Rep Power: 0

A drunk driver hit me a few months ago in the right-front side of my 2001 Civic EX sedan (he hit me square in the right-front wheel at about 40mph!). My car has now been returned to me (almost a month and half later) but it does not feel the same. The steering wheel does not return to center like it used to. Further, when driving down the highway I feel like I’m constantly in driving in a crosswind. It feels like I’m correcting a lot to keep the car on course.

Naturally, I have complained to dealership that repaired the car and demanded they make it right. Since that time the dealer has re-aligned the car several times, and most recently replaced the entire RT strut assembly again (including the top bearing plate). Still the wandering and return to center problem persists. The dealership has finally given-up and said that they can’t duplicate any problem. The car feels ‘normal’ to them!
My dilemma is that I went so long without having my car I have forgotten what 'normal' feels like. Maybe this IS normal but I’m just being hyper-critical because of the extent of the damage.

Can one of you fine folks out there let me know if your car behaves the same way mine does? If not, do you have clue what might be wrong with mine??

BTW - My car is a 2001 Civic EX sedan with wheels and tires from a 2004 EX (P195/60 R15)…otherwise it’s bone stock.

Here are more details about how my car behaves…

1 – Making a right or left turn - If I am making a turn (left or right it doesn’t matter) after exiting the turn I release pressure on the wheel to allow it to return to center but it does not return all of the way. The wheel only gets to about a ¼ turn from center before it stops. I manually have to center the wheel the remaining ¼ turn upon exiting a turn.

2 - Changing lanes on the highway - Once I make the lane change I have to pull the wheel back to center to stop my progress traversing the lane.

Thanks for your help!

 
Rep Power: 564

I've had two cars get smoked and never found them to be the same when I got them back.

might just be us though

 
Rep Power: 321

If you hadnt had it re-aligned I would say get an alignment.... Try taking it elsewhere to get an alignment? Check tires pressures and the balancing of your tires- all could cause car to pull on road.

Car never feels or looks the same after a wreck...

 
Rep Power: 453

Sounds like maybe they bent some axles or something when you got hit and honda didnt fix it. Or the body shop who fixed your car. Or they bent or broke some suspension part that was overlooked. I would take it back and tell them to double check everything. Body shops can be lazy when it comes to body work, they do what they can to make the car look good again, but over look major stuff. The body shop that put on my new bumper, didnt really re-align the frame and my bumper sits kinda odd. oh well, doesnt affect driving though. Take it back.