City button power steering

[Stevenlee]

one week after buying a 2010 fiat panda i was wondering when you press the city button the power steering becomes lighter at slow speed, if you leave it on will it damage the power steering or increase fuel consumption ?? Will it have any negative affects ?

 

[Ziggy122]

No it wont damage the power steering system anyway

some people leave it on, and dont switch it off

It deactivates at something like 30mph in the punto's so would have thought it would on all models tbh

The fuel consumption wise - only a smidge, but tbh if the battery is healthy and so is alternator i would have thought it would be soo tiny you wont notice it majorly

Ziggy

 

[Westbeef]

My own personal preference I wouldn't want it on all the time anyway, it's too light. It's very good for parking/ 3 point turns however.

 

[s130]

To add a little bit of Male Pig Dog fun to this post ......

When Fiat first introduce the "Dual Drive Electric Power Steering" many commentators referred to the button in question as the "girly button". This dates back to the introduction of electric power steering in the early Puntos and other models.

In answer to your real question is make no real reliability issues if the button is in or out.

All I would add is:

1) if the button is in all the time then you may find the car too light and vague on the steering for you taste

2) often steering resistance is a very good indicator that you are putting large loads on the steering system. e.g. turning a steering wheel when stationary verses the same when moving. Any power steering assistance basically masks potential perpetual steering excessive loads and also dulls the real feedback and driver sense feedback.

Sadly power steering is now a part of just about every car you can buy these days.