Honda Recalls 400,000 Civics For Wheels That Could Fall Off

The affected wheels are recognizable by their 15-spoke design, finished in a mix of dark gray and silver, with a thin red accent stripe circling the rim. However, some of these wheels were produced without the steel lug inserts—known as sleeves—that are designed to strengthen the lug holes and secure the nuts that hold the wheel to the hub. Without these inserts, the lug nuts can gradually loosen under normal driving conditions, increasing the risk of the wheel detaching from the car. Honda says there are 3,276 sets of these wheels in circulation.

Honda’s investigation traced the issue to a manufacturing oversight at the supplier’s facility in Italy. During an equipment upgrade in late 2018, a barrier separating finished and unfinished wheels was removed, allowing some units to bypass the installation of lug sleeves and final quality inspection. The supplier reportedly ceased operations in 2023.

While the recall applies to Civics produced between 2016 and 2021, the defective wheels were only manufactured between December 2018 and December 2019. Honda will notify affected owners by mail and instruct them to visit a dealer for inspection. Technicians will remove all four wheels, check for missing sleeves, and replace any affected rims and hub components at no cost. Faulty wheels will be permanently destroyed by drilling holes through the rim to ensure they are not reused.

The recall could prove complicated, as many of these wheels were sold as dealer-installed accessories or through secondary markets. Honda has had 0 warranty claims and no reports of an injury or death related to this issue in the US.

This article was co-written using AI and was then heavily edited and optimized by our editorial team.

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