Honda has issued a recall on Civics made between 2016 and 2021 equipped with a particular set of nice-looking wheels. According to Honda, these wheels may fall off while you’re driving, which is typically not something you want to happen to your wheels. The wheels in question are 18-inch alloys with a 15-spoke design and a red outer lip. Honda’s part number for these wheels is 08W18-TEA-100A.
According to the NHTSA recall report, 406,290 Civics that might have been equipped with these wheels are included in the recall. Fortunately, only 0.1% of these cars are suspected of actually having the defect that could result in them separating from the vehicle, and there have been no reported cases of this actually happening in the US, so chances are quite good that yours are perfectly fine. You should still get them checked out, however, because there’s no point in taking any chances, and Honda will cover the cost of replacing the wheels if they are defective, as well as any hubs that might have been damaged due to this problem.
Unfinished business
The root of the problem lies not with Honda itself, but with the Italian supplier that manufactured the wheels. During the installation of new equipment, a fence was removed between two sets of wheels. One set was finished and inspected, while the other still required the steel lug seat inserts to be pressed in before final inspection. This allowed some unfinished wheels to be accidentally mixed in with the finished ones.
The alloy used in these wheels is lighter but weaker than steel. It’s plenty strong enough to drive down the road, but not for the forces exerted by tightened lug nuts pressing down on it, which is why steel inserts are used in the first place. Also, the steel inserts are precisely the right size for everything to fit perfectly. Without them, the holes in the wheels for the wheel studs and lug nuts are too large, potentially allowing the wheel to come loose over time, damaging the wheels, possibly the hubs they’re attached to, and possibly causing the wheel to fall off.
The factory that made these wheels closed in 2023, so there is absolutely no way it can make this mistake again. Unfortunately, that leaves Honda on the hook for the recall, even though the problem isn’t Honda’s fault.
