I had something very scary happen yesterday and I was just wondering if anyone could give me advice. I can’t get to a mechanic until next week, so I might have to ditch the car and borrow a family members.

I was driving and I came up to a very large roundabout, leading onto a motorway. I entered the roundabout at 6 O’Clock, my exit was 2 O’Clock, or a 220 degree turn.
I went onto the roundabout, I was travelling relatively fast, I don’t know exactly but between 20 and 30 mph.

As I turned, at around 11 O’Clock, the car totally skidded, it was like I was driving on ice. I had no control, I thought I was going to hit the centre of the roundabout. The next bit is blurry, I must have tried steering away from the centre, somehow I ended on the 12 O’Clock exit..
I’m glad this happened late at night, as i must have driven across a lane to get there.

So, um, what happened? Is there something wrong? Or some sort of stabilisation system, which didn’t understand that I was making a deliberate turn, so instead tried to redirect me.

 

You didn't say what year or model, but it does sound like the stability control was attempting to assist you. Did any wrench lite or anything else come on?

Do you know if any steering system work was done to the vehicle?
If the steering torque sensor was not recalibrated after a repair you may or may not be aware of that and it could be involved.
Good idea to have the system checked out by a good equipped shop.

 

Hi,

It is a 2006 Ford Fusion Style.

I didn’t notice any lights coming up on the dash, but to be fair my mind was elsewhere at the time.

I bought the car recently so I can’t remember it’s full history yet. I’ll check the book to see if there is anything mentioned about steering, it does seem to have been pretty well cared for.