2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS: The Steering Wheel of Safety

Here we go again. Yet another round of bashing the steering wheel and the gauges.

I think if it was not recessed it would'nt look bad, but the dash is still ugly.

rda717409 - The Camaro steering wheel deserves harsh and relentless bashing all the way up until GM announces it's redesign. worst steering ever in a performance-oriented car.

So far I've refrained from commenting on the appearance of the new Camaro's interior. Mostly because I haven't been in one yet, and I hate to jump to conclusions. But this interior continues to grow on me. The various pictures I've seen show an interior that looks pretty sharp, and I think the above picture is no exception.

Don't know how that wheel is to hold or use, but I think it looks nice.

Nice post. Very interesting.

Now, ENOUGH WITH THE STEERING WHEEL. We get it, it sucks to the moon and back. Lets find something else to hate shall we...

I'm with redliner your beating a dead horse at this point with the whole steering wheel thing and no posts will turn the opinion of most of the 80+ people that comment on the blog.

Autopia car steering wheel > Camaro steering wheel?

The former has a lot of padding and a smaller diameter. Heh.

Well remembered, but it does really just serve to highlight how outdated and unnecessary this design is in a 2010 model.

Is there anything else of note on this car? Performance? Soundtrack? ride quality? quietness?Anything?

@crowb, Go look at a Camaro, I reserved judgement as well until I sat in one. I'm sure it is fun to drive but that is where you spend all your time and it should be nice to look at, but I would like to hear more about the actual driving experience than the interior.

I'm wondering if in the days of airbags, this design actually makes the steering wheel less safe. Upon frontal impact the airbag would deploy and hopefully stop you before you hit the steering wheel or worse. But in this case, the airbag is actually starting out further from the driver's body because it is recessed from the rim of the wheel. It would actually take fractionally longer to reach the driver (and vice versa) when it deploys. I know we're talking milliseconds here but timing is everything in a crash.

Trentor - aside from the Edmunds editors, I have not found one actual 5th Gen owner/driver that dislikes the steering wheel. They've all seen Edmunds criticism of it, but after owning and driving the car for months they just don't see a real problem. Then you go to the comments section and see plenty of flaming from people who would never lower themselves to actually sit in a domestic car, but they "know" just by looking at the wheel that it sucks. I'll trust the owners and my own hands on this one.

"Then you go to the comments section and see plenty of flaming from people who would never lower themselves to actually sit in a domestic car, but they "know" just by looking at the wheel that it sucks. I'll trust the owners and my own hands on this one."

Give this man a prize. Have we had any Camaro owners show up and complain about this? BTW, edmunds on consumer ratings show this as the top rated coupe in its class with a 9.5 rating. Read the owner reviews and see how many times the wheel is mentioned.

@jeepsrt - A guy I work with is getting his new Camaro SS next thursday (finally!). So you can be sure I'll be out in the parking lot giving it a look. Hopefully he'll take me for a quick ride in it as well.

Its been hard to get near one at the dealerships around here unless you're practically waving a fist full of cash under their noses. And I hate to lead a salesman on with false pretenses.

stovt001, I would hope that an owner didn't consider the steering wheel a major problem, because they're the ones who spent so many thousands plus markup to have a Camaro. Wouldn't it stand to reason that people who hate it don't buy it?

Looking at a dash that ugly is something I would have to get paid to do.

1487@

Buying a Camaro is an emotional purchase to be sure. When a person spends a lot of money on a purchase like a new car, one tends to be defensive of that purchase. I have held that very wheel in my hands and it totally sucks, period. Have you held one? Folks who buy a car like a Camaro or a BMW or a Porche have much passion invested in their purchase, unlike a Kia or some other economy brand.... It is just a car...not a family member....get over yourself.

I have held one. I was fortunate enough to get to spend about 45 minutes behind the wheel of a new Camaro. I never gave the steering wheel a second thought. It was fine.

@1487 "Give this man a prize. Have we had any Camaro owners show up and complain about this? "

What utter nonsense. Confine the comments to owners and you'll certainly get a higher proportion of positive responses. See, that eliminates all those poeple who tried it and found way too many deal-breaker shortcomings from having a voice. Convenient for your "domestics can do no wrong" agenda, but pretty far removed from reality.

Drove both a new Camaro SS (belonging to a friend) and a Mustang GT. In my view the Mustang is a better looking car, inside and out. Both are fast and fun to drive, but the Mustang won me over with its looks, handling, lighter weight and quality interior. The Camaro's appearance is just a little too cartoonish for me, and the dash/gauge cluster is hideous.

"stovt001, I would hope that an owner didn't consider the steering wheel a major problem, because they're the ones who spent so many thousands plus markup to have a Camaro. Wouldn't it stand to reason that people who hate it don't buy it?"

HAve you read the comments? No. The entire purpose of the consumer reviews comments is to allow potential owners to read about pros and cons. I never said NO negatives are mentioned. I said the STEERING WHEEL is not a source of complaints.

"What utter nonsense. Confine the comments to owners and you'll certainly get a higher proportion of positive responses. See, that eliminates all those poeple who tried it and found way too many deal-breaker shortcomings from having a voice."

Utter nonsense indeed. Every car rated by owners will have positive and negative feedback posted by the owners. Read the comments for yourself before shooting the messenger. You are nothing but a shameless shill for the IL bloggers. Now you are telling me Camaro owners are too excited and stupid to list complaints about their car. Why dismiss their comments alone? Why not say EVERY consumer review should be thrown out since we can't trust people who have invested thousands in a car? EVERY car purchase is emotional to some degree so don't give me this crap about how we should dismiss the lack of complaints about the wheel because Camaro owners are too prideful to acknowledge the faults of the car. according to your "logic" there should be nothing but positive comments for every car in Edmunds' database since owners can't be trusted to list what they don't like about their own vehicles. Again, tack your anger out on the owners who rated the car highly, not me. Take your own advice and get over yourself.

"I have held one. I was fortunate enough to get to spend about 45 minutes behind the wheel of a new Camaro. I never gave the steering wheel a second thought. It was fine."

Nonsense! All of these people who have never sat in or driven the car have said the steering wheel is an abomination. Didn't you get the message?

"stovt001, I would hope that an owner didn't consider the steering wheel a major problem, because they're the ones who spent so many thousands plus markup to have a Camaro. Wouldn't it stand to reason that people who hate it don't buy it?"

HAve you read the comments? No. The entire purpose of the consumer reviews comments is to allow potential owners to read about pros and cons. I never said NO negatives are mentioned. I said the STEERING WHEEL is not a source of complaints.

"What utter nonsense. Confine the comments to owners and you'll certainly get a higher proportion of positive responses. See, that eliminates all those poeple who tried it and found way too many deal-breaker shortcomings from having a voice."

Utter nonsense indeed. Every car rated by owners will have positive and negative feedback posted by the owners. Read the comments for yourself before shooting the messenger. You are nothing but a shameless shill for the IL bloggers. Now you are telling me Camaro owners are too excited and stupid to list complaints about their car. Why dismiss their comments alone? Why not say EVERY consumer review should be thrown out since we can't trust people who have invested thousands in a car? EVERY car purchase is emotional to some degree so don't give me this crap about how we should dismiss the lack of complaints about the wheel because Camaro owners are too prideful to acknowledge the faults of the car. according to your "logic" there should be nothing but positive comments for every car in Edmunds' database since owners can't be trusted to list what they don't like about their own vehicles. Again, take your anger out on the owners who rated the car highly, not me. Take your own advice and get over yourself.

"I have held one. I was fortunate enough to get to spend about 45 minutes behind the wheel of a new Camaro. I never gave the steering wheel a second thought. It was fine."

Nonsense! All of these people who have never sat in or driven the car have said the steering wheel is an abomination. Didn't you get the message?