2004BMW545i

In the last month or so, it's been very cold here in New Orleans (35F - 55F). I've experienced the Active Steering pulling the car to the right (especially during braking) and sometimes to the left. I brought it in to the dealer today because of my Service Engine Soon light (thermostat problem) and told them about the active steering problem. The SA explained it may be an alignment issue but I know better than that. I took a ride with the Shop Foreman and we couldn't duplicate the issue as it only happened about 4-5 times in the last month.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I also have it in for service because of transmission "slam" but couldn't duplicate that issue either. Hopefully they'll find something wrong so it can be fixed. I hinted that I want a complete software update. If they do that, hopefully my bluetooth will be enabled.

juan2mini

I have not experienced the problem you have described. I can tell you I have driven my car, with Active Steering, in lots of cold weather without any problem. Sorry I can't be of more help. IMHO your problems is not weather related. Good luck.

Happy Holidays e60 mates

Vas

Funny, i have the same 2 problems.
when i drive over road markings that are thickly painted on the road surface with just one tyre on them, my car pulls in one direction, you'd think i was driving on something much taller to cause such instability and my transmission slams too; i notice it when i move from drive to reverse and vice versa.

As for the steering, i thought it was normal because the active steering adds more turning to your turn (if you know what i mean), so if you have a braking issue and your car wheels turn to a particular side then this will be amplified by the active steering.

what do you think?

kscarrol

I agree with juan, doesn't sound weather related...

Who is your SA? I assume your going to Peake. If you are, I use Don as my SA. He has always taken great care of me and is pretty knowledgable about the cars. Most SA's can't say that!

As for BT, that depends on the build date of you car. Most cars built March 2004 or later can get BT going with the software update. March 2004 was when BMW transitioned to the new TCU so there a small chance that if the car was a March 2004 build, you still got the old TCU and therefore BT is not available.

PDF of BT issue from BMW below though you have already seen it...

https://5series.net/forums/index.php?act=at...st&id=53472

ivan545

I just recently had a module replaced for the active steering ask your advisor about that.

earossi

The sensor systems in these BMW's appear to be a major area for complaints. There appear to be a large and growing number of fault codes that prove to be erroneous. My 545 has been extremely reliable for the last 40k miles........if I elect to disregard the (6) separate system failure warnings that have come up on the screen. I have had (3) "Active Steering Malfunction" alarms in the last several months. Two of them cleared themselves with a shutdown and restart of the engine. This last weekend, I experienced the third same warning......and I could not get it to clear itself. And, the symptoms of this incident were different. So, I did a search on this forum and came up with the solution which I will share here, but which can be found in a number of entries on system malfunctions.

To begin the story, it is very cold here in Chicago. My car had been parked outdoors for several days in weather that hovered around zero. When I returned to the car, and started the engine, everything seemed fine. The car was a little reluctant to turn over due to the temperature, but did start right up since I have a relatively new battery and I am running 5W30 Mobil 1 synthetic.

When I placed the gear selector in DRIVE and began to drive out of the lot, the "Active Steering Malfunction" annunciator light came on and the failure indication was confirmed on the I-drive screen. But, there was something different this time. The turn signal cancellation function was not operable. Both left and right turn signals worked correctly, except for the fact that the signals did not self cancel after making a turn. I had to cancel them manually. At least one other poster to this forum squawked the same item!

I attempted three times to do a shutdown, remove the key, and then reinsert the key and do a restart. Though this had worked to clear the first two episodes with this failure code......this time it did not work. What DID work was to "reset" the active steering system. To do this, start the engine and then turn the steering wheel from lock to lock (left and right, or vice versa). In some fashion, this activity must reset the sensors for the active steering. So, after exercising the steering wheel from one full lock turn of the wheel to the opposite lock, I shut down the engine and then did a restart. The code did not clear until I put the trans in the DRIVE position. As soon as the car began to move, the fault code cleared itself and has not returned in the last two days. AND, the turn signals resumed proper operation! Go figure!

So, does anyone know what is happening that would explain this item.......and the fact that cold weather is usually present when the system malfunctions?

SSRL_2006

Is "Active Steering" an Option which you must pay in the E60 5 Series??

Because when I purchased mine in '06, it was standard... I just read somewhere that people put Active Steering as part of their option with a few grand!! I was surprised!

Rudy

You say you "know better than that"...how do you know? I'm not saying you're wrong but I am curious as to why you're convinced that it's not an alignment issue or some other issue.

2004BMW545i

What I mean by this is... I know the difference between the car pulling to the side because of the road tilt and the car's steering system "pulling" the car to one side. I could feel the tension in the steering wheel when this happended. The car pulled to the right, and then to the left. It had nothing to do with the road. It happened on a road that I travel on every day and it only happened one time on that particular road.

stavros

Active Steering is standard across all AU spec E60's.