Honda Civic steering rack problems

[coachk]

I spent a little extra money to buy my daughter a nice Honda Civic to go away to college last year in Kansas...it was a 2018 and only had 10k miles, clean carfax, 1 owner. She came home this summer and 3 days before she was set to go back, her steering wheel starts "sticking"...took it to my mechanic and he said to take it to the honda dealer because it is a known issue and they should fix it (the steering rack needed replaced). Sure enough, took it to the dealer and said the same thing and it was gonna cost me $4200 to replace and the part is backordered at LEAST until the 13th of this month (we put it in the shop 2 weeks ago). After looking into this issue, it seems to be a pretty big problem and it's certainly a dangerous one! I drove it 20 miles to the nearest dealer and couldn't keep it in a straight line. It's like there's a magnet on the steering wheel somewhere and it just attaches itself and you have to "break it loose" and then it's just a constant struggle over-correcting and breaking it loose again. Definitely NOT what i consider Honda reliability or quality and unhappy with the way it was dealt with from corporate. No way these parts should be failing this soon (it's got 26k miles on it now). They apparently recalled 54 2018 honda civics for this exact issue, but they refuse to cover ours and the honda dealer said this was the 1st time they've ever heard of that problem (they obviously don't read on the internet) Hopefully they'll make it right and put a recall out on all of these to fix the issue, so if you've had an issue with this fill out a report with NHTSA !!
Just a heads up for anyone else that might be dealilng with this crap and a little vent on my part!ha

[Walker]

I'm thinking it should be under warranty. Call some higher ups. And if they still don't cover it take it to an independent mechanic and put an aftermarket rack in it.

[CabezaBlanca]

$4,200 seems crazy. Rockauto has the R&P for $531 plus core charge. I'd let your mechanic give you an estimate.

[coachk]

yes, i think i went about as high as they were gonna let me with honda corporate...they opened a case and pretty much said they werent gonna cover any of it because it was out of warranty, even though it's low mileage, the years are up. My mechanic thought it best that I have the dealer fix it because if it is ever recalled (and he said they should be, but i'm not holding my breath), then honda will reimburse me. 4200 seems to be the going rate for installing that part because I've talked with a few people from all over and it's about the same price. I just wonder if they're replacing it with the same part or is this new one improved and i'm not gonna have to worry about it for a while. If it had gone out at 100k miles i wouldn't have said anything but less than 27k miles is a bit ridiculous and especially at that price

[mrupe]

Had the same thing happen to a 2019 Honda CRV. Luckily it was covered under warranty. Because of what I read on the internet, I asked when I went in weather it was a known issue or had a recall out for it and they said no recall and gave me a dumb look when I asked if it was a known issue.

I've had several Civics and Accords and they were the most reliable cars I've owned, but with all the reports on the internet of a steering issue has me scratching my head as to why there is not a recall on this issue.

[coachk]

The whole reason I bought Honda was because of their reliability. Bought my daughter the civic and I traded my truck in for an accord because of all the driving I'm doing now. Haven't had anything wrong w the accord, but the more I read about these steering issues, the more worried I get about putting my daughter in one... Especially since it's gotta be a known problem with as many issues as I've read about and they still refuse to recall them. I know it'd cost them lots of money to do the recall, but what's it gonna cost them when someone dies because of this faulty part

[WItoTX]

It sucks man, but it happens. All makes, all models. The reality is, the reason you are seeing this issue is the push for more economical cars. Electric power steering taxes the motor less.

Keep in mind. You might read a lot of "issues", but likely they are coming from a small, vocal minority. The same thing happened with the CP4 pumps on diesel trucks. 9 times out of 10, they failed because of bad fuel, or running the truck empty. But no one wants to admit that, or do the work to prove bad fuel, and instead blame the design.

Sorry you have to deal with it. I'd pay my own mechanic and get it done with an aftermarket part, and move on.

[WItoTX]

By the way, one thing you can do is unplug the electric steering. That will kill power to the electromagnets (I know nothing about your steering rack, but sure sounds like magnets are used based on your description). That should make the car drive fine, just without power steering.

I drove my 2017 Mustang without power steering, 305 tires, and tons of camber and caster, no problem. It's not ideal, but I'd bet you can make it work for a short time.