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> it was surprisingly subtle when the power steering crapped out at 30mph It's not a problem at those speeds, having it crap out when turning slowly and sharpl
by dkjaudyeqooe 3y ago
> it was surprisingly subtle when the power steering crapped out at 30mph
It's not a problem at those speeds, having it crap out when turning slowly and sharply around fast traffic is much more likely to be deadly.
- dotancohen 3y agoThe opposite is true. Those old AMCs without power steering were just as easy to steer on the highway as any other car (once you managed to get up to speed) but the parking lot was a chore and parallel parking was neigh impossible.
- bombcar 3y agoFancier power steering systems basically fully disengage at speed because you don’t need them; they’re for moving the wheels when you’re stopped or nearly so.
- dkjaudyeqooe 3y agoI guess I got the wording wrong because that's exactly what I meant.
- amluto 3y agoThe most dangerous situation I encountered was turning left across traffic from a stop.
- dkjaudyeqooe 3y agoYeah that's exactly what I was thinking about (and thought I wrote, but the downvotes say otherwise). If your steering assist conks out just as you're trying to turn at slow speed you could end up heading into oncoming traffic, at an angle at least. It's actually pretty dangerous, good thing you don't drive it any more.
- amluto 3y agoA combination of whatever fiddling the mechanic did and making sure the fluid was topped off seemed to solve the issue. Also, it was a good, if somewhat old, car, and the mechanical steering was quite good. I was able to steer it without much difficulty at pretty much any speed even in no-power-steering mode. But yes, I agree, unpredictable steering response is dangerous.