Steering wheel freezing, locking in turns....Any ideas
Asked by stucker0896 Sep 13, 2019 at 09:38 AM about the 2016 Nissan Altima
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
While driving in turns (not necessarily sharp turns) my steering will randomly lock. (Goes straight while I am attempting to turn). Thankfully, it only lasts a few seconds and releases. I am estimating my speed between 45 and 55.
I now think it is doing it during straight drives (4 lane hwy going about 65-70). But I could be over sensitive and looking for a problem. There are no sounds that are typical to power steering going out.
My car has already been in the shop (Nissan) for a week and they can't recreate the problem. Any ideas?
8 Answers
Any updates? I have the same problem : it has now happened twice in 2 weeks? Steering locks when i attempt to turn to the right, for a few seconds... scary!
As I was driving my car, the wheel started to get hard and it started to slow down, I turned it off and tried to start it again and it won’t start, is it my battery... 2005 Nissan Altima
2016 Nissan Altima, 64K miles. I am having the same issue since last year. PS light comes ON and steering freezes for 1 to 2 seconds. I have seen some similar posts where dealer replaced the steering pump and it didn’t solve the issue. Afterwards the wiring was replaced and the problem seems to go away. Not sure if it came back because I didn’t see any updates on the same post. Looks like a manufacturing fault to me. Will be contacting Nissan customer service soon.
stucker0896 answered 4 years ago
Sorry for delayed responses. No my car still does this and it is scary. It stopped for about 6 months and then did a complete lock up as I turned left for about 10 seconds. I really thought I was going to be hit this time.
I have a 2013 Nissan Altima with about 60,000 miles on it that has been doing the same lock up on the steering wheel for about 4 months. it's pretty scary when you're making a left hand turn it a light and it locks up and you're just holding on to the steering wheel and it finally lets go and turns. I called Nissan to see if there was any recalls since no mechanics can figure it out. I bet they'll figure it out if I get into an accident and there's a lawsuit.
I too have had the same issue with my 2016 altima It’s been in the shop over 20 times and no one can figure out or duplicate it. It is quite random when it does it it may not do it for months but then It will do it 3 to 4 times a week. It’s mostly does it when I turn to the left but it has been doing it driving straight. It’s super scary and I can’t get any answers.
NinjaGuru4 answered 4 years ago
I've been experiencing this intermittently as well with my 2010 Rogue. However, I not only experience it at high speeds but also when turning from a complete stop and around the 25-30 mph range. The lock up time has been increasing and same as everyone else here, haven't found a mechanic that knows what's going on.
