Lose the power steering?

Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum

Help Support Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

acensor

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
371
Location
Southern Oregon
This is so light on the front wheels (~1200 pounds) , and contact patch of the front tires so small and narrow , that I bet if they tested one optimized for manual rack and pinion steering it should be quite light and fast. And of course save a few dollars in build costs and afew ,ess electronic and mechanical thing that can fail.

The current power steering is good, but a little lacking on transmitting road feel.

Realistically, I fon't ever expect Mitsubishi or any mainstream maker to dare try to sell a car without power steering.
But if they did on the MiEV i would bet it would be fine.
 
My Miata ('94 model) has manual steering - The ratio is a little slower than those with power steering and to be truthful, it's still a little 'heavy' at times

The thing you get with power is the ability to have both variable ratio steering and speed sensitive steering - Our electric power steering has both and those benefits make it worth the slight loss of feel you get, IMO

My Kubota diesel garden tractor also has electric power steering - Wouldn't trade it for the world!!

Don
 
The reviewers are already screaming about how 'base' our cars are, they would have a flipping fiesta if this car came without power steering. I've driven enough cars without power steering, would rather have it than not.
 
You can easily try how it feels without power steering but be careful.

Stop at a lone downhill road. Get into parking and switch off. Switch on ignition but not ready. Switch gear into neutral and begin rolling. Dont go too fast. Carefully operate the hand break if breaking with your foot is too heavy for you.

Best try close to the foot of the downhill, just in case and try to be alone on the road.

Your breaks might work normal at first so pump a few times to get the right feeling.

Steering works electric. Without "Ready" you should have manual steering.

This experiment could be a life safer one day.

Actually I did drive without going "Ready" several times and only noticed something was wrong when the break pedal became strong and steering became stiff and the car would not react to the gas pedal. An i-MiEV can become very stubborn because it wants to be parking before going "Ready". Dont switch to "Parking" when the car is rolling.

Cheers
Peter and Karin
 
peterdambier said:
You can easily try how it feels without power steering but be careful.

Stop at a lone downhill road. Get into parking and switch off. Switch on ignition but not ready. Switch gear into neutral and begin rolling. Dont go too fast. Carefully operate the hand break if breaking with your foot is too heavy for you.....


Peter and Karin

I'm not sure that is a fair test of what factory designed manual steering would be like.

In the mode you describe when turning the steering wheel you probably have to be dragging along with you the electric motor and other parts of the owner steering geometry.
And the whole linkage between steering wheel and front wheels is not optimized for Manuel and is not rack and pinion.

A better test might be to get into the drivers seat of a very old rear engine Porsche with manual steering. ;)
 
MLucas said:
Just have to think back to the days of 'hand-over-hand' to keep the steering wheel from turning back to a neutral position.
Oh - You had a '57 Chevy in your younger days too, huh? :lol:

Don
 
Don said:
MLucas said:
Just have to think back to the days of 'hand-over-hand' to keep the steering wheel from turning back to a neutral position.
Oh - You had a '57 Chevy in your younger days too, huh? :lol:

Don

1971 Toyota Celica ST, 1978 Honda Civic, 1970 Triumph GT6, 1970 Datsun B110, 1990 Honda Civic HF, 1989 Geo Metro Convertible, and my mom's 1974 AMC Hornet. Even for a light car like the 78 Civic, manual steering was a PITA! I remember having to hold the wheel while waiting for a turn at an intersection, too. I do remember necker knobs though which were used to help out with the manual steering.
 
My Karmann Eclectric's manual steering is easy enough EVen with wide wheels and a 280 lb battery pack up front, so I jumped on this idea. Pulling the fuse to see if the car will go 'Ready' without power steering would be obvious, but it appears there is no fuse for the power steering motor, only connectors that one must pull the console to access.
 
Back
Top