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04 ION Coupe electric steering

Anyone else having problems getting use to the electric steering? After just over a month it still seems odd. Harder to control then regular steering at high speeds. It feels tight when you start to move the wheel on the highway then after what seems like only a 1/4 inch turn of the wheel the assist kicks in and the next thing you know your a lane over unless you backoff on the amount of force you have on the wheel. I guess that's the variable assist at work. I took the car back to the dealer for 2 days, they tested and found nothing wrong. Three guys drove it and felt nothing. All within spec's. I did drive a 2005 ion coupe and noticed it felt normal. Two differences is it was a

2005, mine is 2004 and it had steel wheels and 14" tires, mine is the alloy with 16 inch.
Reply to
Mark
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Make sure your tire pressures are properly adjusted. Too high a pressure and things get squirrely.

Regards,

Ed White

Reply to
C. E. White

Tire pressure is at 32psi. The conclusion I have come to is; it's just the nature of the beast. The variable steering beast that is! Around town you couldn't ask for any better steering. Turning ease is fantastic in parking lots and around the streets. But above 40 on a 2 lane road and on the highway...yicks it's a different story. I feel it takes too much effert to turn the steering wheel and it take very little turn of the wheel to get the car to move left or right. So what happens is a little oversteering one way then the other until the car is back in the center of the lane. Just doesn't feel comfortable. I didn't feel this in the 2005 Ion Coupe, but then it had the smaller tires and steel wheels. Mine has the higher performance Firestones and alloys. Tires are wider and lower profile so that might be adding some to the feeling. Also maybe too many years of driving hydralic steering that operats at one level of assist all the time.

Reply to
Mark

I really don't get why they dumped this. I've had it on older cars and it was beautiful. One of my big peeves about the Saturn is NO BOOST at speed. I paid for PS, I WANT it at all times, dammit. I can see tapering off the boost a little bit, but for some reason, even older Saturns drop it off a LOT at speed.

Thoght maybe i've got an alignment or other issue happening in this car too...

Reply to
Philip Nasadowski

Hydraulic steering: Dropped because of weight, prone to leaks, robbed HP, hurt fuel economy, higher maintenance, high cost, and space consuming. Now you know many reasons why they dumped it.

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I think the problem people are having in the Ion may have to do with the abnormally small steering wheel... With or without assistance you should still now how far and how fast or slow your wheel should be turned. The EPS shouldnt be assisting at highway speeds (not needed then). The only thing I can think of is when your braking it may activate assistance. Which I can see where some people might have problems. Saturns arent hard to steer sitting still with no power assist. If possible, without setting a code, disconnect the EPS and try driving without it and see how it behaves. Would be an interesting road test.

Reply to
Blah blah

good to a good alignment specialist . get a front and rear wheel alignment. had a similar problem on a new Chrysler. dealer no help. Moved the tires and told me it was better now.

Reply to
john

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