I was concerned about how many times can you tilt a 2003 Buick or any same Buick GM type with the up and down movement to either get room for your legs to get out of the car or to change drivers where you may tilt the wheel a dozen times a day or more , could doing this loosen or even break the wires or harness inside the steering column or the wires inside the wheel housing has this ever been counted before a breakage could happen ?
It seems like it would happen eventually, after a certain number of tilts. What that number is, who knows? On many cars there’s a sort of circular wrapping of wires used to wire up the steering wheel mounted electric gadgets called a “clock spring”, and that’s a not uncommon failure item reported here. The wires that go between the body and the doors and trunk lid are another common failure item for this same reason. I had to repair my broken trunk lid wires recently for that reason myself.
Many of them have within the column assembly a coiled wire like the old telephones used to have to connect things foreward of the articulating device to those aft of the device. Those probably aren’t likely to exhibit stress failures in the circuits. I don’t know if your '03 Buick has that form of connection, but I’d bet it does.
Why do you ask, is someone else in your house constantly moving the wheel and it is driving you nuts and you want us to tell them to stop?
Frayed and broken steering column wiring was a problem in the 1970’s and 1980’s when the wiring was routed inside the steering column.
With airbag equipped vehicles the steering column harness is generally routed below the column with sufficient slack, covered by that plastic shroud on the column. There are cheep cars with poor quality wiring but most modern cars don’t experience wiring fatigue like cars in the past.
Its not something I’ve ever had a problem with so don’t think I’d worry.
It’s a non issue. A tilt steering column sits on a hinge, attached to a lever that allows you to change the angle of the steering column and wheel. It’s such a slide change that no wiring comes into play here.
Not all tilt units work like that. I know the 70’s through 90’s GM had a knuckle like design. Not only would wires eventually break, but also the bolts holding the knuckle together would work loose. The long and the short of it is anywhere there is flexing there is the possibility of things breaking eventually.
Pretty likely that the folks who designed and tested it know how many cycles it takes to break the wires. But that isn’t made public knowledge nor would it help the OP. Has he been counting tilt cycles since 2003? No, so knowing the actual number wouldn’t help.
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My opinion is that the mechanisms involved are designed for a certain number of cycles, and that number is probably low, perhaps once per day worse case (just a guess).
strongThanks George Sanjose
I never thought of the doors or trunk wires that have to be used moreso the drivers side door more than anything , there are also those electric seats that you can set to move back when you shut off the engine so you can enter and get out of the vehicle. more to go wrong. but hose are straight through harnesses on the doors which aren’t to bad to get at to fix but under the steering wheel would be a real problem I guess I shouldn’t use mine so much to get in and out of the car. text
Thanks George Sanjose
I never thought of the doors or trunk wires that have to be used moreso the drivers side door more than anything , there are also those electric seats that you can set to move back when you shut off the engine so you can enter and get out of the vehicle. more to go wrong. ,
I guess its progress
thank you mountainbik i never knew this but that would be good because as we know from those old coiled phone wires that were coiled they never harley broke after years and usesage and pulling on teen agers on them .
In some cars (like mine), the steering wheel moves each time you enter and leave the car, so at least in that case I assume they designed the affected components to hold up for many years.
** yes lion9car I have seen some cars with your cars features and even the seats move back and forward automatically when the key for the ignition is turned off or on it adjusts it to where you set it and that’s something you live with how ever i’m the type of person that will try anything even not use a feature to save on repaires or trouble down the road as they say .
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Good Grief, then don’t use the radio, turn signals, avoid backing up so the backup lights won’t burn out, don’t use air conditioner. Anything can break but why be paranoid ?
Anyone remember the T bird’s in the 60’s that the wheel moved to the side to be able to get in or out would that be the same as today’s tilt wheel’s?
Yup, comes a point where its just easier to trade cars instead of worrying about wearing the seat motors out. The power door lock switch failed on my Olds and I traced it to a broken wire somewhere. Absolutely no room to fish a new wire through so I never did fix it.
Bing I guess you could still manually lock the door?
yes that was a feature that went away soon. some had seats that swung outward to get in and out .
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