NHTSA Complaint #11545053 — 2014 HONDA CIVIC

On August 30, while driving the power steering warning activated and the steering wheel become extremely hard to move. Stopped the car and followed the troubleshoot procedure; however, the failure persisted and had to request a tow truck. When the tow truck showed up several hours later, the steering operated normally and warning lights were gone. The car was towed to the Honda dealership Klein Honda 10611 Evergreen Way south, Everett, WA 98204. As the car was offloaded the tow truck, the steering operated normally and without any warnings. After few minutes at the dealership, I started the car and got the steering warning and the steering was extremely hard to move. The next day I got a call from the dealer and was told that the Electric Power Steering module was filled with water and was completely burned. The Service Manager provided the DTC fault codes 33-01 and 33-06. The dealership brought an expert to trace the water source on Friday Sept 8. The water expert investigated the water leak source. The water leak was caused by deteriorating insulation material on the right-hand side of the car and ended up in the Electric Power Steering module, causing the loss of steering. This raises significant concerns as a customer and as a person sharing the road with other Honda cars for the following facts: The car has low miles, less than 78000, The car is 9 years old, The car has been in mild climate/weather, Honda does not require inspection/removal and replacement of such components, There have been a significant number of events like this for this model. I'd like to request your department to open an investigation to this matter. This potentially impacts any vehicle sharing the road with Honda. In simple terms: Loss of steering = Loss of lives. Due to pure luck this did not ended in a fatal accident. 1/2 down the road it would have! Attached are pictures from the determination of the expert on how the water entered into the Electric Power Steering module.