And there's more.... (Bit of a pickup truck.)

It appears the sensor chips may be able to resolve 360 degree rotation of the magnets.

Big Clive

Couple of theories on the magnets: first being that the data from them is being used in a way that absolute position doesn't matter. Other thoughts, either yeah it's counting steps from a known value... perhaps those gears are toothed differently and it's able to get an absolute position from both magnets together giving different values? You could put a mark on each one and spin them with the clockspring gear to see if they rotate at different rates perhaps

yep they use the steering input to look around the with the head lights if you will lol

Take a look for some "magnetic viewing film" That lets you see the poles on the magnets, and it can show you if there are weak magnets on the gearing.

neal richard

If the vehicle has clever headlights that track the steering, it could be to control that, maybe?

I dont think it need a point of reference for a centre point. I think it just needs to know movement left or right. So its bias one way or other to sent to data to the power steering. The point of reference will probably be the wheels of the car on the road with end stop sensors on steering rack.

Sean Yem

The dead centre position would have to be programmable to allow for calibration after a tracking adjustment, I'm guessing most modern vehicles have something similar as almost all have additional cornering lights etc. even if they don't have advanced traction assist.

The Tinkering Shed

My bet is that they control the DLR lights, and to properly drive the steering aid (variation of the help, in function of speed of the car, feedback/resistance from the wheels, etc). DLR lights will switch off when your blinker is on (on the respective side), and will also turn on when entering a curve: only on the side closer to the gutter (direction of the curve). I also think the magnets don't need to be shifted 90 deg or any specific angle. There is a self-adapting technique: when a circuit is first initialized, it will read the sensors and consider that initial reading the "zero". Any change to the sensors will be considered a new offset, used to parameterize the circuit.

Carlos Capriotti

After looking at one of my VW units, it is something you would enjoy! The VW version has many LEDs with sensors on the other side. There are plastic tabs on a disk that break the light as i rotates. It is pretty neat. I should ship it to you!

Matt Larson

Could be to electrically cancel the turn signals? In my Tesla, once you turn the steering wheel back to the straight position, it cancels the turn signals but there doesn't seem to be a mechanical connection. My older cars had a mechanical ratchet thing that was supposed to cancel the turn signals.

George Cohn

It's been suggested they may be able to resolve the magnet positions to 1 degree.

Big Clive

I've never been keen on that concept. I prefer my steering wheel to be firmly connected to the steering system.

Big Clive

I wasn't aware you could get such accurate sensors as that. Very handy for sensing position externally in sealed environments.

Big Clive

wouldn't those two magnets be 90 degrees out of phase with each other, thus making it possible to see of you are turning left or right? Like how a mousewheel works, but then more analog. and assuming the halleffect sensors produce an analog signal,they would be able to give you very precise position.

Willem Hengeveld

ford steering wheel angle sensor . part of the stability control system

it may be drive by wire the steering wheel may not be connect direly to the wheels

Mort

Looks like mechanical pasta with a really weak sauce.

Nani Isobel

Ah yes.... Ford and broken clocksprings. Very common.

Too many videos? Impossible!

Wim

No such thing as too many videos, Big Clive. Make as many as pleases!

Michael Thompson

I am not a Ford man but i spend a lot of time wrenching on VW and Audi products. The steering angle sensor in them has to be calibrated. It is also sensitive and can detect as little as 1 degree of rotation. I wonder if the Ford unit is using the gears to give it more magnetic pulses per revolution of the big gear and using two magnets and sensors phased 180 degrees out so it sees twice as many pulses per rev. Essentially delivering a plus per degree. I should take apart one of my VW units.

Matt Larson

Would be interesting to see the magnetic pole pattern in both smaller/satellite wheels. If they produce different paterns when turned then you'd have similar effects as with optical codes on absolute encoders.

Do those two magnet-cogwheels have a different number of teeth? If so, that will be the position detecting. One might be rotating faster than the other, and the mid-position could be when both sensors detect north. In other 0° positions of the steering wheel the orientation of the two magnets would diverge. That's how I would build that at any rate.

horrovac

Look like austriamicrosystems absolute sensors they use the bipoler magnet to always know absolute position 0 to 360 . As it turns more it could be why it has two if its not used for redundancy

Jamie

They are usually calibrated after fitting but means of hooking up the diagnostic computer and rotating the wheel to its extreme positions a few times and taking a reference from that. they usually do not need to be reset unless major work on the steering system has taken place.

I promise we don't mind at all.

The sensors do indeed monitor the steering angle so that the system can calculate the point at which it needs to intervene to ensure stability.

Can never have too many videos! :D Plus, you'll have lots of videos lined up for releases in case you need a break.

Brooks Andersen