2016 Honda Civic Touring Update 4: Honda Sensing

It’s been an eventful few months for our long-term Civic. Associate online editor Jason Udy, the Civic’s original chaperone, recently moved on to the long-term Nissan Titan HD Pro-4X Diesel. During its time as an orphan, the Civic was involved in a hit-and-run accident while parked on the rough streets of L.A, suffering over $2,000 worth of damage to the driver’s side rear door and fender. After a few weeks in the body shop, the Civic returned in mint condition and to a new chaperone–me.

One thing that immediately stood out on our fully loaded Touring model is Honda Sensing, which is essentially a package of semi-autonomous technology. Honda, however, makes no mention of “semi-autonomous” in any of the material I’ve dug up—a wise move considering the controversy Tesla endured with its AutoPilot system.

That said, the Civic can almost drive itself on a highway. It’s capable of coming to a full stop and accelerating (in stop-and-go traffic, for example), and it has a Road Departure Mitigation System (RDMS) that applies “mild steering torque” to keep the Civic in its lane.

So how does it work? Pretty well, actually, as long as the highway is mostly straight. RDMS gives up fairly easily on prolonged curves or dicey lane markings. And it will only steer for about 10 seconds before relinquishing steering duties back to the driver. Overall, the semi-autonomous steering systems offered by Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo are more robust.

The adaptive cruise control works fine, though I wish the gap between me and the car in front were a tad closer. At 65 mph, the system leaves about 3 to 4 car lengths of space between me and car in front—this is basically a huge invitation for L.A. drivers to cut you off, and that’s exactly what happens. On the upside, the system reacts (braking and reaccelerating) fairly quick to those situations. Aside from that, Honda Sensing is pretty impressive. It seems like it was only yesterday when we were marveling over the semi-autonomous tech that made its debut in the luxurious Mercedes-Benz S-Class. And just a few years later, you can now have it in the sensible Civic.

Read more about our 2016 Honda Civic Touring:

• 2016 Honda Civic Touring Long-Term Arrival
• Update 1: Civic Si Lite?
• Update 2: Growing Pains?
• Update 3: Road Trippin’

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