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Power Steering Settings

Droschke

Active Member
Mar 8, 2015
2,402
4,300
Future
In terms of wear and tear of the steering rack assembly (its longevity), is there a difference between the Sport, Standard and Comfort settings? Does any of the 3 settings put more load/pressure on the assembly and wear out the component quicker in Model S?
 

IchDochNicht

Member
Sep 4, 2016
299
208
Bay Area, CA
It would be surprising to me, if that was the case.

However, I did ask a friend (who is an engineer at a famous German sports car manufacturer) about whether electric power steering has a wear problem from turning it all the way to the end. Hydraulic power steering doesn't like this, and puts extra load on pump and seals. He assured me that I don't have to worry about any of these things with an electric power steering.
 
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Reactions: tranzndance

Droschke

Active Member
Mar 8, 2015
2,402
4,300
Future
The system uses an electric motor to apply torque to the steering column. So, and I'm speculating, more torque (i.e., the "Comfort" mode), more wear, especially if there is a belt involved as well. Correct?
 

Droschke

Active Member
Mar 8, 2015
2,402
4,300
Future
Hmm, that must mean that you are not the exception but the rule, and that -everyone's- will fail soon!

:frightened:

They mentioned during the bolt retrofit recall install that they noticed the rack was severely corroded and the "belt" was in a bad shape. Whatever that supposed to mean.
 
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tranzndance

Member
Sep 10, 2017
487
316
Bay Area
It would be surprising to me, if that was the case.

However, I did ask a friend (who is an engineer at a famous German sports car manufacturer) about whether electric power steering has a wear problem from turning it all the way to the end. Hydraulic power steering doesn't like this, and puts extra load on pump and seals. He assured me that I don't have to worry about any of these things with an electric power steering.
I have wondered about this but didn't know the terms to search about it. Thanks for explaining!
 

Mr.D

Member
Mar 16, 2018
105
48
Norway
I have been toggling between the settings, but to be honest I don't notice any difference between sport, standard and comfort...
Should there be a huge difference, if so, when should it be noticeable.... driving speed, standing still?
 

Droschke

Active Member
Mar 8, 2015
2,402
4,300
Future
I have been toggling between the settings, but to be honest I don't notice any difference between sport, standard and comfort...
Should there be a huge difference, if so, when should it be noticeable.... driving speed, standing still?

Yes, there is a noticeable difference between these setting.
 

Mr.D

Member
Mar 16, 2018
105
48
Norway
Ok... is this only in speed or also when standing still?
Because I don't seem to feel any difference.... if so, why could that be? HW or FW?
The power steering works, so it is not broken in that sense...
 

Droschke

Active Member
Mar 8, 2015
2,402
4,300
Future
Ok... is this only in speed or also when standing still?
Because I don't seem to feel any difference.... if so, why could that be? HW or FW?
The power steering works, so it is not broken in that sense...

You should feel the difference both when standing still and and rolling. I have gone through all settings through the life of my car: from standard to comfort, and now I'm using sport. The most significant difference is between the comfort and the sport settings of course. I also have only one driver's profile, so I'm not sure if you have to save it if you have multiple profiles.
 

David29

Supporting Member
Aug 1, 2015
2,150
1,764
DEDHAM, MA
Except that mine was just replaced @48K, which I thought was premature.

Was it because of the Factory Service Bulletin on the corroded bolts on the Model S steering? If so, I would not count that as a normal failure due to wear and tear.
Mine failed because of the corroded bolts before Tesla called me in, after I had gotten the letter describing the voluntary recall on these units.
But if yours did fail because of wear and tear, that is indeed disappointing.
 

Droschke

Active Member
Mar 8, 2015
2,402
4,300
Future
Was it because of the Factory Service Bulletin on the corroded bolts on the Model S steering? If so, I would not count that as a normal failure due to wear and tear.
Mine failed because of the corroded bolts before Tesla called me in, after I had gotten the letter describing the voluntary recall on these units.
But if yours did fail because of wear and tear, that is indeed disappointing.

I took the car for the corroded bolts on the Model S steering recall, initially, even though the steering was operating just fine. They then called me and said we are going to replace the whole assembly. They said when the opened it up to replace the bolts they saw some parts were just messed up and, if I recall correctly, they mentioned something about the belt being in a bad shape. I did not asked more questions since they were putting in a whole new unit :)

On Edit: Before the replacement, I had the setting on comfort but since I'm on sport.
 
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Droschke

Active Member
Mar 8, 2015
2,402
4,300
Future
I just took the car for a test, and I can notice a slight difference between comfort and sport, but is very subtle...

Glad you feel at least some difference. I very much liked the comfort setting because it was just so comfortable, especially when combined with the chill mode. After the steering wheel assembly replacement so early in the age of the car, I have been using the sport setting just because, in my own rationale, it might put less stress on the power steering parts. Just a theory, and the topic of this thread of course ;)
 

beachmiles

Member
Jun 29, 2019
110
86
Redondo Beach
Wonder if there is a tiny power savings in running is sport mode vs comfort mode via asking for less torque from the power steering motor by asking for more torque from the human driver?
 

BigNick

Disaffected Member
Dec 3, 2017
1,010
1,250
Pennsylvania, USA
If you've ever parallel parked a car with broken power steering (or just an old car not equipped with it), it's a pretty significant effort to turn the wheels when nearly stationary, so I suppose there's some power savings involved with a heavy, wide-tire Tesla.

But it's not much compared to the power the pack can deliver overall. The difference might be a hundred feet or even a hundred meters of range.

I still think turning off Creep would save more range than setting steering to Sport (personally, I have Creep off and steering set to Sport, not so much for range/power savings, just how i prefer it.)
 

FatherTo1

Member
Mar 7, 2019
504
344
California
I just took the car for a test, and I can notice a slight difference between comfort and sport, but is very subtle...

I notice the difference between Comfort and Standard. Comfort feels smoother and easier to turn (takes less effort). However, I don't like how Autopilot changes lanes when steering is in Comfort as the motion feels too jerky. With AP I set to Chill and Standard or Sport steering. That said, I can't feel the difference between Standard versus Sport steering.
 

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