I was driving in my work parking lot yesterday after a freeway commute. I was in EV mode at about 15mph when my steering seemed to "lock". I gave it some extra force and it returned to normal. First time I've had this happen. Anyone else experience anything like this?

RayP

 

I've had a few instances where the wheel has required a bit more effort. Nothing close to locking up but just a bit more effort than usual. I expect it has to do with the electric power assisted steering system but it's never been enough to really concern me.

 

Most EPS, Electric Power Stearing, systems are linked/coupled with/to the stability control system and can be "commanded" to resist your turning the stearing wheel in a direction that might exacerbate over or under stearing.

Stability control activation is often so quick and short lived that you may not have even noticed. I have had it activate while turning, tightly turning, relatively slowly on a wet surface.

The icon is on and off so quickly you have no time to look down and see it on.

 

The most recent occurrence for me was in a parking lot on dry pavement moving at less than 1MPH as I had just put the vehicle in D after backing out of a parking space.

Pretty sure in this case it wasn't a stability control issue. Besides, my 08 FEH doesn't officially have Ford's stability control system.

 

How does that work?

 

The 2009 FEH was the first to be advertised with Ford's AdvanceTrac System.

I can't prove it with Ford literature but I fully expect from some of the behaviors in my 08 FEH that there are some components of their programming already included in the '08 just not the full version.


I believe the party line from Ford was that up until the '09 model they were working out integration issues with the regenerative braking systems that are unique to hybrids and obviously require adaptation from their standard ICE vehicle line.

 

Jack up both front wheels off the ground, start your vehicle, and shift into Drive. Take a wood 2x4 and put pressure on one of the spinning wheels. The other wheel's brakes should start pulsing and the one your putting pressure on should receive more torque.

 

You're "describing" TC, Traction Control, which was, can be, independent of AdvanceTrac's stability control, under or over stearing control. To have stability control you need a stearing wheel rotation position sensor and a yaw sensor.

TC, alone, goes all the way back to the late 80's.

 

That's what the poster suggests. Besides it is refered to and called Advance Trac w/Stability Control or two seperate programs.