Active Sterring Wheel Malfunction - Almost caused car accident!

[rhernand07]

Hello All, (Venting and questions)
I am very upset about my episode this weekend with my X6. I was driving with my family (wife and 2 yo girl) normal speeds 35-45 mph on a very busy street when I had to take a curve and all of the sudden freaking steering wheel failed.

I lost control of the car for a few seconds, traffic (by luck) was distant and stopped. After a few seconds I was able to recover control but my steering wheel was not aligned with my front wheels and of course since it failed the steering wheel was harder to turn.

Very upset about this issue that could have caused a serious accident to my family with a car that is suppose to be reliable with top of the line technology. I will be contacting BMW NA to start a case and complain my ass off. I have dropped the car this morning but it seems I visit the dealer every other month.

I was wondering if you guys had similar problem or have heard of issues with active steering wheel malfunction.

[Mike van D]

Glad to hear the family and you are okay...that's some scary stuff. Don't have active steering, so can't comment on that. Hope all gets resolved and you get some answers.

[BigBobDeuce]

I once had a problem with my old 2009 50i with active steering. I took it in for alignment and the dealer didn't do it right, apparently used the parameters/protocol for a X6 without active steering. In any event, driving out of the dealer the entire dashboard lit up with errors and all of a sudden straight ahead on the steering was about a 1/2 left turn on the wheel. I got it back and it took them another day to correct the issue. But, the alignment was still off, and so I decided to start using another dealer entirely.

[doubleroll]

WOW...scary stuff, but glad to hear you the family were unharmed! I do not have AS but please keep us posted on what they find. Good luck!

[doug_999]

I'm not sure you can use the word reliable and top of the line technology in the same sentence.

The sensors failed on my 550 way back when and I also had the steering wheel misaligned. Was a known issue at the time (they all failed). It would seem to me the "fail safe" in the Active Steering unit is what really should have you concerned - because the fact is, this stuff breaks but when it does, you should not have issues controlling the car.

Let us know how it turns out.