Hate to revive a dying/dead thread but I just checked out the car and the steering noise is definitely coming from the steering column or in that general area and not the upper middle of the car like I originally thought. Redbull was right.

Now, this seems to be a common issue for my gen Accord, but is this a safety issue? It's $600+ for a new steering column and that sound a bit much for just a noise. Basically, can this snowball into a bigger problem or is it just an annoying noise that I can ignore without worries?

 

I am not sure Honda would consider the steering column lower bearing a safety hazard. You might want to contact America Honda to see express your concerns and see if they might goodwill the repair in full or in part.

 

Ah, I see. Thanks for the help. I'll give that a shot.