Hi,
Just needed to drive the Mrs 1 year old 1.2 Dynamic (first time for two weeks) and the steering felt really weird. Initially, I thought I had a flat - but all four tyres were fine. Then I realised what it was - it's as if the power steering doesn't work when turning the wheel to the right.

I know that sounds really strange - turning the steering wheel to the left is fine - but turning it to the right is really heavy - and if you loosen your grip - it really quickly pulls back to the mid position.

Anyone know if it's possible that the power steering can fail in this way - or should I be looking for something else wrong?

Thanks,
Creamola.

Get it to a dealer asap

But don't drive it there,sounds a bit of a weird problem

I would get a recalibration of the torque sensors carried out first.Dont use city button until then.

This can happen on the Panda when teaching the steering can become very heavy when doing alot of rapid steering when parking ect. This is a fail safe mode which stops the electric motor burning out.Leave the car alone for a few ticks and it reverts to default.If youre driving along and it happens then this will need imediate attension.The city button does not help i have now ceased using this device after encountering problems

Hope this helps

If the steering is heavy to the right (and pulls back) but easy to turn left (assuming its not a mechanical fault) then I would think it was a torque sensor problem similar to this....

"If you dont have any warning lights but the steering feels 'vague' especially turning either left or right or the steering wheel is turned but the car doesn't respond quickly enough then get the car to a Fiat dealership,this will also probably need a column,even though errors are not logged,a good Fiat technician will be able to determine this"

https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/70703-punto-steering-column.html

Thanks everyone - you have been really helpfull.

I left the car overnight and tried it again today. It felt absolutely fine - but after about 100 yards this warning light came up on the dash. It was an orange picture of a car with a padlock through it - goodness knows what that means...

Stopping the car and restarting - the warning symbol went away and then the steering did feel heavier to the right - but not as bad as yesterday.

So, the car is now booked in to Pewsham Fiat in a week and a half's time.

Immobiliser light....sounding like a CAN problem know!

Let us know how you get on

Mine's done that twice since new (the warning light) but its always turned off after restarting, maybe a faulty test?

Well, I took the Panda into Pewsham Fiat on Weds to have the squeally brakes checked, the first year service and the steering investigated.

On the pre-printed service sheet, there was no mention of a software update.

I got a Multijet as the courtesy car and weirdly, I don't think that had any power steering either... Multijet owners must eat loads of spinach as it took the arms of Popeye to turn that sucker round corners!

The end result was that Pewsham said they couldn't find a fault with the steering, but that their technical specialist was away on a course. However, they would be happy for me to pop back and demonstrate the problem to the Tech specialist one Sat morning.

The entire bill for the service (and clean and regrease brakes) was £104 - which I thought was very reasonable - given that they even washed the car and blacked up the tyres.

Overall, I couldn't fault the service from Pewsham, they were very professional throughout, probably, on this occasion, one of the most professional of experiences that I have had at any dealer.

Unfortunately, I will have to return and make the acquaintance of the technical specialist, as by the time I got home, the steering was making a sort of groaning noise as I turned the wheel (and it was still much harder to turn to the right than the left). The Mrs also reports that the error light with the picture of a car and a padlock came on again - but she thought it was the indicator that one of the doors was open .....

Oh, and I checked, the company that owns Pewsham also own Fiatsupasaver.com.

Well, I have jut returned from Pewsham today with the problem finally fixed.

The groaning noises got worse and worse and when driving at speed, you could feel judder in the steering wheel as if it was trying to pull you in opposite directions. The red steering wheel indicator on the dashboard also kept coming on - but more so when it was warm.

The fix was a new steering motor and lower steering rack - works a treat now. Pewsham said that it is only the second one that they have ever had to fix.

There was a silver lining as well - got a red grande punto as a courtesy car - very nice motor - seemed bigger on the inside than outside and went round corners very well. Also seemed very solid a and Golf like - I could be tempted ......

go on you know you want too:devil: