Steering wheel would shake violently when my husband applied the brakes.

WDSCHANTZ

MEMBER
2006 HONDA ODYSSEY

This weekend on a family get away to the mountains, my husband drove the family mini van. Oddly enough it preformed much differently for him than for me. While driving 80+ miles an hour down mountains warning truckers to down grade, it seemed the Odyssey steering wheel would shake violently when my husband applied the brakes.

He feels there is something majorly wrong with the vehicle. My contention is that a family vehicle intended to drive at a much safer rate of speed (especially with three young children in the car) is not intended for his wild ride. Any opinions on this subject?

1 Reply

SQM

MECHANIC
6,383 POSTS

Hello,

Steering wheel can shake for few different reasons.
It could be due to worn suspension components like ball joints or control arms. Also, due to worn strut mounts. Another possibility is wrapped brake rotors.

Do an inspection of the suspension components. Look for any loose or broken components. Also check for excessive play.

The rotors should be checked for having excessive lateral runout.

Here is a helpful guide, run through these steps to determined what could be the issue:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/steering-wheel-shakes-when-accelerating-or-braking

I have attached diagrams for your reference.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you.

Images (Click to make bigger)