mach1 steering wheel question

[xsvtcmex]

my dad hardly drives his mach (5,000 miles), so when he drove it over to my house, I noticed while sitting in his car, the steering wheel seemed to be crooked. I thought it was my eyes but sure enough it was. while seated in the drivers seat, my left arm extends (locked out) holding the steering wheel at the 9 o clock position. my right arm is bent holding it at the 3 o clock position (I assure you guys my arms are the same size). we took it to the dealer, and their response was "it's a safety feature, if your in a crash the steering wheel will not impact you dead on". Is this bull? can someone chime in. my dad is the original owner and the car has never been in a wreck. thanks

 

[Charles236]

This is a holdover from the Fox chassis design. I noted the same thing driving an '80 Mercury Capri (at that time it was built on the Fox chassis) back in '80. The angle then was more pronounced than it is in the SN95 chassis that the Mach1 is built on (still derived from the Fox chassis, though). I have noticed it in my Mach1 a little bit, but it is not too bad, just one of those things that you will always notice once you've seen it. On the other hand, I'll bet that it is especially aggravating for front end alignment techs, since you're supposed to center the steering wheel when setting the toe.

 

[speedofsound]

I thought I was the only one to notice this ...thanks for clearing that up! It kinda makes sense now, but still annoying