A coworker of mine used to work in the Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio. He claims that for years, Honda deliberately calibrated the odometers and speedometers of the cars made there to read about 10% higher than the actual mileage and speed. He tells me that when I think I’m going 65 MPH I’m really only doing about 60, and my 230,000 odometer miles are really closer to 210,000. Has anyone else heard of this? Snopes has nothing to say on the subject.
I find the dial for the gas tank in my Honda isn’t super-accurate, although my current (2002) Accord is better than the previous one (1996) on this front. The old one would be off by as much as a quarter-tank; I got used to resetting my trip counter every time I refilled the tank, and using that as a way of estimating how many miles I had left in it.
I don’t think my odometer is off by much, because I’ve measured commutes using both it and highway mile markers for the same stretch of road, and they seem to match up pretty well. I haven’t got an independent way to measure speed. YMMliterallyV.
Sounds like balderdash to me. It is ridiculously easy to test the accuracy of either meter using two readily available tools: a watch and interstate mile markers. Set the speed at 60 mph, pass a mile marker. If you’re passing the next mile marker 10% too soon or too late, you’ll know it pretty damn quick. An odo that’s off by 10%, may be harder to spot in one mile, but after 10, it’s pretty glaring.
If we were talking about some obscure car, maybe, but there are way too many Hondas on the road driven by way too many different kinds of people, and all it would take would be for a few of them to discover systemic problems for this to become well known.
I agree with the balderdash assessment. I should be able to check this on I-270 on my way home. My wife’s GPS displays MPH, I guess I could borrow it and check speed and mileage with it.
The speedometer on my 97 CV definitely read about 10% high, based in the tools KneadtoKnow recommends. I always assumed it was random variation in individual instruments rather than intentional mis-calibration. Never thought about the effect on the odometer.
I’m pretty sure the speedometer on my Accord reads fast. I started getting suspicious when driving around town at the 30 MPH limit, and literally everybody was constantly passing me. One day I was driving on a road with a 35 MPH limit, and that’s what my speedometer said I was doing. I happened to drive through a school zone - it was on a Sunday, no school in session, but the radar gun readerboard thing the cops had set up there was still running (the “Your Speed” thing) and it said I was doing 30. So now I just use the speedo as a rough guide and mostly just keep up with traffic.
Of course, my Accord is an '89, so it could be the speedo has simply become inaccurate over time.
Just for another data point: the odometer on my 2007 Honda Fit seems to be dead on. I’ve driven 300+ miles down the Pennsylvanis Turnpike on occassion, and my odometer agreed exactly with the beginning/end-of-trip mile markers on the turnpike.
Just get or borrow a car GPS to check. The MPH readout option on the GPS will be (usually) extremely accurate and provide a reference to check the speedometer against.
Its not uncommon for Speedometers to be off, and reading too fast is far more common that the other way. I doubt if it’s some plot by Honda, however.
A watch a mile markers? Far too advanced and complicated. Why not do what I do and use a simple tool like a GPS?
By the way, Garmin confirms that the spedometer in my 08 CR-V is spot on.
Look what a simple Google search for “Honda odometer” turns up. :rolleyes:
http://www.poynerbaxter.com/Honda%20odometer.htm
http://hondaodometerclassaction.com/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/13/earlyshow/main2562144.shtml?source=search_story
I have tested the odometer (by using a watch on an interstate) on every car I’ve ever owned, including two Hondas and they have all read about 2-3% high. I just assumed this was standard and never paid it much attention. It does mean that the total mileage recorded is too high.
I think Dad’s new sat nav is a Garmin too. He used it to check his SAAB’s speedometer, the sat nav would read a few miles an hour less, maybe 3 or so.
There are places that have roadside speed signs that flash up your current speed in an attempt to get you to remain within the speed limit. There’s one in my neighborhood in San Diego, and we actually saw one on a freeway on our drive up to San Francisco.
If those things are accurate, then the speedo on our 1998 Civic read a few miles an hour fast. When the one in our neighborhood shows my speed as 27mph, the speedometer actually reads about 30. And when the one on the freeway showed 63mph, the speedo said about 68.
Thanks to all who replied. I appreciate the anecdotes, links and :rolleyes:. I’ll report back after I’ve performed the suggested tests.
I know that their motorcycles read 10% fast consistently.
I’m a member of a Honda Motorcycle forum site. The 10% inaccuracy is pretty much common knowledge over there.
I know for a fact that my 2005 Honda Shadow reads 73 MPH when I’m actually doing 65. GPS verified.
I have a 2007 Mustang and my speedo is off about 4 miles at 65mph. When my GPS shows 65 my speedo reads 61. I think this is because stock my car was suppose to have 16" rims but I got a package upgrade to 17" and I don’t think they recalibrated the computer to reflect the difference.
Changing tire size from stock can make a difference also.
On I-270 this evening, my odometer registered 4/10 mile greater than the mile-markers indicated over a stretch of 16 miles. I believe that’s 2.5 per cent.
Speedometers & odometers are often slightly inaccurate, because they can easily be messed up by replacing the tires, or even by such simple things as underinflated tires (which are pretty common). But it’s usually a fairly minor inaccuracy, generally less than the ‘extra’ allowed by most traffic cops before they will pull you over & issue a ticket.
Regarding the OP, what did your coworker say was Honda’s motive for deliberately doing this? I don’t see how this miscalibration would lead to them selling more Honda vehicles.
My coworker cited it as a ploy to enhance Honda’s safety record, but the cites above indicate that it mat have been a ploy to reduce the effective periods of warranties, something I had not thought of.