I popped into Springfield Honda today and spoke to their aftersales manager Sean Coulson. He seems to be a competent chap and was quite honest about the issue. After driving my car he said this example was light compared to others and was well within the range of expectation for the Honda Jazz 1.2S. He suggested that they were happy to change the steering, but it would be doubtful that I would see any difference. Honda (aparently) have indicated the non-straighting of the steering wheel is normal behavior for this vehicle. He also mentioed that the 1.4model has the same rack, but that its steering self centres because it has larger wheels (quite believable).
So there you have it - if you don't like this bahaviour in the steering, don't buy a 1.2S!
Otherwise its a decent small car
Thanks for the comments folks!
Cheers
Graham
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Graham, I'm pleased that you received a sensible answer from an informed member of the dealer's staff.
I'm also glad that you did not have the steering changed. My experience is that this kind of work on the car does nothing to improve it and opens up a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong.
Finally, it's so good to see someone accept a situation like this without ranting and raving about suing, going to the small claims court, etc.
Like the Serenity Prayer says:
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change........."
Chris
Edited by doctorchris on 13/01/2009 at 10:56
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Hydraulic power steering at least has some consistency of behaviour and feel when you use it.
Electric power steering systrems seem to have minds of their own varying the way they feel and operate.
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AE - My power steering is a hydraulic system is driven by an electric motor which has three settings, light, medium, and heavy. The manufacturers marketing spin has fancy names for them which I cant be bothered to remember. It has yet to have a mind of its own other than the inevitable black box which runs it.
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Old navy
My last three VWs have had a mind of their own.. Try running one through from lock to lock at various parking speeds to feel the effect.
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My last three VWs have had a mind of their own..
My last VW related car had steam steering.
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That was a diesel, with hydraulic steering!
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Its was a hybrid, diesel electric.
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Yes a semi submersable, just like todays hybrid semi cars.
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We have a Sept 53 1.4SE Jazz on 14" steel wheels. I drive the car several times per week and I've really never noticed this effect.
Yesterday I paid attention to it and it does exactly as you said - it will hold perhaps a 45 degree turn of the wheel. I did notice that it self-centres quite well after making sharp turns - ie pulling out of side roads from rest.
I can honestly say that in 5+ years I've never noticed this before and can only assume that's down to different driving technigues.
I drove daughter's Mitsubishi Colt this morning and I noticed that with her car, it will hold the twist to the left but if turned right it will bring itself back to straight. Her car does drift slightly left anyway. This leads to me think that the issue could probably be corrected by changes in wheel alignment angles, but it would have to be done by someone who really knew what they were doing or other handling and tyre wear effects could be introduced.
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