Interesting situation on both my girlfriends civic si and my tl. Just recently after driving her car in the snow and having the abs come on several times the brake pedal now needs to be pressed about 1/2 to 3/4 way down before the brakes actually ingage. This comes and goes. Some times it'll ingage as soon as i get on the brakes and sometimes it needs a lot more pressure. This happens constantly while driving. My TL has the same problem after a very short drive through some snow.

 

I had the same thing happen on my Tl after an ABS panic stop. I ended up fixing it by bleeding the brakes. Some how when the ABS engaged it allowed a very small amount of air in the system.

 

If there was air in the ABS controller- you must have had a brake line removed and a poor job bleeding the system afterwards
Use of ABS does not bring air into the system!!!

You guys may have a problem with speed sensors getting wet-iced up, or there has been some brake problems requiring a computer change-reset something
Stop by the dealer and ask about it
Dont drive without 100 percent good brakes~

 

This would be my guess.

 

Odd you should bring this up. I had a the same thing happen to me Monday morning. One of those odd situations where it was so slick not even my Blizzaks were worth anything. The car just kept rolling and rolling while the brakes chattered. When I finally did stop I felt a slight "thump" as the guy in back of me kissed my bumper. Luckily nothing that can't be buffed out once spring comes around.

But, during the whole drive to work thereafter I swore the pedal was lower. Things seem to be back to normal now so perhaps it was my mind [and still shaky legs] playing tricks on me. Adrenalin and such...

 

there is a TSB out on this, the VSA modulator lets air into the lines.

http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SB/B07-041.PDF

 

Wow, Acura really sucks on this one. They obviously know they have bad modulators, but they won't perform the TSB until the modulator goes bad. You'd think for liability reasons that they'd recall those modulators.

 

I think we can do without the !!!!. Usually the things you post are spot on and good info. I am an ASE certified master tech with my L1 and I know what I found on my brakes. It was air and some how it got there after the ABS engaged.

 

First the power steering pump, then the 3rd gear synchro and now this.....hmmm, looks like i bought a German car lol. The reason why i went with a Honda product is because i just wanted a driver not a shop princess. I also have a 93 civic with 250 k's with no prblems since bought new way back. Most of my friends have or had Hondas with nothing major to cry about. Now my Girlfriend has that 07 si and she just had her 3rd gear synchro replaced and now the brake problem just like me. Im not saying all these cars are bad because they are not but what are the chances of both of us going through the same problems? She is more fortunate as she still has about 4 years of warranty where as i have 1 left. It's my fault really, i should have done more research before buying but i just had confidence in Honda. Oh well we'll see what comes up next.

 

ok - sorrry I didnt know gen3 had an issue that actually allowed air in the system- I dont know about cars newer than my 01
So I am corrected on this issue ---
but stand by the statement on normal cars- air should not be able to get into the system!! If it does you have a problem!!!

In this case- the car has an actual problem- get to the dealer immedialty

They dont recall unless they really have to because many units are failing and enough people complained to the NTSB to force their hand
Start writing those letters!! and work on a 7/109 trans warranty like gen2 got in court case

 

So, I guess I'm not crazy after all. I called my dealer this morning. Right now the car does seem to stop OK but the pedal is definitely feeling different (lower and softer) than before the incident. I can't get to them until next Saturday. Judgment call, I know. We'll see what happens. I have a feeling they will balk at the bulletin. Dealers tend to not like it when the customer brings up bulletins cause they usually think the customer just want's the parts.

I am officially "calling BS" on this since I'd guess there are many owners of various cars that use this modulator and figure it's all in their mind that the pedal has changed. No doubt they acclimate to it and move on until whenever their next brake job/bleed. What's going to happen with additional panic stops. OK, so this is the first panic stop I've had since I got my TL back in 05 but I'd bet others have had a few and just think they are imagining the degradation.

To be fair I will see how the dealer handles it before I get too cranked up. Either way I do want to file a report with the NTSB. Not to be vindictive but perhaps for the benefit of the uninformed that have suffered this. I'm not the type that regards brakes as "magic items never to be touched by non-dealers cause you might die" (we know the types) but I still take their operation pretty seriously.