zippers525

i agree only had trouble with it when i first got my car

BMW530

Is the fixed mechanical steering still power assisted?

colejl

I guess the AS could fail in stages... (Just losing AS and then power assistance altogether!) But if the PA was lost the steering is going to get very heavy with 245 tyres!!!

BMW530

I guess the AS could fail in stages... (Just losing AS and then power assistance altogether!) But if the PA was lost the steering is going to get very heavy with 245 tyres!!!
[/quote]

Yeah that's what I thought.
Hope it does go in stages. Loosing AS is not too bad if power assistance is still available. If everything went then it would be bad trying to steer with those big wheels we have.

djones4

The Active Steering assists in the stering, its still a manual streeing colum even if the Active Steering and the power steering were to fail you would still have some steering in the car. P.S I Love The Active Steering

Guest

I believe that the fixed steering ratio is still power assisted upon malfunction of active steering. When I got the active steering fault, I drove a long distance (city driving) using the fixed steering ratio and the wheel was a little heavier than with active steering, but I still felt the power assist while turning.

According to the BMW Technology Magazine, active steering uses an electrically driven planetary gearbox in the steering column to change the gear ratio. It appears that an active steering fault simply causes the disengagement of this planetary gearbox from the steering column so that a fixed ratio results, but this disengagement of the planetary gearbox does not affect the power assist in the steering system.

The use of an additional planetary gearbox in the steering column for active steering should be completely unrelated to the engine stalling out causing the car to stop, which is why Evenflow545's story is quite suspicious (and others on this posting believe to be bogus).

juan2mini

Hey Mr. Guest:
If Evenflow545 has steering problems different from yours, that does not make it suspicious. Now you have his story as "bogus". Just because somebody doesnt' like AS, that doesn't mean they "can't drive anyways". You seem to have plenty of time to rant and rave. How about you take a minute and register, stand up and be counted. Maybe, just maybe you would increase your credibility.

JBOO

I test drove two cars with AS and didn't really have a problem with it nor did I think it was a must have option.

What I don't understand is that BMW's are known to be a drivers car, right?

And it seems the majority of owners (at least here) like AS, however, all of

the reviews I have seen of AS indicates it takes away from BMW's personality.

So what gives? Are the reviewers all wrong or are most the people that

actually buy the E60 not using the way it is tested?

Guest

Ms. or Mr. juan2mini, you are referring to another Guest's posting re: "can't drive anyways." The mistake is understandable.

However, you need not judge any postings on this board by the so-called "credibility" of the person making the posting -- you need to confirm the information independently so that you can make your own judgment (instead of relying on the credibility of any registered or unregistered individual).

In this particular case, it should be evident that disengaging the additional planetary gearing to perform active steering on the steering column would neither cause the engine to stall out nor the brakes to be applied to stop the car. I have personally driven my 545i without the active steering without my engine stalling out or the brakes being applied (as have others). If what Evenflow545 has experienced is true (and not an embellishment to reinforce his unfavorable opinions of active steering), then the causes of Evenflow545's problems are not the active steering, but something else in the car.

If you care to read this entire thread, you will see that no one else has experienced anything close to what Evenflow545 describes -- it would help to improve your own "credibility" before attacking others.

fcmaras

I lived with the Active Steering warning for 2-3 months. Once the warning showed up I only had to restart the car and warning disappeared and AS function appeared

After the Active Steering Rack was replaced by Dealer I haven't seen the warning.
The other symptom was a loud clicking relay noise at time of unlocking or opening.
This noise has been absent since the repair as well.

I can't say how a failure while driving would feel. It's certainly different than having one in your driveway.

/Franco