I had this happen once before, and last time after a restart the problem went away. It bugged me, but I didn't think it was worth taking it in at the time as I couldn't reproduce the problem. That was a year+ ago...

Anyway, today my boyfriend went to come pick me up and the power steering was gone again. He called me and thankfully I remembered from last time and told him to restart the car. It took two restarts, but it did start working again. This time though I decided to make an issue of it because we're about to go on a 1.600km road trip.

I wanted to write this to say "thanks!" because I searched here first and found the details about the EPS unit being bad.

I've printed off about 25 sheets worth of threads here and while I was doing that my boyfriend found the TSB (09-043) describing this exact problem.

I'll be going into my dealer tomorrow morning with this stack of paper, the TSB and my 'ol Irish temper. I'll let ya know how it works out.

Digi

 

That's good. I hope the EPS gremlins stay away while you're on the 1600-km road trip.

 

I'm looking to have the gremlins hauled out and shot before my road trip, thank you very much.

 

you probably printed one of my threads lol.

glad to hear there is a tsb....back when i was experiencing the problem there was no such remedy. i wonder if only honda of canada has recognized the problem? i'll have to check edmunds to see if its been posted for the u.s. fit.

my fit is vbp too, go figure. (and i'm irish! woot woot!)

 

Hye El, yup, your post plus one or two you replied to. Woot on the Irish heritage!

Anywho, the promised update; The dealership didn't have enough time to look at it today (didn't get there 'till 4pm). So I'm dropping it off tomorrow. The tech said that he'd seen a couple others with this problem, so it sounds like it's not entirely uncommon. Also, he said the TSB said that "in some instances, goodwill may be provided", but he was pretty held-back about whether I could get it.

Anyway, before I could fight, he looked it up and it will be covered by our extended warranty. I'll know for sure tomorrow, but he showed me on his computer that it's listed as covered. Boo, it sounds like he'd have put up a good fight, too. Oh well, no fun this time. :P

I'll post again tomorrow when I hear from them with the final details. So far though, it's looking good.

Digi

 

extended warranties ftw. i have one too. it should def be covered under that, but imo if honda is willing to fix or issue a tsb for a sensor that can be messed up with road salt near the footwell, they should be able to issue one for something far worse such as this.

keep us posted!

 

Got back from the dealership; They were able to find the error from the other day in the computer's logs. I found this funny as so many others reported that their dealers couldn't reproduce the error. I have to wonder how hard they looked. I restarted the car five or six times between the error and getting it to the dealer.

Anyway, he said that because they could see the error, that was enough to get it replaced. He said before that they'd probably replace it regardless because of the TSB and it being under (extended) warranty. Trick is, there are non in North America... so it'll be January before we get it replaced.

Now here is the most interesting part;

He said that, because we're heading out on a road trip, he deleted the error code from the computer. I thought he meant from the log, but he clarified that he meant the error code itself. He said it'd prevent losing the power steering again. I'm not entirely sure how this would work, but I am guessing that the computer thinks there is a problem (ground short?) and shuts off the power steering to be safe? If so, I guess the fuse would protect against a real problem in the meantime.

Well, probably no more updates until January. Very glad that it'll be a warranty job though. Hopefully anyone else who runs into this will be able to fight to have it covered, specially given that the TSB says it's fairly common.

As a side note, I can't overstate how happy I've been with my dealership all these years. I've yet to have any hassle. Given how often people get screwed over, I want to give props to them. Anyone in the west of Toronto, check out Oakville Honda.

Digi

 

I experienced this problem last winter several times and decided if it didn't happen while driving i would just live with it. Well, this morning i was leaving work and waiting for a green light in a double right hand turn lane and shortly after getting the green the steering went out. I was mid corner and it took me by surprise enough that i had trouble turning the wheel and almost took out the guy in the other turn lane next to me. Not fun at all. I wouldn't compare this to having your brakes go out but it certainly could be a safety issue. Mine's out of warranty by about 30K and the service writer that checked me in this morning wasn't very optomistic about Honda doing a good will repair for me. He said they're tightening there belts quite a bit on this stuff because of the recession. Hopefully He calls today with good news though. The steering going out on a three year old Honda to the tune of seven or eight hundred would be tough to swallow. That's why i bought this instead of a Cobalt.

 

Well, they quoted me $1100.00 out the door to replace this eps unit. What a F****** crock of sh**. I called another dealer on the other side of town and they'll do it for $275.00 less. I requested that they try to get Honda to do a good will repair. I won't hear back until Monday or Tuesday. Does anyone know where the eps unit is located? I found the part online for $450.00.

 

I *think* it is behind the fuse panel. Have you checked your local wrecker for the part? It's what we were going to do had it not been covered. I don't think the labour itself should be that big of a deal.

Any techs here able to chime in?

Digi

 

Oh, and Willy, this is part of why you bought a Fit over a Cobalt.

 

I saw that thread a while back and I agree. Honda's are really safe cars. I just have a tough time with the steering going bad on a three year old Honda. This is my fifth Honda and I can honestly say I've never had one unexpected issue with the last four and they all had well over 100k on the odometer. You expect to have to do the timing belt, water pump, cv joints, and regular upkeep and sure, things things go wrong even on well engineered cars, but this is B.S. I'm guessing the dealer will call back on Monday and tell me Honda will kick in X amount of dollars and the dealer will kick in X amount and I'll end up paying what would have been a reasonable price to begin with. My bad attitude doesn't help matters but playing games with car people makes me surly.

 

Understandable. Honda has a reputation, and it's partly on that rep that we bought them. I'd certainly say go ahead and fight for coverage as it seems to be a manufacturer defect, but I think you're onto something with the recession hurting everyone... Car companies (all of them) most of all. =/

Keep us posted, eh?

Digi

 

Digi, I hear you about the recession hitting companies as well. Here's the thing though. I found this part from a Honda dealer online for $450.00. I can only speculate on what this part actually costs Honda but it probably isn't any thing close to that number. Also, The labor for a job like this is about a hundred or so. So the total cost for Honda to take care of this under there goodwill program isn't much. If this were a transmission and the labor to swap it out, that could be quite costly if it were a wide spread problem. By the way, My dealer called a while ago and said that I'm on my own and gave me the 1800#. I called and filed my complain and we'll see what happens.

 

Oh, I'm not excusing Honda at all. In fact, I'd say Honda should be held to a higher standard, given their reputation. The value of their brand, and any hits to it, will long out last this recession. This seems to be a common enough problem that they at least be meeting people half-way who are out of warranty.

It's kind of like the T4-series IBM Thinkpads, to go on a tangent. IBM Thinkpads were pretty much the Honda's of the laptop world. People paid more for them because they had a reputation for being solid, reliable machines. However, they had a wide-spread problem with the video card chip breaking free at their solder joints. I had two laptops go bad this way... One of them was just over a week out of a three year warranty and they wouldn't help me at all. I'd had problems in the past and they always helped me. Even one time on an ooold laptop that was way out of warranty. What I realized was that enough had gone bad that they just didn't have the stock left to fix anything not in warranty.

It might be the same with Honda. Perhaps this is happening enough that they just don't have the parts to help everyone? It might explain why I'll have to wait until the New Year to get the part. This whole affair is so unlike Honda. I can only guess that they feel their hands are tied. In the end though, this is their product. If there is a widespread problem with it, they *have* to deal with it.

Anyway, get the TSB and whatever else you can before you call the 800 number. Make sure you're armed and ready for a long fight. This is as much about principle as it is about money. In the meantime, ask you mechanic about having the error code deleted from the computer. It seems like an easy enough thing to do and from what I was told should prevent the power steering from cutting out again (though it's not solving the under lying issue).

Best of luck, and do keep us posted please!

Digi

 

It's funny that you mention the TSB because shortly after i got off the phone with Honda i realized that i forgot to mention this. Oh well, i guess i'll mention it the next time i talk with them. As far as having my dealer delete the code from my ecu goes, they said they didn't even come up with a code and that they're just making an educated guess on the diagnosis. I have no loyalty towards this dealer for several reasons and the main one would be the fact that they they actually told me that American Honda will not consider me a loyal customer because i don't have all of the regular mantenance done by this dealer. One of the first things the customer service rep told me was that they have no afiliation with car dealers. Not to mention the fact that they quoted me $275.00 more that the other two dealers in town. And as long as i'm on a roll, i might as well talk about how they told me that Honda never covers more than 25 or 30% of a repair under the Good Will Program which I know not to be true. This dealer has tried to B.S. me at every step.

O.K. I think i'm done.

 

I don't think payment is justified under any circumstance. This is potentially a life and death safety issue. If the dealer won't cover it under "good will," write a polite letter to Honda, with a cc to the Canadian equivalent of the NTSB.

 

That's a good idea about the polite letter and i agree about the safety thing. That was my main point in my conversation with Honda. If i was just some jackass who burned up his clutch i could understand why they wouldn't pay but this is entirely different.

 

Ya, CC'ing the CTA can't hurt. Include the link to the TSB... If nothing else, it'll show Honda you're serious.

The 407 ETR in Toronto is notorious for never dealing fairly with people. I got billed for driving there when I was actually in the hospital and on plates that were over five years out of date (some dick found them in a wrecking yard I figure). They were like "too bad, your plates, your bill" until I called my MP. Amazing how quick they changed their tune once they heard his name.

I'd hate to think it would take that much to get help from any company, never mind Honda, but whatever. This shouldn't be your problem... Also, definately ditch your dealer.

Digi

 

Well, a guy called from American Honda today and I was unable to take the phone call. His message stated that if the district manager in my area had spoken with the dealer and made a decision against doing a goodwill repair than it's pretty much a done deal and that he would be contacting them to verify that the decision was in fact made. looks like I'll be filing a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It's an easy thing you can do online and I encourage others who are having this problem to do the same.