What's with the Steering Wheel?

[smr2112]

Now I can "crowd source" and get a collective opinion on this. Had the car a week now and drove

it a decent amount on highway over the weekend. No issues, but...

 

Somebody else wrote about steering issues, and I don't consider it major, but my steering wheel

is off center (I'd guess '3 and 9' is more like' 3:30 and 9:30') - car rides straight, doesn't pull but

it is like this at low speed, high speed, many different roads. On the long part of the drive it's

fatiguing to your hands because they are not in a natural position on a straight road. Very annoying

to me.

 

I am thinking this is a new car issue in general. Every newish car I've driven and 2 I've bought over

the past 4-5 years had this same issue to a degree. On my Acura they aligned it away.

On my 2007 VW beetle, they aligned it, but problem still there slightly - alignment is dead on.

Tire pressure checked.

 

Is this by design and a characteristic of FWD cars in general? I'm thinking it's me...

 

I am taking car to dealer to finally get sill plates installed, will leave it and have a mechanic check

and report back.

[mlwaverunr]

Mine is straight. I'm surprised that there wasn't a pre-delivery inspection that would have had the dealer take a look the steering wheel. Steering wheel straight---CHECK, etc. That stinks. Hopefully they will get it figured out. Something may have happened during delivery to the dealer. You pay too much money to accept flaws in workmanship or lack of inspection.

[lrymal]

I am taking car to dealer to finally get sill plates installed, will leave it and have a mechanic check

and report back.

Mine tracks straight and true.

 

Definitely have them check it. Don't accept "it is the crown of the road", or "it is a tire resisting more than the others--take it to your tire dealer".

[smr2112]

Going to dealer on Wed. It tracks straight, but they always says "crown of the road" and service

guy spit that out before I could finish telling him the issue, but they can put it on the lift and check

and drive it.

 

In my experience it's NEVER the "crown of the road", I drove that same road 100x (expressway) in

my Acura and never thought about it once that car was properly aligned and wheel centered. 40 miles on

the tlattest and straightest road in swamps of 'jersey!

 

To me, it seems the alignment is right on, steering wheel is just slightly off center. Can't fault the PDI

process, because nobody would notice unless they drove the car for a reasonable distance.

[DaveM]

Had truck frontend realigned a couple years back and steering wheel was off center. Brought it to their attention and they fixed it in about 10 min. or so. They said they forgot to recenter after allignment.

===============

Going to dealer on Wed. It tracks straight, but they always says "crown of the road" and service

guy spit that out before I could finish telling him the issue, but they can put it on the lift and check

and drive it.

 

In my experience it's NEVER the "crown of the road", I drove that same road 100x (expressway) in

my Acura and never thought about it once that car was properly aligned and wheel centered. 40 miles on

the tlattest and straightest road in swamps of 'jersey!

 

To me, it seems the alignment is right on, steering wheel is just slightly off center. Can't fault the PDI

process, because nobody would notice unless they drove the car for a reasonable distance.

[bbf2530]

Now I can "crowd source" and get a collective opinion on this. Had the car a week now and drove

it a decent amount on highway over the weekend. No issues, but...

 

Somebody else wrote about steering issues, and I don't consider it major, but my steering wheel

is off center (I'd guess '3 and 9' is more like' 3:30 and 9:30') - car rides straight, doesn't pull but

it is like this at low speed, high speed, many different roads. On the long part of the drive it's

fatiguing to your hands because they are not in a natural position on a straight road. Very annoying

to me.

 

I am thinking this is a new car issue in general. Every newish car I've driven and 2 I've bought over

the past 4-5 years had this same issue to a degree. On my Acura they aligned it away.

On my 2007 VW beetle, they aligned it, but problem still there slightly - alignment is dead on.

Tire pressure checked.

 

Is this by design and a characteristic of FWD cars in general? I'm thinking it's me...

 

I am taking car to dealer to finally get sill plates installed, will leave it and have a mechanic check

and report back.

 

Hi smr2112. :D I tend to agree with most of those who have posted her. Various possibilities. Since you state that the car does not pull or wander at all, you are correct in assuming that the alignment seems to be spot-on.

 

EDIT - Sorry, quick question: When you are driving on the correct (right side) of the road, are you saying you have the wheel turned slightly to the left (sort of 8:30-2:30), or slightly to the right (3:30-9:30). I was assuming you had it turned slightly to the left, which could be considered normal on a crowned road. But in rereading your post, I realized that 3:30-9:30 would actually be turned slightly to the right, which would be unusual.

 

One question; Have you tried to drive down the opposite (left) side of a crowned road (deserted, of course) to see if the wheel winds up being cocked to the opposite side?

 

I have tried it with my car in the past, and the wheel does need to be held slightly off-center (only sometimes, according to the severity of the crown). However, not as obviously as you state yours does (3:30-9:30). Mine is more a 10 minutes before/after the hour, which I find acceptable.

 

My advice? Probably best to make a service appointment and see if they can center the wheel for you.

 

Please let us know how you make out.

 

Good luck. :beerchug:

[Oman]

Beat me to it!

 

All of the local roads in my area are pretty heavily crowned. I thought that maybe there was just a tiny bit of right-side pull on the car so I had a friend go down the road and give me an all-clear on the speakerphone... Dropping over to the left side of the road gave me just a tiny bit of left-side pull, almost the exact same amount. In a large parking lot at 25Mph the car is straight and true with a perfectly centered wheel.

 

Jon

 

 

Hi smr2112. :D I tend to agree with most of those who have posted her. Various possibilities. Since you state that the car does not pull or wander at all, you are correct in assuming that the alignment seems to be spot-on.

 

EDIT - Sorry, quick question: When you are driving on the correct (right side) of the road, are you saying you have the wheel turned slightly to the left (sort of 8:30-2:30), or slightly to the right (3:30-9:30). I was assuming you had it turned slightly to the left, which could be considered normal on a crowned road. But in rereading your post, I realized that 3:30-9:30 would actually be turned slightly to the right, which would be unusual.

 

One question; Have you tried to drive down the opposite (left) side of a crowned road (deserted, of course) to see if the wheel winds up being cocked to the opposite side?

 

I have tried it with my car in the past, and the wheel does need to be held slightly off-center (only sometimes, according to the severity of the crown). However, not as obviously as you state yours does (3:30-9:30). Mine is more a 10 minutes before/after the hour, which I find acceptable.

 

My advice? Probably best to make a service appointment and see if they can center the wheel for you.

 

Please let us know how you make out.

 

Good luck. :beerchug:

[smr2112]

EDIT - Sorry, quick question: When you are driving on the correct (right side) of the road, are you saying you have the wheel turned slightly to the left (sort of 8:30-2:30), or slightly to the right (3:30-9:30). I was assuming you had it turned slightly to the left, which could be considered normal on a crowned road. But in rereading your post, I realized that 3:30-9:30 would actually be turned slightly to the right, which would be unusual.

 

 

On the right side of the road, wheel is slightly cocked to the right at (3:30-9:30)

Have never felt it cocked the other way on any surface, but I'd have to do the

trick that was suggested.

 

I'll do a bit more testing on different roads and parking lots to see what differs.

I believe this off-centerness is very slight but always there (my perception of it).

And the more rigid tires may have something to do with it too.

[bbf2530]

On the right side of the road, wheel is slightly cocked to the right at (3:30-9:30)

Have never felt it cocked the other way on any surface, but I'd have to do the

trick that was suggested.

 

I'll do a bit more testing on different roads and parking lots to see what differs.

I believe this off-centerness is very slight but always there (my perception of it).

And the more rigid tires may have something to do with it too.

 

Hi smr2112. :D Hmmm...that is slightly odd. Usually, if the road is "crowned", the wheel needs to be cocked slightly to the left to overcome the road crown (if it needs to be cocked at all).

 

In other words, since the road drops from left to right (high in the middle, low to the right), usually the wheel may need to be slightly turned to the left to overcome "gravity" (for lack of a better word at the moment).

 

I have a feeling if you try our little test of driving down the left side of a crowned road, your steering wheel will be cocked even further to the right, to overcome the right to left drop in the road.

 

The fact that the Dealer Service Department says that it is the crown of the road causing the problem leads me to believe that there was some mis-communication when you described the problem to them, since your car is behaving the opposite of the way it should on a crowned road.

 

Probably not much to worry about, but you may want to point this out to them next time you are in for service. Let us know what they say.

 

Also, are you over inflating your tires above the Ford recommended tire pressure (the one listed listed on the drivers side door jamb sticker)? If you are inflating above the Ford recommended pressure, what PSI are you using?

 

Good luck. :beerchug:

[black70bird]

This should have been caught in pre-delivery inspection, was this an X-Plan purchase? They seem to try to cut corners on X-Plans. Anyway, bring it to the dealers attention and have them fix it. It should not have been delivered that way. It would also take a very exaggerated crown to throw the steering off that much.

 

Good Luck :waiting:

[cgul]

The crown of the road should not have any effect on the Ford electric power steering. I know my Toyota Hybrid which I traded in on the FFH was bad about pulling to the low side on a crowned road. I don't notice any with the FFH. Read this article on Ford EPS:

 

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=30019

[Scott A320]

Thanks for the EPS link! Fascinating stuff, the closest we'll get to "drive by wire" steering!

[smr2112]

Update - I looked at the steering wheel very closely. It turns out that the center or

neutral point of the steering wheel is just every so slightly off to the right. Much

less than I made it seem. Just a few degrees off, but very annoying over time. If

car is going 2 mph on a flat parking lot, it is easy to tell or even standing still at

a light.

 

In the past when I've had this problem, simply having the steering wheel re-centered

on the alignment rack does the trick. The car does not have any real pull and I don't

think it is out of alignment.

 

Taking it to dealer tonight to get sill plates installed. Actually body shop at a dealer other

than where I bought is gladly doing this and I can have them check the wheel as well.

My dealer could not install the sill plates without alot of kicking and screaming (they never

did it before!) - so I did not get them installed. Body shop guys are used to taking apart

the car (or should be), it's not complicated to install these - they said, "no sweat".

[Rodeo]

A little thing like that would drive me crazy until it was corrected. Possibly the dealer will need to simply pull off the steering wheel and turn it one tooth on the spline to get it where it should be. Force the issue if need be but have the dealer correct it.

[Waldo]

The Ford spec is +- 3 degrees, so if it's within that it will ship. But the truth is that the Fusion's flat-top wheel can look bad even at about 1.5 degrees, so complaints like this are common.

 

No need to debate, just ask the dealer to tweak the alignment, they just have to move one tie rod 1/8th turn clockwise and the other 1/8th turn counter-clockwise. The teeth in the steering wheel spline are 10 degrees apart, so don't let them touch that.

 

Also EPS will compensate for pull, but it won't compensate for the steering wheel angle. It's still a physical relationship between the steering wheel and the tires, no electronics can ever adjust that.

[smr2112]

Update on Steering Wheel -

 

I went to another dealer near me that was not the dealer I bought from - they could not and

would install the sill plates, but they let me order them and told me they weren't returnable...

salesman would let them install pre-delivery - he didn't trust them either.

 

Got my sill plates installed -$48 - by body shop guys. Manager told me they would only

charge me that much as they learned how to do them and read the instructions in advance

before I got there. Can't buy that kind of honesty - and they were installed perfectly! Said

they actually took 2.5 hours. Good deal.

 

Also got the steering wheel centered - just a minor toe adjustment (tie-rods) as somebody said.

Pulling the steering wheel ended in the 60s I think.

Not at all major surgery and car felt perfect and I could tell immediately. Had a very different

feel, no wonder it was annoying me so much. We're not all crazy, that few degrees off makes

a big difference. They must love doing that stuff. Computer receipt had a full multi-point inspection too,

battery check, fluids, etc - on a car with 400 miles - guess that's how they make their money.

 

Dealer washed my car and just got themselves a new loyal customer! They have Sunday hours too.

Seats and floor were protected in the car. Take that Mercedes (my wife always brags

how they fawn over her for her SUV service - what do you expect for a $200 oil change?).

 

Smart business people! All dealers are not the same (fortunately).

[mlwaverunr]

Any good pics close up pics of the sills?? I'm considering getting them if they are durable. The lighted part is just flair, but being stainless should be better than the installed 'sills'.

 

Glad to hear you were able to find a 'good' dealer. They are hard to find---sadly.

[bbf2530]

Update on Steering Wheel -

 

I went to another dealer near me that was not the dealer I bought from - they could not and

would install the sill plates, but they let me order them and told me they weren't returnable...

salesman would let them install pre-delivery - he didn't trust them either.

 

Got my sill plates installed -$48 - by body shop guys. Manager told me they would only

charge me that much as they learned how to do them and read the instructions in advance

before I got there. Can't buy that kind of honesty - and they were installed perfectly! Said

they actually took 2.5 hours. Good deal.

 

Also got the steering wheel centered - just a minor toe adjustment (tie-rods) as somebody said.

Pulling the steering wheel ended in the 60s I think.

Not at all major surgery and car felt perfect and I could tell immediately. Had a very different

feel, no wonder it was annoying me so much. We're not all crazy, that few degrees off makes

a big difference. They must love doing that stuff. Computer receipt had a full multi-point inspection too,

battery check, fluids, etc - on a car with 400 miles - guess that's how they make their money.

 

Dealer washed my car and just got themselves a new loyal customer! They have Sunday hours too.

Seats and floor were protected in the car. Take that Mercedes (my wife always brags

how they fawn over her for her SUV service - what do you expect for a $200 oil change?).

 

Smart business people! All dealers are not the same (fortunately).

 

Hi smr21112. :D Glad you were able to find a Dealer who could resolve your concern.

 

Best of luck with your Fusion! :beerchug: