[dr_glenn]

Touring model. The steering seems "loose". I am often jiggling the wheel back and forth when driving on a smooth highway. My GF once asked me if I was having trouble staying in the lane. To my surprise, I realized that I was! My old Acura TSX was absolutely tight and a new Civic seemed much tighter in a test drive.

Anyone else having this experience?

 

[tylers65]

Turn off LKAS it is constantly correcting the car within the lane and then you feel yourself correcting the correction. At least, that's been my experience.

 

[Jon_s]

Touring model. The steering seems "loose". I am often jiggling the wheel back and forth when driving on a smooth highway. My GF once asked me if I was having trouble staying in the lane. To my surprise, I realized that I was! My old Acura TSX was absolutely tight and a new Civic seemed much tighter in a test drive.

Anyone else having this experience?

It might also be the sensation of having variable ratio steering, where larger inputs are required to make small corrections around center. I don’t think this would be as prominent with grippy tires, vs. energy savers, since you’d have more sensation of weight on-center to keep you from making unnecessary corrections.

 

[Hapless11]

Touring model. The steering seems "loose". I am often jiggling the wheel back and forth when driving on a smooth highway. My GF once asked me if I was having trouble staying in the lane. To my surprise, I realized that I was! My old Acura TSX was absolutely tight and a new Civic seemed much tighter in a test drive.

Anyone else having this experience?

That's not at all what I have experienced. You might want to get it checked out. I've been very impressed with the steering on mine.

 

[Hapless11]

Could be lane departure warning shaking your steering wheel. If you're the type who hugs either edge of the lane, this might be what you're experiencing. You can set it to beep at you instead of shake the steering wheel, or I think you can turn it off completely.

 

[dr_glenn]

LKAS is only on if the button labeled "Main" is engaged, correct? (Main enables cruise control system).
When Main is off, I do not see LKAS on my instrument panel. Still feel the steering is sloppy. But previous comments may be the explanation: (1) steering ratio for small movements and (2) different kind of tires.

 

[Hapless11]

Lane Departure Warning is different than LKAS. Land Departure Warning kicks in along with Collision Mitigation, and the button is the little car surrounded by what looks like a force field on the left side of the steering wheel.

 

[tylers65]

LKAS is only on if the button labeled "Main" is engaged, correct? (Main enables cruise control system).
When Main is off, I do not see LKAS on my instrument panel. Still feel the steering is sloppy. But previous comments may be the explanation: (1) steering ratio for small movements and (2) different kind of tires.

Take a look at pages 509 through 516 of the Manual
It explains LKAS in pretty good detail.
Owner's Manual

 

[Hapless11]

LKAS is only on if the button labeled "Main" is engaged, correct? (Main enables cruise control system).
When Main is off, I do not see LKAS on my instrument panel. Still feel the steering is sloppy. But previous comments may be the explanation: (1) steering ratio for small movements and (2) different kind of tires.

I don't know if your definition of sloppy differs from mine or what, but the steering on mine is rock solid. If you can't narrow it down to Lane Departure Warning or something like that, I'd definitely get it checked out because it doesn't jibe with my experience with my Touring.

 

[ronnie]

My steering is solid as well. Not experiencing what you are referring to. Ask the dealer.

 

[J0j0yum]

This happened to me as I was driving home. Turns out that when I adjusted the steering wheel it didn’t lock back in to place so the LKAS got confused. I felt like the car was controlling but it wasn’t curving with the road like I was trying to do.

LKAS I believe is generally for 50+ mph driving. I was trying to change lanes this morning without signaling and got a flash warning and the wheel got really tight.

 

[dr_glenn]

I REALLY need to clarify what I mean by "sloppy steering".
I find myself often twitching the wheel a small amount left and right. Small amount = less than 1/4". This might not seem like much, but I know I never did that with my recent Acura TSX. I also don't feel like I can drive even a short distance using just my leg for steering (you know, when you're trying to change podcast on your phone). Yes, I know I shouldn't do that, but I never felt uncomfortable doing it in my TSX.

 

[Hapless11]

I REALLY need to clarify what I mean by "sloppy steering".
I find myself often twitching the wheel a small amount left and right. Small amount = less than 1/4". This might not seem like much, but I know I never did that with my recent Acura TSX. I also don't feel like I can drive even a short distance using just my leg for steering (you know, when you're trying to change podcast on your phone). Yes, I know I shouldn't do that, but I never felt uncomfortable doing it in my TSX.

. Even that is something I've never noticed. Without having tried am Acura, I've no basis for comparison so I'll take your word for it.

 

[dr_glenn]

Months later and I still think something is wrong with steering. LKAS is OFF. I brought it into dealer with a number of small complaints - this was my most serious complaint. I compared it with the tight steering of a 2018 Civic Hatchback that I test drove some months ago. The service folks said that the Insight is not meant to drive like a Civic, steering is normal. But it's not ...

My GF recently drove on the highway for about 2 hours while I was a passenger. I noticed the car often seemed to be drifting to one side or another, and I could see her constantly making small right-left adjustments on the wheel. The first time she was a passenger on the highway, I recall that she asked me if I was having trouble going straight - and I was!

I'm used to it and don't have trouble. But when I shift my attention to the steering control, I realize it's really not good.

 

[insightfully]

Sloppy (loose/spongy) steering is something I've noticed as well on my Insight. My car doesn't veer or need steering adjustments to stay in a straight path, but the steering response isn't as tight as I'd like. There is more "play" in the steering than I prefer. I've attributed the difference to electric power steering on the Insight versus traditional power steering hydraulics, but still find the loose steering annoying and unnatural.

 

[andrew28]

Touring model. The steering seems "loose". I am often jiggling the wheel back and forth when driving on a smooth highway. My GF once asked me if I was having trouble staying in the lane. To my surprise, I realized that I was! My old Acura TSX was absolutely tight and a new Civic seemed much tighter in a test drive.

Anyone else having this experience?

Maybe you need a wheel alignment?

 

[hasarad]

I've never had a problem with steering. Have you though about "test driving" another Insight to see if you can replicate the issue? There may be several factors in play - tire pressure and alignment and the two that come to mind.

 

[Aminalmo]

Guys go to settings and select vehicle and lane departure migration or somthing like that you have wide normal and tight I think now if you select wide it's a really comfy ride with alot less lose steering now tight is the best for me alll times

 

[insightfully]

I test-drove 3 Insights before buying and had the same "soft/spongy" steering impression as with the vehicle I bought. My experience was the Insight steering isn't as "tight" that of a Civic with traditional hydraulics. I sense the difference regularly, as I switch between driving my Insight (electric power steering) and older Hondas. The RDM settings (narrow/normal/wide/warning) adjust the sensitivity for when Honda Sensing engages, but won't improve the feedback/feeling of normal steering. If anyone has different experience or knowledge in this area, I'd love to hear...?

 

[insightfully]

Below is a comparison of steering specifications between the 2019 Civic, Insight, and Accord sedans using "EX CVT" as a calibrator. The Insight has the highest steering ratio and lock-to-lock turn distance among the three models:

2019 Civic EX CVT -- steering ratio = 10.94 : 1 -- lock-to-lock turns = 2.22
2019 Accord EX CVT -- steering ratio = 11.77 : 1 -- lock-to-lock turns = 2.30
2019 Insight EX CVT -- steering ratio = 12.58 : 1 -- lock-to-lock turns = 2.54

If the energy to turn the steered wheels is a constant, the higher steering ratio for the Insight would mean less effort (torque) is required to turn the steering wheel. However more turns would be required on the Insight to get a specified wheel angle, due to the higher steering ratio. My theory is that the reduced effort and increased turning requirement for the Insight cause some of us perceive "loose" steering feel compared to other vehicles (?).

(FYI - the Accord Hybrid EX and Accord ICE EX models are listed with the same steering ratio and lock-to-lock distance.)