Hello everybody...I have a question about steering....I have noticed that is very difficult to find the steering zero point on which the car will go straight, even though I finaly succeed and take my hands of, the car will drift to left or right. At highway speeds I have to do continuous minor adjustments to keep going straight. Is this something somebody else has noticed? Since I have never drove a car with "electric" steering before, I don’t know if it should be so sensitive...or it is an alignment problem; I have the 15' wheels does it contribute to the problem?
Sounds like an allignment problem. My T3 Prius with 15 inch wheels heads straight if you let go of the wheel (depending on the road of course).
I noticed the same thing with my new Prius. Made an appointment to check the alignment, but decided to check tire pressures before. All tires were under inflated and, when I increased the pressures to the correct level, the problem went away. I canceled the alignment.
we did it last night. Drove on the interstate for at least a mile with my arms folded in front of me. straight as an arrow.
Well, for what it's worth, I'm sitting here in a Toyota dealership whilst they realign my new Prius. There seemed to be something mildly screwy about the steering. It kinda drifted to the left, but wasn't really obvious, or even consistent, so I hadn't brought the car in for it. Today's the day for the 5,000 mile checkup. At least they had heard of the change in the oil interval, so didn't give me any flack about that. I mentioned the steering and they said they would check it. Glad I did. The service fellow came by about an hour ago and said that the camber was off (!) and it would take them another hour to fix it. "High precision" was his comment. It'll be interesting to see if the change is noticeable when I get the car back. Fun. KBeck.
It's fairly common for new cars to need an alignment. That's probably why Toyota provides for one free alignment within the first 12,000 miles. Bw
All done. 5000 mile checkup (rotate tires, check brakes, check mats, make sure the engine hasn't fallen out, etc.): Cost, $21. All wheel alignment took three hours (!) with me waiting out in customer room. Guess there might have been a line. The slightly screwy feel is gone, the car drifts left when the road is tilted left, drifts right when the road is tilted right, and goes straight otherwise. Which it pretty much did before.. But it feels better now. The report has things in there I've never noticed on any car I've had before. Camber, caster, toe; those I recognize and know. But what the heck are "cross camber", "cross caster", "cross SAI", and, the winner, "thrust angle"? Oh, well. Guess it's time to chase through Wikipedia. KBeck.
No probs - check tire pressure and try to find a truly flat road. If nothing works, likely a mis-alignment.
