My thought is that with a purely fly by wire wheel, that the steering wheel feedback must just be from a couple of computer controlled motors like a video game wheel. On my video game wheel I can adjust some of the FFB settings to my liking so it just made sense to me that it ought to be at least possible, if not practical, to do this to a Prius. I am actually just a little surprised that Toyota didn't include any options for steering wheel feedback. At least being able to between a soft and loose cruising mode and more controlled and tight sport mode would have been nice. Anyone know anything about what would be needed to do this.
I've seen other threads on here about this... It'd be great if there was a way to make the steering more responsive... The only mod I've seen by people who wanted this was driving without the power steering, which is great if you're a body builder, yet not so great for parallel parking! : -)
The Prius c isn't steer-by-wire. It uses a traditional manual steering rack-and-pinion and steering column, with a column-mounted electric assist motor that uses torque sensors along with the vehicle speed and steering angle sensor to determine the level of force assist. Altering the steering assist isn't going to change the fundamental steering feel [ratio, on-center feel, etc.] That's done with trail [caster & SAI], specific tire choice, camber setting, amount of bump steer, and scrub radius. There are a handful of cars that offer varying levels of power steering assist levels [BMW, Audi, Ford, etc.]. It's likely if you're really dedicated you could hack the motor control module and adjust the assist levels, be it via code or hardware changes. Switching to a performance tire that has significantly less sidewall flex and tread squirm will dramatically help steering feel in all situations. The stock tires have poor steering feel and plenty of flex that masks inherently good chassis tuning. You can also add Whiteline offset front control arm bushings to increase caster by +0.5 degrees; that will strengthen the on-center feel and increase effort in corners while [usually] transmitting greater tire grip information. I haven't installed my Whiteline bushings yet on my c, however I've changed FWD Mac strut geometries enough in the past to understand the differences the changes make.
^^ This guy is truly an asset to the Priuschat forum, he has an incredible amount of knowledge regarding handling issues.
I actually like the way the Prius C handles for sporty driving well enough. I was mainly thinking about the long lazy commutes I make to visit my parents about once a month. For these trips it would be nice to have some more assist.
Thanks, I did not know this and it also explains why I don't get carsick like I do driving my parents Lexus RX400h (has virtually no steering feel at all). I was just assuming that they did a much better job on the Prius C steering feedback .
