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Scary!!! Steering wheel difficult to turn while waiting at signal and car was stuck.
- Thread starter loveforEV
- Start date
R1Bill
Member
Surprising since Elon said in the investor conference that since late 2016 all of the steering components were redundant. Guess you found the weak link. This happened to me in a Dodge Charger last year when I was aggressively steering at low speed. I'm a big strong guy and was unable to steer the car at low speed when the power steering quit. Had to shut it down and restart the car to get it going again.
I had something similar happen to my June 2016 S75D. Near our house, I'd stopped at the mailbox down the road and after parking the car and then shifting back into drive, I received a message re: power steering being unavailable. And sure enough, it wasn't. It's been years since I drove a car without power steering and the S is just a little bit heavier than that Honda Civic was. Just a little. Turning the wheel was a huge pain in the ass at slow speeds. It took a lot of muscle to get the car to turn. What's normally a single turn into the garage ended up being like a 10-point turn.
It wouldn't surprise me if the wheel wasn't indeed locked - it's a real PITA to turn the wheel without the power assist.
Tesla shop foreman actually lived down the street from us so he was able to come out later that night - super nice guy! - and took the front of the car apart to ensure everything looked OK. Sure enough, all was fine and after leaving the car sitting for a couple hours, I couldn't reproduce the issue. It's been fine in the two years since. Obviously different from your situation in that regard, but yeh, the car is super heavy and manual steering is extremely difficult.
It wouldn't surprise me if the wheel wasn't indeed locked - it's a real PITA to turn the wheel without the power assist.
Tesla shop foreman actually lived down the street from us so he was able to come out later that night - super nice guy! - and took the front of the car apart to ensure everything looked OK. Sure enough, all was fine and after leaving the car sitting for a couple hours, I couldn't reproduce the issue. It's been fine in the two years since. Obviously different from your situation in that regard, but yeh, the car is super heavy and manual steering is extremely difficult.
The faster you are going, the easier it is to steer. Power assist works the hardest when you are stopped. That is why you see more reports of steering/ suspension failures in packing lots than on the road.
We have a S 75D that is a refresh AP1 car and had a similar incident. My wife was at church this winter with the car and it was very cold. By the way...we are in Winnipeg Canada ...a place with the most challenging cold weather, This day it was minus 38 without the windchill and minus 52 with the windchill. After the church service and the lunch...she came out to the car and started to come home. As she tried to back away from her parking spot...she noticed that the steering was locked and unable to turn it. A church member observed this and he tried it and was able to turn the wheel with great difficulty. My wife phoned me and explained her situation. I asked her if she was warm in the car and she replied that she was fine. My first consideration was that the car may have become so cold soaked that the steering could not respond correctly. I am a car guy and I know that all power steering equipped cars are able to be driven without the power assist feature...but steering efforts are very noticeable. Without knowing where the sensor was located that determines the assist requirement....I suggested that she wait in the car for about ten minutes to see if the rise in temperature has a favourable effect. She calls back and I ask her to exit the car with the remote....walk a distance away....go back to the car and get back in and try it. She did this and it worked perfectly. I thought that my procedure had merit. I was wrong. Many months later when the weather was much nicer...i was in the city with the car when the same thing happened to me. The temperature was no longer a factor. I found that I could muscle the steering enough to exit the parking space. As the car was moving...the effort became somewhat acceptable. So I drove out onto the street and started my drive home. While stopped at a stoplight I noticed that the steering effort was very high, but once moving, was acceptable. Once on the highway, the car drove normally but still noticeable heavy. I could have driven the car anywhere...but with caution. I contacted the new local Tesla service guy and we discussed the problem. He shared with me that this has happened before and is a result of an improper ground on the electric steering rack. We made an appointment and he came to my shop and reconfigured the ground for the electric steering rack. Problem solved. Thank you Tesla service.
I have experienced the same thing two days in a row my steering wheel has seized up on me on the second day they had to tow my car away has been in the Has been in a Tesla service center for eight days I got a text message saying they corrected the issue rusty bolts and they put lubricant on it.Total BS
There was a recall notice on these steering racks. The notice (May 1, 2019) said that Tesla would do what they did in your case -- replace the bolts and apply a sealant. IF the bolts were broken, then they would replace the entire steering gear. They replaced mine (but my car had broken bolts, presumably worse than yours). It may make a difference that your car is not in the "snow belt," where the rust is more likely and more severe.
My power steering failed too, it was intermittent at first then totally dead; first few times I received warnings and errors but then when it totally failed I got no errors.
It looked to be a grounding issue, the ground connector is steel stud into aluminum frame and that just is not cool from a corrosion design perspective.
Did you get a fix for the while fiasco?
I have a 2017 Model S 75D with power steering failure. I live in Southern Ontario, and was just sent an estimate for 7000.00 to fix it. So far, I've had a charger issue (2500.00), suspension issues (2000.00), the frunk actuator replaced, all the door handles replaced (leds are out on those again) and a headlight (2000.00). For a manufacturer that claims less maintenance required I'm not seeing it. When the car is working it's by far my favourite, that said it's costing me a small fortune for that to be the case. With Musk becoming a right wing whack job it's becoming even harder to support Tesla. I'm saddened by the whole situation I must say. And we do need to move to towards an energy sustainable future it seems...
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