I don't know if this is normal or if I never noticed it before. With my SE w/DPP there is a lot of movement in the steering column. It isn't "locked" in place. This happens when it's in my preferred driving position and when it's up and out of the way to aid entry/exit. Anyone else experiencing this?

 

Me too. I've mentioned it before on this site. It doesn't feel like it has totally clamped down into its position. When driving I can put downward pressure on the wheel and the little shake of the wheel goes away. I have asked those without the DPP/electronic tilt-telescope if they experience the same thing but I didn't get a response.
Glad to see I'm not alone.

 

I don't have this problem and mine is electronic. I would go to the dealer as it could possibly be a safety issue.

 

i would have been at the dealer before posting here. only thing with my wheel, i swear it comes down one notch lower than my memory setting when it lowers. of course i may have been slouching when setting it (i know i'm done growing). I have to raise it a tap once in a while so i can see the 70

 

I dunno if this is what your talking about but when I put my hand on my steering wheels I come push up and it moves about a half inch. I can sit there and move it up and down because its not tight or in place. Cant be normal....

 

It doesn't shake much, very little... like a baby shimmy.

My wheel seems to have a mind of its own too, always lower than where I set the memory.

 

I have an electric wheel adjustment and the wheel is firmly in place at all settings, no play whatsoever. I wonder if the shimmy the wheel exhibits has anything to do with the steering wheel itself and not the tires/wheels? Mine only shimmies when the car is cold.

 

To clarify: I'm not talking about any type of shimmy. What happens is that my steering column has about 1-2 inches of play in any position. I can move it up and slightly to the right.

 

and that seriously needs to be fixed by the dealer.

 

Dropped off the Max this afternoon for the problem. They had never seen a loose column. It's either the column itself or the electronics. Will keep you posted.

 

I had this problem awhile back. There was a mounting bolt that came loose which caused the movement -- dealer was able to fix it.

 

Pick the car up. The service orders states: "u joints bolts loose/poor fit. Tightened all steering column bolts & rescured with loctite." Everything seems ok. The service dept at my dealer treated me like a king, as usual. The only bad thing was putting up with my kid's rants about the Toyota Echo that I had for a day (covered by the Gold).

 

The problem you described is the same as mine, I guess I need to fix it soon. Would this be hard to do on your own?

 

Even my wife complained to me today that my Max's steering wheel shakes. She's been driving it while her 05 Pathfinder is in for service. She refuses to drive the loaner 01 Altima with 94,000 miles and 324 cigarette burns in the seats. I hope it is something as simple as tightening some bolts. My Max goes in for service, new glove box & oil change, as soon as the Pathfinder is done, I will have them take a look at the steering too. Please keep us posted on the status of your fix to see if it stays fixed.

 

The steering wheel column is solid as a rock now. It will take weeks to recover from the Echo, though. BTW, since I picked up the Max, the horn chirp feature on the remote alarm engage doesn't work anymore. I've gone through the recent sticky and done everything right, but no chirp. If I didn't love this car so much, my patience might be wearing thin.

 

Shimmy, see TSB Sticky. different issue.

 

Its not the shimmy, I think most of that was handled when they replaced the rotors and road force balanced the tires. (My new struts have come in and they are replacing those too.) The steering wheel has play in it, up and down about a half inch each way, and the shake is noticiable at highway speeds. When downward pressure is applied to the wheel the shake goes away and the car feels solid, like the way it should be. Its not the same type of shake as when you feel it through the floor boards and through the wheel as when the shake is being caused by an unbalanced tire, bad strut or warped rotors--I know what that feels like.