Making a U turn and I start to accelerate a little while the car is still turning, there is a light shudder. It didn't strike me as being the engine but I did think it's in the drive train. I wondered about the CVT transaxle. This is the only situation I have felt this and I have felt it more than once. Now I wait till the car has completed the turn before accelerating and it works fine. Any thoughts about the source of the shudder?
...does it make the noise if you keep turning? Both directions? Differing radius turns? It might be the constant-velocity joints starting to play up! How old, how many miles on the car? Are you in a bad (salty area) in winter? There are examp!es of the noise bad CV joints make on youtube, and here! Check the boots on the CV joints for splits and no grease! Good luck!!!
Several threads on this, it's the traction control kicking in due to the wheel speed sensors detecting the difference in the inside and outside wheels during the sharp turn. The system uses the ABS braking system to slow the wheel with the faster speed because the system thinks the wheel has lost traction and is slipping. The ABS pulses the brakes, that's what you felt as shudder.
Thanks guys. I haven't tried in tight turns in both directions. I;ll have to do that. It didn't sound like CV joints. I've heard them popping before on other vehicles. The car is a 2010 but does have 132k on it. The traction control system does seem like a likelihood. I hadn't experienced that before with my old 05. I guess it may not have had it. Anyway, I feel better about it now. I do want to go ahead and change the CVT fluid though.
If you are able to reproduce it, you should see the ABS or Traction Control yellow warning lamp light up on the dashboard display.
I've been wondering basically the same. I've owned my car for slightly over a year now and I have noticed the following: I drive to the end of the motorway, there's a drop from speed 100km/h (~62mph) to zero. I tend to take it easily, just to make sure I can store all the possible regeneration. After waiting a while in the traffic lights, I continue by turning left. Turn is not very tight so the previously mentioned case does not apply in my case. However, the car vibrates clearly when I press the pedal lightly. When I press it harder, the vibration stops. I don't think it has nothing to do with traction control since it happens on dry tarmac and there is no indication on dash with any warning lights. (hope you understand me, English is not my native language)
You might have a failing drive U-joint that is causing the vibration. Under a heavier load the joint locks up tighter and the vibration isn't as noticeable.
Do you mean the Constant Velocity Joint, the joints at drive shaft deflections on the way to the wheels? Problems with those tend to crop up when cornering, more so in one direction vs the other, depending on which CV joint is failing.
The same has now happened a couple of times, also when I'm not turning at all. It seems that a long regeneration phase is preceding this action. Strange...
Any shuddering at the steering wheel should be checked out. It could be a warning of something much more serious to come which could lead to an accident or being stranded.
