As any of our Nordic readers can tell you, snow and ice are concerns that must be addressed when it comes to vehicle choice. And like anyone will tell you, if you buy a product and it doesn’t work as advertised, that can irritate you to your core. So you can deduct what happened when Sweedish magazine Teknikens Värld discovered that the Honda CR-V failed their 4WD/AWD test for the second time. Sounds like a great big bowl of fail to us.
The test is simple: the front wheels are placed onto a set of rollers designed to simulate zero-grip conditions, and the expectation is that the power will transfer back to the rear wheels, pushing the car off of the rollers. In 2013 the CR-V failed, leaving the front wheels spinning helplessly while the rears stayed exactly where they were at. Honda, embarrassed, blamed the incident on a “programming error” and in a retest, the CR-V passed. This year, the CR-V was re-tested, and the results mimicked the first test perfectly: the cute-ute sat right where it was parked, with the front wheels going for broke and the rears doing absolutely nothing. Understandably, the presenter seems annoyed with the results, and even brings in a Ford Kuga (Escape for us in the U.S.) to show Honda how the test is supposed to go. Honda, meanwhile, have responded that Teknikens Värld‘s test is unrealistic, since there’s such a big difference between front and rear grip that would never exist in the real world. The magazine has responded that Honda had approved the testing for last year, so who is right? Watch the video and judge for yourself.
(Courtesy: Autoblog)
Where is the Consumer Reports and the other car mag tests of this car?
Lets hope all CRV owners verify their car has the AWD they paid for.
Good for these guys!
I’ve always found computer-controlled AWD to be incredibly sketchy. I want my front wheels (or rear, depending) locked in and driving when I know I’m going somewhere that will require it, not when the car is already spinning out of control or high-centered.
As far as CR-Vs go, they are the automotive spawn of Satan, designed to ruin the commutes of anyone who tries to maintain a consistent pace while driving. Rolling roadblock.
What is so sad about this whole scenario is that it was Honda that showed the American consumer that you didn’t have to put up with the crap Detroit was building and selling years ago. Accords were all sold as soon as they hit our shores and backlogs were the norm. But it got the Big 3 off their lazy asses, at least for a while, and better cars started coming out of Detroit. Now it looks like Honda has become complacent with it’s products and worse yet, lies about the problems rather than admit it and fix it. Gee……why does that sound so familiar ?
sorry to be picky but its `Swedish’….
Always liked the feeling of manually shifting the t-case into 4×4 and manually locking the hubs. Hard to find nowadays.
I like the way the test driver looks like the classic GET OFF MY LAWN old guy, brings a little humor to the failed test, whats up with that Honda?
Honda was on his lawn.
I don’t know how the CRV system is designed but doing this sort of test on an older Land Rover Discovery that was Full-Time 4WD would have destroyed the viscous coupling. That’s whythey are exempt from the smog tests in Texas, to avoid using the single roller emissions dyno.
The AWD Ford Explorers of 96-02ish vintage would have gotten torn up t-cases too. Not the fault of the car, they had stout Borg Warner cases, but real life situations like this are rare for soft-roaders.
I had a MkII CR-V (the one with the wheel on the back) and the system was mechanical on that- you could feel it kick in the second you lost traction. It seems to me that the electronic system in the new CR-V is a serious fail. I’m glad I saw this as I was considering a MKIII in the near future
I think you are supposed to let the handbrake off
If it’s too weak to burn the parking brake that’s another fail