I purchased a 2006 Honda Civic Ex after having owned a 2004 Honda Civic Lx for 2 years. I had put on over 52,000 km on my '04 and came across the '06, so went ahead and made a deal on it. I purchased it in May '06 and have had the car for just over 7 months.

I now have 20,000 km on my '06 and am seriously reconsidering my purchase. I loved the car from the start but now am finding major problems with the car wandering all over the road.

I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and over the past couple of weeks, we received our first major snowfall plus share of cold weather. Temperatures are around -20C with a fair amount of ice and snow on the road. The car came equipped with Goodyear Allegra RSA tires (P205/55 R16).

When I'm driving the car down the road (either at city speeds or highway speeds), the car can wander from side to side at any time. The road can be completely smooth with no ruts or ice on it, and still the car will move on its own from left to right or right to left. It's not a continuous thing, as I can drive for and nothing will happen and then all of a sudden, the car will take off on me.

I'm now looking at getting rid of the goodyear tires and seeing what else I can get for it. I know that the tire pressure is good as I recently took my car in for service and also had the tires rotated at the same time.

I'm curious to know if any other '06 Civic Ex owners are experiencing this same problem. I would be interested in seeing your reviews posted here and what you have done to rectify it.
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Update:
I now swapped out the Goodyear RSA tires with Michelin Destiny tires and the car still wanders. It's not consistent but can outright dangerous as it doesn't give you any kind of warning when it's going to do it.

I would appreciate any feedback/ideas as to what may be causing this.

Thanks,

 

the new civics have overboosted power steering, which makes the slightest turn of the wheel magnified on the road.

you may also need to get your alignment and suspension pieces checked.

my acura had goodyear all-weather tires on it when i bought it and they SUCKEDASS. they caused my car to handle horribly.

i bought some BF Goodrichs which were quieter, handled better and cost less to boot.

but your car may have bigger problems. since your car is still new, take it to the dealership and have them look at it.

 

Seriously, its a new car. Go back and complain. If they take it 3 times for the same problem and dont fix it, then its a LEMON!

 

Yeah, it's still under warranty...

 

Thanks for the feedback....

The only that gets me is that I know from past experience that the dealership needs to "replicate" the problem. I know that they will ask: 1) how fast were you going when it happened? 2) what roads were you on? 3) are there any other factors that may contribute to it (do you have 1 or 2 people in the car, etc.,). With the problem being intermittent, I'm concerned that they they may not find it right away. I just have to find the time to arrange an appointment to get it brought in as I work 7am-5pm and those are the hours that the dealerships service department is open (life!).

One more question for the masses....in Edmonton, there are three Honda dealerships...does it matter if I take it to another one besides the one I purchased the car at? The reason is, where I purchased it is on the other end of the city vs. one that's much closer. I've also had my regular maintanance done at the closer one.....so if I'm going into to "b & c" about my car, can they cop out and say "sorry, but since you didn't purchase the car at our dealership, it's not our problem, you have to take it back to the dealership where you bought the car". Will that make a difference?

Appreciate any feedback on the above question.....

thanks,

 

honda dealer = honda dealer

regardless, if it's a warranty repair issue, and dealer in the country (and possibly even the US) has to honor the warranty

I know this for a fact as when I bought my 98 (second hand but got the 7 year/100k extended warranty), i had a problem with a warranty issue while i was down in florida, and I got it repaired free of cost even though i bought my car in CT

 

Update:
I took my car into a honda dealer (not the one that I purchased from, but one closer to where I live), and the service manager came for a ride with me to test drive the car. When I explained the problem to him, he replied that he knows of at least 5 prior customers where they were experiencing the same problem. I felt relieved to know that I wasn't imagining this happening to me and that I wasn't alone.

After the test drive, he said that he would do a 4-wheel alignment and that may fix the problem. After the alignment, he did come back to me and say that he did find that the rear wheels were out of alignment with the front. Basically each rear wheel was pushing the car in opposite directions from the side that it was on. He added that would be ordering me a rear control arm (forget the exact technical name of it), as he could see that it needed to be replaced. It should be in in a couple of days and after they replace it, the car will need to be aligned again.

So..my question/comment, etc.....is, if Honda is seeing a problem as serious as control of the car from improper steering, shouldn't they consider a recall of it? I will admit that my car appears to steer better now after the alignment. This is just one dealer admitting that this was happening to even brand new cars out of the lot.

Any feedback from the masses?????

thanks

 

I read a newspaper article afew weeks ago in the Winnipeg Sun about recalls. I believe a certain number of complaints have to be made to the DOT before they will bother to look into it, and from there the DOT talks to the manufacturer and they they decide if they want to issue a TSB (Technical Service Bulliten) or a recall or whatever. I wish I had read that article a little slower, I can't remember what all was involved, but this is all I can remember from it. Hope it helps!

And hey, keep the rubber side down and the wheels out of those NASTY winter potholes