describe. Find the video at https://youtu.be/w5x_cavhxmm. The individual who made the video was able to get warranted work done and the dealer replaced the entire steering rack.
The steering is sticking. When driving and attempting to make miniscule road adjustments, the steering sticks and to correct, the wheel makes a jerk which is very unsafe. This problem occurs all of the time, which includes any speed. This sticking of the wheel problem has been going on for a bit over a year. I took it to honda about 1 year ago and they claimed nothing was wrong. The problem persists and now I am hearing ticking noises when making normal road adjustments as well as turning. Again, I am very frightened for my safety. As documentation from many 2016 honda civic owners is easily available through various online forums, I am suspecting this to be a major engineering defect that honda needs to be responsible for resolving.
Steering becomes jerky and tends to stick after driving around for more than 20 minutes. Rather than a smooth turn of the steering wheel it requires a bit extra force to free up the steer wheel to make even minor adjustments. Driving at highway speeds to make a minor adjustment to stay in my lane requires a bit of extra force to free up the "stuck" steering wheel before I make the minor adjustment, but to make the minor adjustment the extra force required to free up the stuck steering wheel sometimes causes a major adjustment like drifting into another lane. I've determined that this normally occurs after the car has been driven for 20-30 minutes. Happens at highway speeds as well as just driving around town. Purchased car nov 2019 this issue has been happening shortly after I got the car I realized it while traveling from texas to arkansas.had an alignment bought new tires thinking that was the problem. Still did help.
As described by many other listed complaints, my car's steering sticks occasionally while operating at highway speeds. When it is stuck it requires extra effort to do minor adjustments to maintain a straight heading. The extra efforts causes the car to jerk left and right when making minor steering corrections. This issue starts after the car is warmed up and driven for about 10-20 minutes. This has been happening since I bought the car in 2016 and I've complained a few times during routine maintenance at the honda dealerships but always receive the response that they can't recreate the issue. By the amount of filed complaints and listed comments online it obviously is an issue. We love our honda civic but this problem and the amount of others with the same issue alone has convinced me to never buy a civic again. We just returned from a road trip of over 3100 miles and it nearly drove me nuts since it caused jerky recoveries during probably well more than 2500 miles of the trip. The date provided below is the first day of our road trip. Again, this isn't a new issue with this car...it's been going on nearly non-stop with driving over 35-40 MPH since 2016.
At highway speeds, and driving straight, the steering gets "stuck" and requires extra effort to turn causing abrupt movements. It is especially noticeable when making small adjustments. This issue starts after the car is warmed up and driven for about 20 minutes.
Started to notice slight stiffness with no veering in steering on short commutes to work going hwy speed. Once I started to drive longer trips and higher speeds, I knew there was an issue with steering significantly! The steering is no longer have the gliding control like normal. Now it seems more stiff like sticking while controlling the steering wheel. Went from a glide steer to forcefully having to jerk steering back to control it (similar to a sticky button) but it's the darn steering wheel. Something like this to start happening out of the blue with no electrical issues and all maintenance kept up to date is a big issue! This really sucks and I have seen how much this type of issue cost. Since this is a known 'electrical issue' on a broad scale (fewer miles and higher miles honda) this should be a recall issue. Not a consumer out of pocket expense!
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