I have a 1998 Accord EX that's normally beautiful in snow, and I've never had an accident in my life. I am a great snow driver and know how to get myself out of any skid. However, today, while traveling downhill in a freak snow squall, I slowly lowered the gears, and put the car in 1st gear and immediately lost all steering. No matter what I did, I couldn't veer away from another car (parked) and ended up hitting it. I was only going 15 mph, but it was scary to have no steering. It never occurred to me it had anything to do with 1st gear, but it happened again later down the road. I wonder - has their been a recall or anything on this? I searched but didn't find anythingl

 

did the tires spin? normally 1st gear is geared to pull. dono bout the accord but my aunts 350z in first gear at 15mph was revving around 3000rpms which is high for snow.

 

Was the engine still on when you lost all steering or did everything shut down? There was a safety recall before on the ignition switch.

tegger.com/hondafaq/tsb/accord/x02-031e.pdf

 

See, I had no idea that first gear was designed for pull. I used it to slow me down and I think that's what went wrong. Engine stayed on, everything on, just absolutely no steering.

 

Your front wheels were probably sliding which caused the loss of steering control. They don't have to be LOCKED, they just have to be turning much slower than your road-speed.

Ever ride a bike on loose gravel? Would you apply your front brake alone? That's exactly what you did by shifting into a very low gear.

Much better to use brakes because that way you're braking with all 4 wheels.

 

lol funny your talking about applying your front brake alone... thats not smart I found out the hard way after flippin over the handle bars infront of my neighbors.

 

Seems to be how every one who rode a bike learned about that..I sure did .

 

lol dono bout you but you probly didnt do it infront of 4-5 extremely attractive girls that lived down the block... lol i still remember them goin "OMG are you ok" and me sayin "yea im fine" thinking omg i cant move

 

Nice opportunity to get some sympathy from them...

I didn't have a sympathetic crowd. Just my brother laughing at me.

 

I braked, and my anti lock braking system kicked in nicely but the steering was locked up. When I looked at my tire marks they were a perfect line down the hill. Not even a slight waver, and I know I was trying to turn. Very scary. Live and learn i guess!