Steering Fault Momentarily Appears when on Dirt Roads

[TheBigBezo]

I've noticed that when I spend time on dirt roads here, especially ones in rougher condition that are more washboard than road, I get a "Steering Assist Fault" momentarily. It disappears almost immediately before I can acknowledge it and it doesn't show up in Ford Pass as an error. The truck doesn't seem to handle any different. I don't get the error on normal paved roads.

The dirt roads I'm traveling on are pretty rough, they cause the truck to vibrate pretty good so I take them slow. It's hard to describe, they actually look like wash boards with up and down 1 inch ruts.

I imagine that the fault is related to the vibrations the truck is experiencing, has anyone seen this before? It just flashes for a second so I haven't been taking it seriously but I also don't want to ignore it if it means a higher risk or something failing down the road.

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[pullinggs]

I drive about 3 miles of washboard all the time. So far, I've never seen that. Without any knowledge or data, could that be a loose electrical connection that's opening up momentarily from all the bouncing?

 

[chl]

I've noticed that when I spend time on dirt roads here, especially ones in rougher condition that are more washboard than road, I get a "Steering Assist Fault" momentarily. It disappears almost immediately before I can acknowledge it and it doesn't show up in Ford Pass as an error. The truck doesn't seem to handle any different. I don't get the error on normal paved roads.

The dirt roads I'm traveling on are pretty rough, they cause the truck to vibrate pretty good so I take them slow. It's hard to describe, they actually look like wash boards with up and down 1 inch ruts.

I imagine that the fault is related to the vibrations the truck is experiencing, has anyone seen this before? It just flashes for a second so I haven't been taking it seriously but I also don't want to ignore it if it means a higher risk or something failing down the road.

According to the NHTSB:

Some 2021-2023 F-150 vehicles may experience a lack of steering assist upon start-up along with a Steering Assist Fault message in the instrument panel cluster (IPC) with diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) U3001:89 and U3000:96 in the power steering control module (PSCM). This may be due to low voltage at the PSCM.

Also: Bad wheel alignment, or misaligned wheels, can trick the computer into thinking there's an issue in the steering angle sensor. This prompts the power steering assist fault message to appear.

Probably the bumpy road confound the sensor with obtuse steering angles?

 

[GDN]

Washboard roads have existed since the beginning of time and are called just that. I don't get out and drive any of the, but my gut tells me the truck can detect different spin or slip of one wheel over another. They monitor all kind of those things for traction control.

Tesla is to the point they try to give feedback on a low tire or when its time to even buy new tires, rotation and monitoring of it gives a ton of feedback.

So my guess is nothing is wrong other than the truck knows it can't likely control or take assist in some situations and may in fact think it is bad enough there is some sort of fault.

 

[TheBigBezo]

According to the NHTSB:

Some 2021-2023 F-150 vehicles may experience a lack of steering assist upon start-up along with a Steering Assist Fault message in the instrument panel cluster (IPC) with diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) U3001:89 and U3000:96 in the power steering control module (PSCM). This may be due to low voltage at the PSCM.

Also: Bad wheel alignment, or misaligned wheels, can trick the computer into thinking there's an issue in the steering angle sensor. This prompts the power steering assist fault message to appear.

Probably the bumpy road confound the sensor with obtuse steering angles?

I have to imagine it is this. When the truck starts vibrating and I'm also turning it's more likely to pop up.

On my drive out into the desert today I just offset the tire tracks with ruts and it went a lot smoother. No pop up faults either. I've taken the truck into some rough terrain a few times where I was amazed I didn't blow an airbag, so I had lingering concern there was damage I didn't know of. Truck looks good enough though and the symptoms support your theory. Something to keep an eye on, but that explanation makes enough sense to put any worry at ease.

 

[chl]

I have to imagine it is this. When the truck starts vibrating and I'm also turning it's more likely to pop up.

On my drive out into the desert today I just offset the tire tracks with ruts and it went a lot smoother. No pop up faults either. I've taken the truck into some rough terrain a few times where I was amazed I didn't blow an airbag, so I had lingering concern there was damage I didn't know of. Truck looks good enough though and the symptoms support your theory. Something to keep an eye on, but that explanation makes enough sense to put any worry at ease.

Just an over-educated guess (I'm an MS in electrical and computer engineering) that the angle sensor input/output overwhelmed the computing. Hope that's all it was. Good luck!

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