WTF just happened - 2011 Shelby SVTPP (40k miles) jerks itself off road at 65mph

[forsho]

Driving Sunday with the wife at 63ish mph to go visit my parents. About 9-10 miles out on a flat highway that I drive on a regular basis, the wife and I are talking and the car suddenly jerks to the right and pulls us onto the shoulder of the road, then almost instantly the car jerks right again and takes us all the way off the road. I slowly apply the brakes and come to a complete stop (the car feels wobbly) and think that the front rim has come loose as I didn't hear the (front-right) tire lock up or drag. I check everything that I can on the side of the road and cannot find anything off/scratched/damaged/loose. I pull onto the road and drive back to the house at 25mph and the car exhibits no weirdness.

Once home put the car on jack stands and checked everything again - no signs of mechanical problems, out of alignment objects, leaking liquids, NOTHING. I have since driven the car in the school parking lot next to my neighborhood circles/figure 8 each way, reverse/forward NOTHING a miss, This AM I took it to my local tire shop and they are putting it on the lift to check again. I called my local Ford Dealer that sees the car occasionally for recalls, and they are mystified and want to see the car next.

The car has 40K miles, 90% new tires, alignment is perfect, stock rims/suspension, (power mods in signature.) It has had ZERO modifications in the last 15K miles minus oil changes and basic maintenance. After searching I have found the TSB for the electronic steering drifting/pulling for the 2011 model and have asked Ford about it. I'm just checking to see if any of my fellow SVT'ers have anything that might help me out.

For the non-believers - I've driven the car for 2+ years (25k miles) and know that the electronic steering wanders a bit on uneven surfaces, and the wider tires like to track and follow the road, but this is NOT what happened at all - this was violent and abrupt.

 

[Pribilof]

Wow, that's scary. Glad you're OK.

Someone else will hopefully chime in here. My recollection is that the 2011's has some issue with the EPAS.

 

[ashleyroachclip]

You were hacked.

 

[redfiresvtsnake]

Man that's scary. Hopefully you figure it out.


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[Imatk]

Could it have been the front lower control arm bushing?

 

[fletchffletch]

Whoa!!! Thanks for posting this up. Subscribed for root cause determination. Good luck finding the issue. Glad you are safe and unharmed!


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[SirShaun]

Caliper sticking on one side? I'd be surprised the caliper is already beat at 40k, but worth a check.

I had a caliper stick on my 2008, F250. The 37's made it less noticeable, I just steered out of it, and thought I was on fire briefly as the smell and smoke from the pad roasting occurred. I would imagine a caliper sticking in one of these nimble cars, would have the oh shit effect.

My pads had gotten low, and the piston on the caliper would come out and not go back in when it was hot, cause metal expands. Letting the truck sit for a minute, or pouring cold water on the caliper would unstick it.

 

[SirShaun]

Double post cause I'm a tard.

 

[RedVenom48]

Probably an EPAS issue. Get it to Ford and let them run a diagnostic. Only place id trust to diagnose and fix an OEM EPAS system

 

[GT Premi]

You sure it wasn't your wife jerking on the wheel when she thought she was jerking something else?

Seriously, though, the EPAS issue just gives a minor tug at the wheel then shuts down (no power steering assist) to prevent it from jerking the wheels. It doesn't jerk the wheels. You sure you didn't just hit a nasty rut near the shoulder of the road? A bad caliper wouldn't just all of a sudden grab, either, without you tapping the brake pedal first.

Did the steering wheel jerk, also, or did the car just veer while you were still driving straight? It could be something at the back. If it veered right but the steering wheel turned left, it's definitely at the back. That or one of your toe arms is snapped. It might be broken inside the boot. But that would be something extremely random and out of the ordinary, unless you've smacked something before.

 

[oldstv]

Did you look at the rear of the car? What is strange is that you can't repeat the issue. I once had a rear upper control arm break that would cause the car to pull to one side but i could make it repeat the pull. Just saying it can be in the rear as well as the front.

 

[Steve@TF]

i had to read the title of this thread twice

"shebly jerks itself off" lol

 

[forsho]

Hi all - thanks for the feedback - UPDATE - nothing new

Just got a call from the tire/alignment shop. They found NOTHING suspect, took all the wheels/brakes off and we went through the entire thing. Nothing looks out of place, worn, broken, or suspiciously clean (you know what I'm talking about). I'm going to pick it up and drive it back to the house. I'll make an appt with the dealer tomorrow to get it the EPAS system checked. Outside of that I'm out of ideas for now.

 

[forsho]

Did you look at the rear of the car? What is strange is that you can't repeat the issue. I once had a rear upper control arm break that would cause the car to pull to one side but i could make it repeat the pull. Just saying it can be in the rear as well as the front.

I agree, I have the car here at work - no signs of the issue and I'm trying to provoke it out in open areas. We visually checked the rear - and I swapped fluid with additive about 5k miles ago.

 

[oldstv]

Very strange. I saw a car make a hard left at the track and went into the wall on the top end. The right rear control arm broke and they think that is what caused it.

 

[Tob]

You sure nothing got trapped between the caliper body and the barrel of the wheel? If it did you'd most likely see evidence on the finish of the wheel itself. Happens quite often on GT350's with very tight clearance there.

 

[ShelbyGT5HUN]

Just another line of thought. Did you go back to the road, and drive it again? There are some really deep ruts in some of the roads here, that do drag the car left and right. Some could definitely take you out of your lane.

Also, did the steering wheel turn right, or was the car "tram-lining" with the steering wheel straight?

 

[forsho]

From what I can recall, the wheel did jerk to the right both times. I can't find any damage to the inside of the wheel but have been driving the car in town for a week without issue. No signs of anything out of the ordinary and I've even swapped back to my summer tires (Toyo R888).