Pulling left

[Dm800]

Any ideas????

Rav4 pulling left recently but not all the time.

Lane assist off

Tyre pressures checked

Not hit any kerbs or potholes.

Not road camber related as can be on flat road or motorway.

Steering wheel sometimes looks a couple of degrees off centre when it happens and needs a correction right.

Going to swap front tyres and see what happens. After that, an alignment check.

Just wondering 🤔 what else it could be.

[philip42h]

7 hours ago, Dm800 said:

Lane assist off

Quadruple check that the "Lane centering function" is truly Off in the customization settings. It is On by default and gives me exactly the symptoms that you describe ...

[Nick72]

20 hours ago, Dm800 said:

Any ideas????

Rav4 pulling left recently but not all the time.

Lane assist off

Tyre pressures checked

Not hit any kerbs or potholes.

Not road camber related as can be on flat road or motorway.

Steering wheel sometimes looks a couple of degrees off centre when it happens and needs a correction right.

Going to swap front tyres and see what happens. After that, an alignment check.

Just wondering 🤔 what else it could be.

☝️most likely.

My last RAV4 PHEV developed a very slight pull to the left. Very slight. But this started after I went down a huge pothole I didn't see. It was wide and really deep. Huge bang. Probably would have ripped the wheel off many cars. Alignment slightly out after that. 

[Dm800]

Same thing tonight. Straight as a die one minute, pulling left the next. All aids definitely off/ disabled.

[Nick72]

55 minutes ago, Dm800 said:

Same thing tonight. Straight as a die one minute, pulling left the next. All aids definitely off/ disabled.

Weird that it's not consistent which makes me wonder if it is something automated. If you've switched the lane departure assist and lane following off then perhaps there's a fault with it?

Worth checking on tyres for uneven tread wear and wheel alignment.

[Cyker]

It may be tyre pressures - I've been noticing a fairly big delta between my left and right pressures at certain times of day when I'm stuck in traffic; Nominally they're equal but I've seen a 3-4psi difference between left and right when stuck in traffic when the sun is on one side of the car and the other's in shadow!

I've not noticed it pulling to one side (Mainly because I'm usually doing 0.5mph at the time), but I know at higher speeds that small difference can cause the car to veerry slightly pull to one side.

If yours has the live TPMS sensor view, maybe keep an eye on that to see if there's any correlation.

If the pull is anything stronger than "very slightly" it's probably not that though... If it's quite strong, I'd check for some loose suspension things, make sure all wheel nuts are torqued up etc.

I saw a youtube video a few weeks back where someone had random strong steering pull to one side and it turned out it was missing two bolts from its suspension!!  

 

[kucyk]

I think RAV4 is very sensitive to the road camber. I had the alignment done just because of this and while there was an improvement, the car is still pulling to the left. Some cars are less sensitive than others. I think more modern cars are automatically cancelling the road camber but not RAV4.

Do the test, find some empty road and drive on the right side to see if the car will start pulling to the right.

Could be the tyre wear also caused by roundabouts.

[Nick72]

Good points here. Reminded me. Previous RAV and Yokohamas before I went down a pot hole, the car would follow the road camber and follow any slight steering angle offset. CC2s on the new RAV and it self straightens. Even if I put an angle on the steering wheel it goes back straight pretty quick. Good and bad with this as I'm finding it does take more effort to steer on tight winding country roads. The car because of tyres is fighting against my steering input.

[Sooty]

Also check that the LHF brake caliper is not sticking. A slight drag from the brake pads could cause it to pull left.

[ernieb]

18 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

Good points here. Reminded me. Previous RAV and Yokohamas before I went down a pot hole, the car would follow the road camber and follow any slight steering angle offset. CC2s on the new RAV and it self straightens. Even if I put an angle on the steering wheel it goes back straight pretty quick. Good and bad with this as I'm finding it does take more effort to steer on tight winding country roads. The car because of tyres is fighting against my steering input.

One of the first things I noticed when I drove away after the CC’s were fitted was the change in self centring.

Pulling to the left has always been an issue if I have the lane assist switch on.