2023 Honda Civic under investigation for 'sticky' steering

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The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into model-year-2022 and -2023 Honda Civic after it received almost 150 complaints of the cars losing their power steering. Owners have fielded about 145 complaints of “sticky steering” to the NHTSA over the past 11 months, a number that does not include reports to the manufacturer regarding the potential defect.

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Owners have described the issue as that of the steering briefly becoming much heavier and harder to move at highway speeds, as a result of the loss of power steering assistance. In the best case, this is an annoying bug; at worst, it could make it much more difficult to control the car, possibly leading to an accident. Thankfully, Honda and the NHTSA say they have no indication that that has happened so far.

The issue seems to have affected all trims of Civic, including both the sedan and hatchback as well as the Si performance trim, and even vehicles with low mileage. The administration launched its investigation March 17, and a future recall is possible but not certain; however, if that happens, it’s likely that some 238,271 Civics in the U.S. will be covered by the campaign.

Canadian owners of newer Honda Civics who notice this problem should probably take the vehicle in to their dealer; they could also consider filing an official report with Transport Canada.