Dithering Throttle Software Fix - 2016 Honda Civic Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Dithering Throttle Software Fix - 2016 Honda Civic Long-Term Road Test

The subtle yet persistent throttle surge we detected in our 2016 Honda Civic with the 1.5-liter turbo engine was cured by a transmission software reflash.

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kirkhilles1

I suspect I have the same issue on my EX-T (Jan 16 build), but frankly, I'm not sure it's worth addressing (it's only a minor annoyance) if its going to require them to test drive it and verify the issue beforehand, test drive it afterwards, etc. I don't understand why if there is an updated Firmware version for something that you just can't tell them to update it and have them do it without question.

desmolicious

" An alert reader wrote in to tell us about an official Honda service bulletin #16-028.."

This is one thing that leaves me a bit confused. I would have thought that Edmunds would have the inside line (C'mon!) on information like this, and not require a civilian to give them the heads up. Shouldn't someone on the staff have as part of their job description the task to stay abreast of all these things? If not, where can I send my resume?

longtimelurker

I agree that their fleet manager, testing manager, whatever - should do this. But the Honda dealer they took the car to for its first service, which occurred after the TSB came out, should have been on top of this.

actualsize

desmolicious said:

" An alert reader wrote in to tell us about an official Honda service bulletin #16-028.."

This is one thing that leaves me a bit confused. I would have thought that Edmunds would have the inside line (C'mon!) on information like this, and not require a civilian to give them the heads up. Shouldn't someone on the staff have as part of their job description the task to stay abreast of all these things? If not, where can I send my resume?

Yeah. I get it. But these cars move through different hands, and it didn't have access to it for two weeks. And I was curious to see if anyone else picked up on it without me polluting them with my thoughts beforehand. (They did, and they were quietly waiting for someone else to do the same.) Anyway, during that time I asked a Honda technical PR contact about the issue - the official first step we usually take - and he came back saying he didn't know about it. And inside line - I see what you did there.

actualsize

longtimelurker said:

I agree that their fleet manager, testing manager, whatever - should do this. But the Honda dealer they took the car to for its first service, which occurred after the TSB came out, should have been on top of this.

TSBs are a funny thing. They are not recalls. In most cases the work is only performed if a customer complains about a relevant issue to the service writer. All potentially affected cars are not flagged, as they are in recalls. This makes sense where mechanical parts and vibrations are concerned - tolerance stack-ups will differ from car to car, so one car may exhibit a problem while another may not.

But I agree this software problem is more universal. Still, it costs them money and mechanic time to fix cars for free, so if no one complains, why should they incur the expense? And if they "fix" something the customer didn't ask them to fix and they come back unhappy, they're in a bad place.

merlion0821

Long thread about this on the CivicX forum:

http://www.civicx.com/threads/2016-civic-1-5l-turbo-surges-at-highway-speeds-45–70-mph-s-b-16-028.2507/

I had the symptoms on my car (January '16 build), and couldn't feel it that much, but could see the rpm vary by 400-500 on perfectly straight and level interstate driving. After reading that many people had experienced push back on doing the update from their dealer's service department, it had me concerned that mine might not want to just go ahead and do it on request.

Fortunately, they did do it while I had the car in for its first oil change. The update cured it completely.