10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
0 miles

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problem #1

Aug 092005

Odyssey 6-cyl

  • miles
This happened while finishing a right turn onto a short on ramp to the freeway. While holding the steering wheel with my left hand (right hand meanwhile moving to new position)and turning the steering wheel counterclockwise to straighten my vehicle again, the little finger of my left hand got caught between the airbag/steering column and the array of buttons for the cruise control (near the base where the gap there is larger). After turning the wheel a little bit several times while trying to free my hand, I realized I was in trouble: I couldn't straighten the steering wheel out without breaking my hand, and turning the steering wheel far enough to the right to free my hand would have resulted in the vehicle leaving the road. So I gritted my teeth and yanked my hand out, leaving a long cut on the top/side of my little finger, but able to continue driving. Looking at the steering wheel in the neutral position, I see that large space between the steering wheel and the airbag on the right side of the airbag (2 O clock to 4 O clock) comes to a narrower cone or pointed shape at the inferior end, so that while holding the steering wheel there with the left hand (thumb on the outside of the wheel), the hand can slide down and get 'fed' into the space between the cruise control buttons and the airbag area. I have been driving 22 years without accident or incident, most of them with Honda vehicles, several of them with cruise control vehicles, and I haven't changed my style of driving, but this is the first time this has happened.

- Paso Robles, CA, USA