marjenmill

let us know what you find out

JDR76

I have never experienced this on any of my GSs, but it's alive and well on my Highlander. I know exactly what you guys are talking about. While on the freeway, it gets kind of stuck on straight. You have to overcome a blip of resistance to get the wheel to move. It's a weird and disconcerting feeling. At least on the Highlander it goes away if I turn off the Lane Keep Assist, but I shouldn't have to do so. I may bring it up on my next Highlander appointment but I seriously doubt they'll be able to help.

Knucklebus

Try hitting the blinker before you try to move the wheel. It might be thinking you are wandering out of your lane. The blinker will allow you to move the wheel. If that works, it sounds like it may just need an adjustment.

bclexus

That's an interesting theory and excellent idea, knuckle!

JDR76

Good suggestion, but it was actually during lane changes, with the signal on, that I experienced this. Very repeatable too. I'll ask for a sensor calibration when we take it in next month.

byungkuk

I know when I drive with the LKA on the car it works well to keep me within the lane almost as it there are railing on the side and the car is bouncing side to side (picture a pinball coming down a rail) BUT i can also see how if the sensor(s) were off it would be very distracting and distorting way to drive.

JDR76

Indeed. If it worked in my Highlander the way it works in my GS, I'd be very happy.

mrplesh

Last night was unable to reproduce. Logged on my way to work this morning (40 miles) and while it happened twice I didn't see anything noticable in the data.
Will log on the way home.
I expect to see the input torque increase since I have to push harder, my thought is if it does not increase while I AM increasing my input, then there is an issue with the torque sensor

marjenmill

It doesn’t have anything to do with LKA

EpikSc400

2015 RWD GS350 55xxx miles.
I posted here in 2019, I think, about the issue and have not had it happen again until literally this morning on my way to work. Car in garage all night, temp about 68 F this morning, drove about 20mins city then jumped on the highway. About 5mins on the highway I came up on a curve and the same thing happened. Was trying to use very little force to turn the wheel but it wouldn't budge, had to give the wheel a tap at an angle to get it to pop out of whatever stuck position it was in and then the wheel turned fine. Last time it happened car was completely stock, around 25k miles, and had slightly older tires. This time I'm on RSR downs, new tires, and spacers, not that I believe any of this contributes to what is happening.

JDR76

In the GS, it doesn’t seem to be linked to the LKA, but it is in the Highlander, as it goes away completely if I turn it off. That was my point. Sorry if it wasn’t clear.

Thankfully I don’t have this issue in my GS.

AJLex19

Driving earlier today saw the EPS warning light come on for about 3-4 seconds...red steering wheel w/exclamation mark warning:


Additionally, the navigation/radio shut down. Almost as fast as I saw it, the warning light went off and my nav/radio came back on. Didn't feel any loss of steering or steering stiffness. I was merging into a right lane and slowing down at the time. Major snowstorm here in NYC over the weekend and haven't used the car since Friday - with bitter cold temps over the same time period.

The warning lamp came back on for a split second later in the day while I was idling but no nav/radio shut down. I'll check for codes and i'll check battery terminal connections to start (new battery installed in early 2021). Hoping it doesn't happen again.

2013 GS350 AWD with 63k miles.

RyanGS350

I bought a 2013 GS350 AWD with 79k miles a month ago, love the car but have this exact same issue. When I stay at highway speeds for more than 10 minutes the steering stiffens more and more until it starts to feel stuck. A decent amount of force is required to unstick it and turn but as soon as I stop changing the steering input it sticks again. It will stick in corners as well to the point that I can let go on highway curves and it will keep turning until I force it to change again. If I slow down below 40mph it resets back to a normal light feel until I speed up again.

I have quite a bit of experience working on 90s BMWs and 2000s Toyotas and I have never experienced anything like this. I do not think it is worn out suspension component related since I have experienced that kind of feeling on different cars over the years then replaced those parts to see the difference. To me this seems like an electric steering logic failure that Lexus does not want to admit to due to the cost of replacing the components.

Some people on here have associated it with heat but I'm having this issue when it is freezing temps here in the winter. I submitted a report to the NHTSA. Hopefully someone will figure this out, but my plan is to eventually replace the steering computer first then the whole rack if nobody else gets to the bottom of it before then.

Longevite1

Your battery connection is lose, It's happened to me to before.

Knucklebus

Different brand and different symptoms but certainly worth asking. I had a 1997 GMC that had speed sensitive steering. The senor went bad and it would go from interstate firm to parking lot easy suddenly. It was most freakishly dangerous when slowing for a curve and the sensor suddenly went from stiffer input to parking lot input. You would overcorrect your turn before you realized you needed to ease back.

So, it is basically the opposite of this issue but it certainly sounds like it has something to do with a speed/steering sensor.

Does the suspension normal vs sport make any difference? I'm trying to think of things that would have input to steering controls.

These things have electric power steering. I wonder what it would look like if monitoring the amp draw from the rack during an event?