thunderbt3

Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing what I'm experiencing.

I took delivery of my TSX about a week ago, 320ish miles on the car. I noticed on the drive home from the dealer that in moderate speed (35-40) slight curves, the steering wheel would have a sticky spot. It just feels just like putting a socket on a ratchet wrench, as if there is a small ball on the steering column and a socket on the steering wheel. It doesnt take much force to return it to center. Steering input is around 10-15 degrees. I have experienced it turning left and right but more often right (i guess i make more right turns).

This morning while driving to work, I was in a right turn and felt the sticky spot again and this time I let go of the wheel. One would think the wheel would return to center but the wheel stayed at that position for maybe 1/2 second and then returned to center. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this or if this is normal with EPS or should I take it to the dealer. I'll see if i can reproduce it in an empty parking lot and see if it also happens as often when taking left curves.

09TSX

thunderbt3..I have seen someone else mention something similar recently. I am curious if this is a real problem or how EPS suppose to behave. I'll be curious to see what others will say....especially Colin who has experience with EPS steerings from his s2000.

thunderbt3

It couldve been in my delivery post, I didnt really think much of it and thought it would go away. I was also thinking I could be hitting that specific speed where the EPS changes steering boost.........have to try some stuff in the parking lot tonite.

chibianh

I'll try to see if I can duplicate the issue on my commute to work today.

09TSX

thunderbt...Is it something that makes the car 'dangerous' to drive or just feels funny? I am concerned as I am geting an 09 soonand don't want to be dealing with something seriously wrong with the steering. I know the 09 drives differently from the prev generation and given that I don't drive the car aggressively, I wasn't too concerned in the change in how the steering feels...UNLESS there is something fundamentally wrong with the EPS...

TSXinTN

There are most likely going to be problems with this car given that it is a first year model. I own an '04 and although I would say the overall reliability is good, it is not a 'hands free car' like the other Honda products I have owned. If you are committed to purchase then you just need to expect to have some issues. I see it as the price you pay in order to be an "early adopter".

thunderbt3

At first, it felt like the steering was stuck but I was able to correct it back to center without too much force. Like I said, it feels similar to the socket and ratchet wrench, ball and socket indentation. I'll have to try to bum my brother's ride and check out another acura dealer for another test drive

thunderbt3

I did get that alot from people I talked to while doing my car search. I'm just wondering if other people are experiencing it and maybe Acura will issue a TSB .

The new Evo X's have had 3 TSB issues for ECU reflashes already

TSXinTN

I totally understand. Hopefully you get this worked out.
My post was more in response to 09TSX.

ill45

I would get it checked out at the dealer. I have 80ish miles and i have not experienced any problems along these lines.

deTSX

Yep. Mine does the EXACT same thing. I took it back to the dealership and they kept it a couple of days but said no one could duplicate what I was describing. They said they had opened a case with Acura but that they had no record of other complaints so the general consensus was that it was possibly a characteristic of the EPS. But like you said, I rarely experience this with left turns, only right.

The dealership let me drive two different loaner TSX's and while neither of them exhibited the same behavior, they each had a different "feel" to the steering. One thing I noticed was that the steering on my car seemed much tighter. On my car, on a straight road, I can let go of the wheel and the car generally tracks in a straight line. The loaner cars felt much looser and took more effort and adjustment on straight roads. I was wondering if perhaps the tighter steering tuning/calibration/programming or whatever you call EPS adjustments of my car was one of the reasons it seemed to be holding those turns a bit more than the loaner cars?

Please keep us updated on anything you find. It's nice to know others can relate and that I'm not completely

09TSX

deTSX...So you are the one I was refering to, I couldn't remember who had this sort of experience with their steering. I'll have to go back to the dealership and test this car again as I don't wanna have this sort of issues as this would really annoy me. I don't mind having a different feel than my TSX (2006) as I know I could get used to a new feeling but problems in maintaining a straightline or steering not returning to its centre position would be enough to keep me away...

thunderbt3

Likewise

Now that you mentioned it, the steering on the other cars i test drove did feel slightly softer. I'll try doing some of my own tests in a open parking lot so i can give precise directions to the tech to see if they can repeat it

deTSX

Interestingly enough, I just got a phone call from American Honda corporate HQ asking if I would be willing to arrange a time to let their engineers test drive my car. The woman said they had not identified a specific problem or fix but were interested to see what I was experiencing. The thing that sucks is that I can't make it happen on demand. Even the places on my route to work that I know it happens, doesn't happen every time.

Of course, you have to wonder if they would be going to all this trouble if it was just some random guy complaining about his car and they didn't at least suspect something

deTSX

thunderbt3, just out of curiosity, where are you located? I'd like to be able to tell Honda that there is at least one other car that is doing this!

09TSX

This will be VERY interesting to monitor in upcoming days/weeks...PLEASE keep us posted!

thunderbt3

I'm located in the west suburbs of Chicago. I'd be happy to speak with some Honda engineers and pick thier brains. I'm a mechanical engineer myself

Please PM me if you would like me to forward you my information to pass onto them.

chibianh

Was unable to duplicate the issue on my drive to work this morning. deTSX, i'd be curious to see how it turns out.

cg2006TSX

Both of you need to get together with the guy whose leather seat is falling apart and have a sit down with Dick Colliver before this entire 2009 TSX debacle gets out of (Takeo) Fukui's control!

thunderbt3

UPDATE: I called up the dealer service dept. and described the problem to the service lady. She hasn't heard of anything come up but she scheduled me for an appointment on Friday afternoon. I did mention that other people have had the same symptoms and thier dealer contacted Acura/Honda to open up an issue. The service lady asked me if would like to wait to see what the other dealer does to resolve the issue but I politely declined and still wanted to meet up with thier tech. I just wanted to make it know to Acura/Honda so they can throw some engineers on it. She also mentioned that an Acura rep will be at the dealer tomorrow and I might be able to speak with them about the problem .

thunderbt3

TEST UPDATE:

So I did a little more driving tonight after leaving work. I was taking moderate SUSTAINED corners between 30-35, 40-45, and 45-50 mph. I think the important thing here are sustained curve. I dont think short twisties would give the sticky wheel result since your steering inputs are relatively quick. I went throught the curve one way and then turned around and ran the curve the other way to test both left and right. The road i was testing on is an industral backroad which was pretty quiet. If there was any traffic on the road, I waited them to pass before running again. I was planning on running in a parking lot but I would probably run out of asphalt pretty quick if I was doing trials at 50mph. My method was to come into the corner and turn a little late. So the steering wheel was doing this: centered, turn, back to center, turn. This way I could sweep the steering input range and hopefully catch the elusive sticky wheel. I wish i had a skidpad to do all the testing in :p

Fuel level: about 1/4 tank left (I dont think this matters since it was happening to me when i took delivery with a full tank).

Tire pressures: 36/37 F, 34/34 R (these tires have been warmed up. Cold temps are the recommended 33psi all around)

Between 30-35, it felt like there was still pretty heavy steering boost and wasnt any signs of the sticky wheel.

Between 40-45, boost felt lower and I was able to cause a sticky wheel once in the right turn direction. I tried varying my speed between 40-45 but wasnt able to duplicate anything. Driving home I was able to feel a very slight sticky wheel. It was very faint and occured in this speed range

Between 45-50, no signs of sticky wheel. You can definately feel the wheel firm up. I only tried 2 trials at this speed compared to 4 or 5 at the other speeds.

So there you have it, 40-45mph is the range sticky wheel happens on my particular car. deTSX, please forward this information to the engineers that will be visiting you. I hope it narrows some stuff down for them.

thunderbt3

ANOTHER UPDATE:

Got a sticky wheel as I was coming into work. I was very attentive to my speed coming into work. I was traveling exactly 50mph in a smooth sustained right turn. I next started to turn the steering wheel as stated above and I was able to feel it stick maybe 2 more times but they weren't as "sticky".

BTW, Sorry to the 1G TSX I passed rather quickly on the way to work

thunderbt3

Red line is the direction and path of travel.

Blue oval is where the sticky wheel occured.

Catman

I've had that problem as well and just passed it off as the way the car is supposed to handle. I think it will be something that is going to be hard to duplicate when you need to, for instance with your dealer. Hopefully it is the way it is supposed to act and if not Acura comes up with a fix ASAP.

09TSX

thunderbt3 and Catman...Any further updates you can pass along? This has gotten me a bit worried about getting the 09 TSX despite LOVING the car....

Catman

I don't think it is that big of a deal, it's not like the steering whell is locking up on you it's just a little weird. It might just be a characteristic of the electronic steering.

Dr. Evil

Crazy, I just moved to Naperville, IL area and drive past that location every day. It's a small world after all....lets all hold hands now

thunderbt3

I usually take that path when theres a big line at the winfield/warrenville intersection. What do you drive? 09 silver TSX for me.

I was able to talk to the dealer on Friday. They notified Acura of the issue but no new news other than that.

thunderbt3

deTSX, any updates from the honda engineers?

deTSX

Nope. I have never been able to get my car to "perform on cue" and so no one who test drove it was able to feel what I was describing. To be honest, it hardly ever does it anymore even when I drive it. Maybe I'm just used to it.... Anyway, I did give them your name and number so I guess we'll see. Personally, I think they are just waiting to see how many people complain before they decide whether or not to classify this as a problem. The woman's exact words were "We have not decided what direction our engineers are going to take at this point."

chibianh

Come to think of it, I don't think I've experienced this issue again or can't remember it happening since it happened the first week I had the car.

The Dark Knight

iTrader: (1)

my car has ~130 miles on it and has this "problem" too

wheel gets stuck about 15 degrees from center when coming out of a turn... i gotta give it lil tug to get back on center

spoke with my dealership today, they had no idea about it

i wish it wouldn't get stuck, but this does make me pay attention to the wheel/road a bit more, so maybe its a good thing?

genrec tsx

My car had this issue the first couple weeks I had it..but have not noticed it since.

thunderbt3

I'm still experiencing it but either I'm used to it or im used to it. I'm at about 2500 miles now.

thunderbt3

uh.....yea, ignore my rambling in the last post. Long day at work yesterday haha

mskchui

any update on this EPS issue?

The Dark Knight

iTrader: (1)

350 miles on my car now, still experiencing

chibianh

broke 3k miles.. if the issue is still there, i don't notice it anymore.

thunderbt3

I'm just about at 3K also and it seems like the issue is slowly fading away.

09TSX

Either I don't notice it or mine never had it and I have about 600 miles on mine...and NOT a single thing on my car yet....