NHTSA Complaint #11670082 — 2017 HONDA CIVIC

I have owned my 2017 Honda Civic LX since it was new and have maintained the car consistently since purchasing it; the car is lightly driven and while over seven years old, only has 28,000 miles on it. In recent months, I had experienced some odd occurrences on the highway of my steering wheel seeming to stick when driving at highway speeds especially noticeable after driving the car for at least 10-15 minutes; there were no warning lights or other alerts on the car of a problem. I took my car to be evaluated at a Honda dealership service center in early May, as it was difficult to control the car within highway lanes, very dangerous especially in windy conditions. In that diagnostic appointment, a certified Honda mechanic verified the suspected cause of a sticky steering wheel - a failing steering rack. The mechanic could not explain why that part would fail, especially in a car with such low miles, as they said the problem was internal and could not be visualized. This is a known issue, and not just for the Civics and some other models from 2022-2025 for which there was a recall issued, but for the same generation Civics that mine is; there are many reports of 2016-2018 Civics having this issue around the 20-30,000 mile mark. After that diagnosis and being unwilling to pay out of pocket for an issue related to an internal component of an original Honda part, I reached out to Honda customer service. After spending a couple weeks communicating with Honda Customer Service and proving all the maintenance and diagnostics on the vehicle, they are unwilling to acknowledge this as an issue and have dismissed my case. I am asking that Honda be held accountable for this faulty part and stand by their brand and consumer safety, as this issue has led to crashes in Honda's with this defect.