I have my Prius for 1.5yr. The problem I have is that thealignment is not straight. If I leave my steering straight, the car will slowly drive to the left side. In order to get the car go straight, I have the turn the steering wheel a little to the right to make the car go straight. Is this normal?? The dealer have tried to fix this problem twice and today is the third times. Any helps or comments? Or is this normal??? I don't think the road is not straight or even either. It doen't matter which road I drive, my car is tending to keep going to the left as I drive.
No it is not normal. The dealer should be able to fix this problem easily by doing a 4 wheel alignment. If they can't take it to a different dealer or go to a tire store that has good alignment equipment. Some of the technicians on this site have said Hunter is good equipment. Also after they align it they should give you a print out from the alignment machine showing the before and after alignment numbers. If they don't offer it to you ask for it. It is also possible there is some other problem, but if there is the dealer should have found it and told you about it.
I should explain a little detail about my problem. I have alignment issue after the steering shaft recall(if I'm right). Before doing the recall, my steering and alignment are straight and perfect. After the recall, I started to feel the steering is not straight and car is slowly drifting to the left. After the third time alignment job (yesterday), the car is still slowly going to the left with the steering wheel straight. The rep told me to contact his service manager to discuss about it. I have read a few articles about toe-in 0.05deg. Will this help?? I think the alignment is perfect. Just the steering wheel is not straight when the car is moving straight. I will keep calling the service manager on Monday again. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tumbleweed @ Dec 7 2006, 12:21 PM) [snapback]358890[/snapback]</div>
That clears things up a bit. The steering wheel being off due to the steering shaft recall is a common problem, I had the same issue with mine. Here are 18 pages of posts on the steering recall you might find some good information there. http://priuschat.com/Toyota-Prius-Special-...sue-t20240.html The +.05 degrees of toe in on each side you see mentioned is something that helps correct poor tracking, in other words when the car will not go down road without constant corrections. Nothing to do with the steering wheel being off center. When the steering wheel is off after the recall, and it was on before, it is because they did not do the recall correctly, period. They put the shafts back together without lining the splines up correctly. The dealer should disassemble the shafts and put them back correctly and then do a 4 wheel alignment. I suggest you call Toyota, the number is in the Steering Shaft Topic above, and tell them it was fine before the recall and now it is off. They should authorize the work including a free alignment. They screwed it up and they owe it to you to fix it. Edit: If it is just barely off they may be able to fix it by adjusting the tie rods without realigning the splines. But that is not recommended.
yoyoman - I had exactly the same experience as you, 'cept the car wandered off to the right. The dealer corrected this by adjusting the toe-in alignment. Then, at my first service they told me that I had slightly higher wear on the inside of my front right tyre - which kinda links to the toe-in adjustment they made...... Your dealer should be able to centre the steering wheel and stop the veering off by the toe-in/out alignment
