Our Fit is the same--I think that's what makes the experience so disconcerting until you get used to it. "White-knuckling" the wheel won't help a bit.

Five hours to go 180 miles in the snow last night. The Fit was pretty sure-footed, but needed a lot of braking room.

Cheers.

 

i just read the thread posted by blown around by the wind. Boy, I wish I had found this forum before I bought my 2010 fit in august of 2010. I live in wyoming where the wind is a big issue but I had a 22 year old honda civic and never had a problem with staying on the road. you could not have expressed my wind problems more accurately. I too am dissappointed especially with the response from the manager of the dealership that sold me the car. He said that the fit is a commuter car and purposely designed for city driving. I replied what! Then that is something the sales person should have disclosed knowing how the winds are here and that you have to get on the highway to go almost anywhere. I recently drove the car to oregon and had the same experience you reported of feeling like the steering wheel was ripped from my hands and had to white knuckle it all the way back to wyoming. I have to drive back to oregon and am dreading a drive that I would normally enjoy. I will be contacting corporate but do not expect them to be any more sympathetic. Surely, other people complained about this issue before I bought my fit. If I don't get some kind of fix for the problem (spoiler?) than I will be driving my care around with a sign that says "I hate my Honda Fit. Ask me why." I wll also be tweeting, facing booking, writing to all of the auto magazines, auto critics, auto highway safety administration and whomever else I can inform about the problem. I know from spending time in marketing for a large company that word of mouth can be more powerful than the millions spent on advertising with regard to making or breaking a product. I am normally someone who does not engage in tactics as drastic as this ,however, I am incensed that they sold me a car knowing that it has a serious and dangerous design flaw. Has anyone else had this problem or know if someone has found a fix for this issue?

 

Most of the "wind problems" are from the rear, after I installed my rear sway bar it negated a good 90% of the "swaying"

 

I'm wondering if there isn't some manufacturing defect, lack of alignment, or some other issue going on with some of the fits. I've posted before about my '10 Sport. I drive for mileage a part of the time, and I drive like a banshee part of the time. After the second hard Cleveland winter, and just about 20k miles, I cannot fault the handlling of this car. I've been on freeways in all kinds of wind, been through all kinds of snow, rain, sleet, and hail. I've passed and been passed by semi trucks, and once, had it up over 100 mph. I find it cruises nicely at 80 mph, much to my dismay, because that could get hard on the pocketbook if an Ohio State Trooper would pull me over. I've never had that 'wheel ripped from my hands' sensation. I like the steering, which at first seemed too quick. Now that I'm used to it, other cars feel ponderous. The brakes could be more aggressive. Now that the Dunlop 7000s have gotten me through the winter again, I can't imagine blowing money on other tires, or winter tires for that matter. Anyone with this problem have their alignment checked?

 

Coming from a Honda CRX which is practically immune to wind, this thing does feel incredibly sensitive to wind. But, as others have suggested, this is all relative to prior experience (at least for me).

Where I live (SoCal), the winds can kick up pretty strong due to the Santa Ana winds. I can see in unusually windy situations like these that it can be a bit disconcerting. It might be that I expected the car to be wind-prone in the beginning so its not much of a surprise to me.

 

try driving a CRV and you'll grow to appreciate the FIT

 

The Fit is definitely a squirrel in gusty conditions & when getting passed by 18-wheel traffic, but no more so than the jets I used to fly. That experience left me with a few brown stains!

 

I've noticed a bit of crosswind sensitivity, but I haven't found it to be unusually bad. If you want a real handful, try driving a '71 VW Microbus across Wyoming! Been there, done that, got quite an adrenalin rush a few times on that trip.

 

My Fit gets blown around like a leaf. Today it was very gusty, and at this point, it just makes driving more fun. I caught a nasty cross breeze when I left the draft of another vehicle this morning, and I seriously had to steer into the wind to keep going straight. Never had that happen quite as bad on any other vehicle I've had. It's just a light, tall car. Can't expect too much out of that configuration when battling the wind gods.

 

yeah i asked if canards would help. im sure lowering it would help, and wider tires create better footing, just from what ive experienced on the fit

 

It's a small car. Small cars get blown around by the wind. My 1980 Accord Hatch got blown around by strong wind, my 1988 VW Cabriolet got blown around by the wind...it happens. If it scares you that much, you'll never like driving any small cars.

 

Hello,
I own a 2009 Jazz and have also been very scared driving in high winds. The car feels like a balloon on wheels. I currently live in Denmark and there are high winds here year round. This is less of an issue with winter tires compared to the stock tires, but it still never feels 100% safe. I avoid driving on the motorway as a result (plus the fuel economy is not very good when driving over 110 km/h). The max speed here is 130 km/h and is required if you want to pass slow traffic in the right lane.

Now that winter is approaching again I want to ensure that I do everything possible to help keep the car and passengers’ safe (my wife is expecting). If anyone has any specific recommendations of good winter tires (I guess that wider is better?) or any relatively cheap mods, I would love to hear about it.
My only other gripe is that the car rides extremely hard. I can feel every little bump and crack on the road more so than any other car that I have driven.
Thanks in advance to any help that you can provide.

 

Wait. 130k is like 80 mph right? And your fit doesn't get good gas milage at that speed? I regulary do 85mph and get about 32 mpg avg. I mean I consider that high considering half the cars I'm passing are making 25 mpg tops. But if your shooting for the 40's then I guess I can see where you're coming from.

 

Not sure if you have 15 or 16 inch tires there, but wider width, lower profile tires will help with the wind aspect some, though normally you want a higher profile tire for winter. Only other option to improve wind stability is to get lowering springs, but you'll lose clearance with them.

Don't over-inflate the tires, just go to recommended pressure. Other than that - you're probably better off looking for a different car. The stuff that improves stability with wind, will only add to the ride harshness.

 

New all-season tires on my '09 Fit Sport (no mods--dead stock) sure helped out here on the prairie where the wind blows hard. Much more relaxing to drive the car now.

Cheers.

 

Putting some weight in it will make a difference for handling
in the wind, but you will take a small hit in gas mileage.

I carted home 4 cases of 24-bottled water and 4-1 gallon
jugs even distributed inside last evening... made a huge
difference in how the Fit
felt planted on the road.

If you think crosswind driving in the Fit is scary... try driving
a highway tractor dragging an empty 53' trailer. It is like trying
to keep a sailboat with an open sail upon on the road.