I have read about a sudden loss of power steering in the 1st Generation Fit here on the forums but don't see anything in the 2nd Gen ones.

I have an 09 Fit that is a year old and today I experienced a total loss of power steering. When I started the car after coming out of a store, the power steering light came on. I had no idea what it was so I looked in the manual before driving off. It said to turn off the car and restart which I did. The light didn't go out so I started out of the parking lot. Before leaving, I shut off the car and restarted again. The wheel was really difficult to turn and so I drove all the way home like that (~10 minutes). Power steering never came back the whole way. When I got home in the driveway, I shut off the car and then restarted it. The light went out and power steering was back so I could pull into the garage.

I have never lost power steering in any vehicle I've ever had and I think it's a safety issue. The only thing different today was that I drove off to the store when the car was still cold (outside temp -20C) but I drove slowly until it warmed up. Usually I let it warm up. Very strange.

While I've read that this has happened to 1st Gen Fit owners, are there any other 2nd Gen owners that have experienced this issue as well? If this happened as you were driving or turning, it could be quite a shock and you could go off the road or into another lane.

 

get thee to a honda service dept. I suspect the steering module has a code they can query and fix the problem under warranty. It shouldn't fail regardless of the outside temp.

 

The Fit has electric power steering, rather than a hydraulic belt-driven pump like any other cars you've likely had, so, if you lose power steering, it's likely just a bad power-assist motor. If it happens again, I'd contact the dealer.

 

i would definitely see the dealer on this one.
let us know what they say after they look at it also.
or what they did to it.

 

What Steve244 says.

Although this 10-year old article applies to the NSX, I suspect that (Honda engineers are pretty conservative) the same basic design applies to the Fit, probably simplified for cost reasons, and reflecting advances in micro-electronics in the past decade.

Electric Power Steering

 

Append to me three days after I got the car.

The code in the computer pointed to weak battery, dealer put a new battery in. The new battery is a North American built, the original was Japan built. Problably sit too long without being recharged and sulfated.

BTW it was quite cold outside when it append ( below -20c ).

Please post how it was fixed.

 

Thank you for the info. It's very helpful.

I understand that English might not be your primary language but "append" is not the right word. I think you were wanting to say "happened".

@ original poster, please update us as to what happened in your case.

 

Your guest is right, English is my second language.

Good luck with your Fit.

 

Ah! 'appened. Now it is clear. Your English is far better than my French.

 

Random thought but I'm suprised my power stering has never gone out durring a demanding bass note. I have amplifiers requiring more power than the stock alternator can provide. headlights dim severely if the volume is up but steering has never been affected. How odd that a low battery could cause failure but not voltage and current robbing amplifiers. Durring peak bass voltage sometimes drops down to 9-10 volts.

 

My guest is there are two reasons; first the starter may pull more amp cranking the engine at -20C, and second the duration of the voltage drop may be longer. The EPS failed after cranking on my car. The battery was 12.2V at no load and did not accept charging, that's a symtom of sulfated battery.

I am curious, does your car's voltage at the battery post drop to 9 - 10V? Or this is the voltage at the distribution in the trunk?

Regards from cold Canada.

 

Those demanding bass notes are most likely fed by your cap(s) in your audio system.

 

or the battery...

BTW, steering the car without power steering is easier the faster you are moving, so it's not THAT much of a safety issue.

 

I had loss of power steering while driving, radio went dead. When the car was stopped and turned off it would not restart. It was the battery ground wire that was casing the problem. Cleaned the connection points with a wire brush and used WD40 on them. Reconnected and car started right up. No further issues so far.

 

I changed my ground wire. They are pretty cheap, so I recommend that.