Technical *newbie* Steering locked while driving

[KitCat]

Hi
Im new here and hope i have posted this in the right place - sorry if i havnt!

I have a Fiat 500 and while driving the steering wheel totally locked, steering warning light came on. couldnt move it at all.
had to turn the engine off and on to sort it.

bit scary as a car was coming towards me!

has anyone else had this happen?
or has any ideas what it could be?

had the battery checked and is fine.



*KitCat*

 

[The Twins]

I have heard similar that actually caused a crash.
Go directly to the dealer!
Good to hear that you are ok after this scary experience.

 

[306maxi]

Take it to the dealer.

 

[jnoiles]

Take it to the dealer.

Or more accurately, get it towed to your dealer. Call Fiat customer service right now and make them aware. Ask for a case number. Get it on record with them and the dealer that a primary mechanical control of your new car failed while it was in use on a public road. You want that confirmed and officially noted in as many places as possible.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Can you advise if your steering locked, or if your power assisted steering stopped? Sounds more like the latter, so should be impossibe to turn, just difficult.

How old is the car? Has it got its origional battery fitted

 

[UFI]

Can you advise if your steering locked, or if your power assisted steering stopped? Sounds more like the latter, so should be impossibe to turn, just difficult.

How old is the car? Has it got its origional battery fitted

+1

EPAS is much easier to drive with the assistance turned off than if a belt breaks on a hydraulic PAS car, in fact, it's really no heavier than if it had non-PAS. However, a sensor issue could cause the EPAS motor to fight the driver.

I can't see the battery being the issue as the alternator should provide enough juice to run the car even with a completely dead bat, although the 500 alt seems to turn off entirely when accelerating hard.

 

[The Twins]

+1

EPAS is much easier to drive with the assistance turned off than if a belt breaks on a hydraulic PAS car, in fact, it's really no heavier than if it had non-PAS. However, a sensor issue could cause the EPAS motor to fight the driver.

I can't see the battery being the issue as the alternator should provide enough juice to run the car even with a completely dead bat, although the 500 alt seems to turn off entirely when accelerating hard.

Yes sounds like torque sensor issue rather than EPAS just turning itself off.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

I can't see the battery being the issue as the alternator should provide enough juice to run the car even with a completely dead bat, although the 500 alt seems to turn off entirely when accelerating hard.

Smart charger, if the battery decides to have a funny turn when its not in charging phase, equally its well known a faulty battery (ageing, dead battery with a cell gone etc) will cause EPS failure symptoms.

 

[306maxi]

+1

EPAS is much easier to drive with the assistance turned off than if a belt breaks on a hydraulic PAS car, in fact, it's really no heavier than if it had non-PAS. However, a sensor issue could cause the EPAS motor to fight the driver.

I can't see the battery being the issue as the alternator should provide enough juice to run the car even with a completely dead bat, although the 500 alt seems to turn off entirely when accelerating hard.

Tbh I find the steering on the 500 ridiculously heavy when the EPAS hasn't kicked in.

 

[jnoiles]

Yes but that's because you're a girly pansy boy with withered arms from working inside on computers all day

 

[306maxi]

What do you do for a job poofter boy? I have been doing lots of manual labour at work lately anyway

 

[jnoiles]

What do you do for a job poofter boy? I have been doing lots of manual labour at work lately anyway

We've been through this. That thing you do when you're alone in a room with porn isn't manual labour.

 

[306maxi]

Hmph! The office manager bought us donuts on Friday for our hard labour, i was sweating like <insert name of recently announced sex offender> in a <insert name of place where said offender shouldn't really be>

 

[KitCat]

I had City Steering on - don't know if that makes a difference?
As far as I know, its the original battery (its my first car so not that clued up)
2009 reg
He is in the dealers now...
some people i work with are saying he will have the ignition replaced to fix it, some say the whole steering column

When the steering "locked" i tried to turn left but could not turn the wheel, as there was a car coming towards me i didn't really have time to faf about.
it was either REALLY heavy or totally solid.
in the brief few seconds, i could not budge the wheel at all.
then again i AM a weedy little girl ^_^

*hopefully* the dealer can fix it without breaking my bank!

I have heard that it is a common fault and a bunch of cars got recalled because of it....anyone know if that's true?

 

[bgunn]

*hopefully* the dealer can fix it without breaking my bank!

I have heard that it is a common fault and a bunch of cars got recalled because of it....anyone know if that's true?

No. There are no campaigns or service notices related to steering.

 

[jrkitching]

EPAS is much easier to drive with the assistance turned off than if a belt breaks on a hydraulic PAS car, in fact, it's really no heavier than if it had non-PAS.

It's heavier than you might think, even on 14" wheels & ecotyres. It's easy to see how loss of assistance could be interpreted as the steering locking, especially it the driver is used to operating in city mode.

Personally I believe all drivers should get some experience in controlling the car in the event of total EPAS or brake servo failure (500 unassisted pedal pressures might also surprise you), but there's a fine line between the benefits of training for unusual situations and the dangers of actually doing the training.

For those who haven't experienced either failure, if the brakes or steering ever feel as if they've locked solid, stay calm and apply as much force as you can - this is far better than panicking or doing nothing.

For the OP, I can understand it if this has undermined your confidence in the car, and hope your dealer manages to fix it quickly and at reasonable cost.

No. There are no campaigns or service notices related to steering.

It's a fairly common fault on the Panda - there's an aftermarket in rebuilding the columns with a more durable torque sensor. I don't know if the 500 uses the same column, or if FIAT have quietly improved OEM EPAS component quality. It's definitely unusual to hear of a 500 with this fault, though this may change as the average mileage of the fleet increases.

A weak battery will also give similar symptoms & in many cases, replacing the battery has solved the problem.

 

[306maxi]

Sounds like the epas stopped assisting.

 

[KitCat]

Just heard back from the Fiat dealer -
Diego is a lot sicker than i first thought.....
2 buckled wheels
handbrake cable split (despite it being a "brand new handbrake" when i bought the car)
steering rack is cracked.

going to cost £3k to repair

When i got the car exactly 1 year ago(from a Toyota dealer) it supposedly went through an "intensive safety check" and had an MOT in November last year.

Fiat are currently talking to Toyota to see what they can do and also see if Fiat can do anything as goodwill.

Fiat said "you are lucky you are a good driver, if you drove like a teenager you would have almost certainly had an accident - possibly fatal"

*gulp*

*EDIT* None of the damage was caused by me - someone caught my car with their door in a car park and i was devastated. - i have not had a single scratch, bump etc
Was even scared to go through a car wash incase he got damaged!

 

[jrkitching]

Condolences.

2 buckled wheels & a cracked rack sounds like prior accident damage to me. That kind of stuff doesn't happen in normal usage.

3k is a lot for 2 wheels, a rack & a handbrake cable.

 

[RobinPJ]

That sounds much too much - have they broken the price down for you? Sounds like you'd be much better off going elsewhere.