Over 1 million Honda Accords being probed by US safety agency for steering issue

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a formal probe into steering wheel issue in 1.1 million Honda Accord vehicles from model year 2013 through 2015. The issue in the steering could result in the loss of direction control in the Honda vehicles.

The investigation was launched after the NHTSA received reports of two accidents that caused injuries and 107 complaints to either the agency or the manufacturer about the issue in the steering. The agency said, "under normal driving conditions, with no warning or input from the driver, the vehicle may veer or jerk out of its intended path of travel."

The origin of the probe goes back to October 2020 when the safety agency received a petition from a driver of a 2013 Honda Accord who alleged that the vehicle experienced a sudden loss of steering control that led to it veering off course without having given any inputs.

Honda, which is aware of the investigation, has said that it takes all safety-related concerns seriously and will continue to cooperate with the NHTSA through the investigation process as well as continue their own internal review of the available information.

An Accord driver in Dunnellon, Florida informed NHTSA that while driving at 40 kilometre per hour, the steering wheel of his car took over and he could not control vehicle any more, as reported by Reuters. The Accord went deviated and went into the forest, hitting some small trees. The vehicle was completely damaged and was declared a total loss.

In late March this year, Honda initiated a massive recall covering around 761,000 units of its passenger vehicles to inspect and replace possibly fault fuel pumps. Affected vehicles included Civic, CR-V, Accord, Fit (known as Jazz in India), MDX, RDX and TLX.

(with inputs from wires)