Crooked 2005 steering wheel?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by driveprius, Aug 30, 2006.

  1. driveprius

    driveprius New Member

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    I have a 2005 Toyota Prius. I think probably since the day I first got the car back in October I've found that in order to drive in a straight line the steering wheel needs to be always slightly counter clockwise (to the left) of center. It's not what I would characterize as an alignment problem because if I let go of the steering wheel on a straight road the Prius drives nice and straight. It's just that the steering wheel is always cocked slightly to the left. On strong braking the Prius will tend to pull itself straight and the steering wheel back to it's slightly cocked to the left from center position.

    I've ignored this for a while because it seems to be more of a visual annoyance than an actual steering problem. For a while I thought that this was an intentional design by Toyota. But I'm not sure.

    Can anyone else comment. Is it normal for the steering wheel to tend to rest slightly left of center when the Prius is driving straight?
     
    #1 driveprius, Aug 30, 2006
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Very common issue and usually associated with a Toe-in problem. In the first 12mo/12k miles there's an 'adjustment' period where you can request a free alignment from the dealer for problems such as this. I strongly urge you to have that done. If you tell them the steering wheel is crooked and you'd like the alignment checked they should do it with no complaints for free.

    This may help your mpg and should reduce tire wear....and it's normal that the car still tracks well with this...I drove this way in my '04 for almost a year before someone here pointed out the Toe-in issue.
     
    #2 efusco, Aug 30, 2006
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