Honda Speedometer are off?

[geokilla]

So I've noticed this for a long time now but was doubting myself. It seems to me that Honda speedometers are around 10% slower. I was in my Volvo S70 doing in 70Km/h the other day and I passed a latest generation Civic that was going more or less the same speed as me. According to his speedo, he was only doing 60Km/h. At first, I thought maybe only his car has a slow speedometer but then I remembered that our own Civic from the late 1990s also had a slower speedometer. Basically, every Honda car I've sat in or seen, their speedometers seem to be slower than the other cars.

Today, my friend came over and we went out for dinner. He was driving his 2008 Honda Civic and while his speedometer registered 60Km/h, a Toyota Corolla that was next to us that was just a tad slower had the speedometer registering over 75Km/h. Now there's the fact that maybe the wrong tire sizes were used, but my friend's Honda Civics is using the OEM Goodyear RSAs. As for my S70, the tire sizes are OEM size as well of 195/60/15.

Basically in Honda cars, it seems that lots of their speedos are slower than normal.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: geokilla
Now there's the fact that maybe the wrong tire sizes were used

There ya go sunny.

/thread now

 

[RGUN]

Very unlikely that the speedometer reads SLOWER than the car is actually travelling. Think of the potential lawsuits. Much more likely that your car and others overstate the speed. No chance of claiming that speeding tickets are manufacturers fault, and makes you think the car is faster.

 

[geokilla]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: geokilla
Now there's the fact that maybe the wrong tire sizes were used

There ya go sunny.

/thread now

Wrong tires can't be used if both cars were using their OEM sizes. Both his Honda Civic and my Volvo S70 are on OEM tire sizes. And I've noticed this occurs on LOTS of Honda cars.

Originally posted by: RGUN
Very unlikely that the speedometer reads SLOWER than the car is actually travelling. Think of the potential lawsuits. Much more likely that your car and others overstate the speed. No chance of claiming that speeding tickets are manufacturers fault, and makes you think the car is faster.

If that's the case, then LOTS of cars are overstating the speed that the car is traveling at.

 

[helpme]

There IS problem with many honda cars. I just need to remember that my TSX has 5% less miles if it comes to any warranty claims.

http://www.hondaodometerclassaction.com/

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: helpme
There IS problem with many honda cars. I just need to remember that my TSX has 5% less miles if it comes to any warranty claims.

http://www.hondaodometerclassaction.com/

Yeah, the odometer problem affected the 06-07 Civic's also. It counted miles quicker than it should have and Honda increased the warranties by ~300 miles iirc.

 

[SearchMaster]

Car and Driver did an article about this a few years ago, but the discrepancy was like 2-5%, nothing like what you are reporting.

[edit]Now with linkage![/edit]

According to their calculations, Honda's avg speedometer error rate was 1.9%, which was about in the middle by manufacturer.

 

[LTC8K6]

Use a GPS to compare?

 

[jtvang125]

I think a sample size of 3 Honda's is much too small to make such a generalized statement.

 

[iamwiz82]

BMW sets it at +5% intentionally.

 

[overst33r]

My Honda is dead on with my GPS.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Use a GPS to compare?

This.

 

[geokilla]

Hmm. I'll try using a GPS later to compare. Though wouldn't the speeds be a bit off because the signal needs to be established and it takes time for the GPS to respond, etc.?

Maybe the other manufacturers are faster than the true speed that the car is travelling at, but it's still weird in my opinion to see such a huge difference when comparing the Honda cars that I've seen/sat in to other cars.

 

[LTC8K6]

If it took time for the GPS to respond, it wouldn't work very well in a moving car.

For example, my Garmin is constantly timing a few different things. It's also recording your max and average speeds.

2 timers in particular are interesting to watch. One counts how long the car has been moving, and another counts how long the car has been stopped.

While you move, the one timer is counting of course, and the other is stopped.

The second you stop at a red light, the "moving" timer stops and the "stopped" timer starts. There's no delay. It knows exactly the moment you stopped moving, and exactly the moment you started moving again.

It's kind of spooky...

 

[w00t]

do you have aftermarket wheels?

 

[geokilla]

Originally posted by: w00t
do you have aftermarket wheels?

If you read the OP, we're on stock everything.