Slight Noise from Steering Wheel When Turning
 

I would like to get some feedback from fellow 2017 & up owners about whether your steering wheel is perfectly silent or if you hear a slight noise coming from the clock spring / cable reel area when turning at low speeds.

My wife's 2017 Sport Hybrid with almost 19K miles on the odometer that we've owned since about 14K miles makes a little bit of noise that can only be heard when it's relatively quiet in the car and if you're listening for it . The best way to describe it is to compare it to the sound that a ball bearing makes. Since I don't do a lot of driving in this car, I can't put my finger on whether the steering wheel noise was there from day one or if it got worse since we had the car, but I did happen to hear it today and was curious about whether this is normal in the MDX or if it's something that needs to be addressed.

Thanks!

I bought a brand new 18' model recently and noticed the noise coming from the steering wheel when turning and driving over a manhole cover. Dealer replaced the cable reel and steering wheel assembly, no luck. After a couple more visits to the dealer for checkups, they found the 3 bolts to secure the suspension to the sub frame were not tightened properly, they were loosen. After re-tightened them, noise was gone.

I will say that the steering in a vehicle with electronic power assist isn't as "silent" as a hydraulic unit is (at least at the steering shaft level). I first noticed it in my wife's '12 TL SH-AWD. It had this slight rubbing sound when turning her steering wheel at slow speeds without ambient car noise. I noticed it to a lesser extent in my '15 RDX, and somewhere in the middle with my '17 MDX. It's not a looseness, and it's not like something is rubbing or not lubed properly. It's just a "sound" that you get from the steering shaft. Your best bet is to see if you can drive another MDX the next time you're at the dealer to see if the sound is the same.....

Yes. That pretty much describes what I'm hearing on ours. It's very faint and can really only be heard when it's virtually silent in the car. Thanks!

My ‘18 Pilot Touring had the noise and it’s identical in my ‘18 MDX Tech. The steering is accurate and tight. I’m of the opinion all is ok.

I hear 2 noises:
1) Spring like noise from steering column when backing out of driveway and turning steering wheel while backing out at extremely slow speed. Has happened since I bought my 19 Advance. Hard to explain sound other than it sounds like a spring
2) When driving over rough road, if steering wheel is turned to the left I hear a rattle/knock sound coming from what appears to be steering column. Only happens when I turn to the left and only over rough roads. Doesn't make sound when going straight. I have the 19 advance with active dampers so suspension in general is much more quiet over rough roads then the suspension on the Tech.

I had a spring noise in mine while turning which was due to a faulty AirBag assembly which ended up being replaced.

As an update, the noise seems to have gotten somewhat louder since my original post and now sounds more like a spring noise. My plan is to bring the car in to the dealer soon to get this taken care of along with the taillight recall and this way, I will kill two birds with one stone.

Did the sound go away after they replaced the airbag assembly? Mine is in the shop now and they are going to try replacing the cable reel, but per the other posts this isn't likely to address the problem. I also let them know about the airbag assembly in the event the cable reel doesn't address the spring sound (as I suspect it won't)

The dealer ended up replacing the clock spring on my MDX and that took care of the noise issue.