I purchased a 2006 Honda Civic in Feb 2009. I experienced traction control issues at that time, but attributed it to getting used to a smaller/lighter car. This is my second winter now, and I am afraid to drive my car on snow-covered roads. Whenever the road surface changes from blacktop to snowcovered, my front tires slip and I feel out-of-control. I put four new snow tires on last season, so the tires are not at fault. What recourse do I have at this point" is it a factory defect or is it correctable"

- Boyne City, MI, USA

I own a 2006 Honda Civic. The winter of 2007-2008 the car would fishtail almost uncontrollably on snow and ice - not a snow or ice storm necessarily, but really whenever there was snow cover or ice on the roads. We changed tires - twice. The winter of 2008-2009, we were still having the same problem. This time, the dealership suggested an alignment. We had that done, but the tech's who did the alignment would not rotate our tires because they said our tires were bald. We discovered that the tires were not bald on the outside edge, only on the inside. We entered the winter of 2009-2010 with the same problem - took it once again to the lithia Honda dealership in ames, ia. We read internet anecdotal evidence blaming the rear sway bar. The technicians checked it and the rear shocks but didn't discover anything wrong. Lithia's service dept refused to do anything else because they could not be assured they would be reimbursed for their costs. Lithia of ames did not contact the national manufacturer, american Honda, until we asked them to. We did more research. One man in british columbia had posted about his car having the exact same problem as ours - complete with many of the same words used to describe the problem as we had used and that technicians had determined it was the control arm. The control arm is too short. We asked them to contact american Honda - the control arm has a bulletin - but only for uneven tread wear. My family and I - our friends, even - are afraid to drive in this car. We cannot take it over 35-40 miles an hour even when it's sunny outside because snow cover will cause it to have this problem. The car doesn't track straight when traversing bumpy roads. On a trip down South last winter, the car hit a small patch of ice and felt like we were going into the ditch. We are going to continue to see problems with the uneven tire wear. The american Honda representative, said, our rear alignment is the worst she's ever seen. Please help!!

- Ames, IA, USA