Pull to Right as Safety feature- BS I say

[dano1200r]

So i'm at the dealer getting my in warranty oil change (which took 3.5 hrs with an appointment- I think they do that so you will go somewhere else) and I ask the service advisor about the lane departure system which I don't have. He says it gives feedback to the steering wheel. Then says its good to have because all BMWs are designed to gently drift to the right as a safety feature. WTF. I say that I guess in England, they drift to the left. A look of puzzlement appears. He says no, its really torque steer. WTF? I have a X3 so I say I have all wheel drive. He says it doesn't matter; proceeds to talk about how roads are crowned in the US as opposed to England. Where do they find some people? Am I missing something in my brief 15 year relationship with BMW?

[montaillou]

Yes.

[j0hnc]

And I have heard the slow lanes are dished to keep 18 wheelers going straight.

[dano1200r]

I know roads are crowned for drainage. Never heard of BMW designing lane drift into their cars. All mine drive straight . This SA also lied. I checked my dash cam when I got home. My car was ready for pickup at 215. I called to get it he said not till 430. I think he's on a power trip.

[Wilson740]

BMW are not designed to drift. BMW do not have torque steer. That's in front wheel drive vehicles. The service advisor is misinformed. Road crown will affect pull. If you want to see how your vehicle drives. Find a flat long parking lot and drive straight.

[crazy4trains]

I had a conversation many years ago with a tech because a car I had was pulling to the right and they couldn't resolve it. As the guy rode with me he tried to say it was caused by torque steer. I put the tranny in neutral and asked him how it could still be pulling right due to torque steer if the front axles weren't experiencing torque. It was a short ride.

[Luftwaffe1O1]

So i'm at the dealer getting my in warranty oil change (which took 3.5 hrs with an appointment- I think they do that so you will go somewhere else) and I ask the service advisor about the lane departure system which I don't have. He says it gives feedback to the steering wheel. Then says its good to have because all BMWs are designed to gently drift to the right as a safety feature. WTF. I say that I guess in England, they drift to the left. A look of puzzlement appears. He says no, its really torque steer. WTF? I have a X3 so I say I have all wheel drive. He says it doesn't matter; proceeds to talk about how roads are crowned in the US as opposed to England. Where do they find some people? Am I missing something in my brief 15 year relationship with BMW?

Service advisors are so full of it sometimes. No, they aren't designed to drift to either side, and as mentioned torque steer is mostly seen on front wheel drive cars, which your x3 is not.

One SA, tried to bs my gf on all sorts of grab the other day when she brought her 135i in for service.

[modular93fox]

Some cars just drift to the right. Could be a perfect alignment and still does it... Could be tires too

[BimmerBreaker]

BMW are not designed to drift.

Yes they are

[Kevlar]

It's likely the alignment more than anything... probably didn't follow prescribed alignment procedures when doing it.

[Critter7r]

Tires can cause drift. I'm not sure how, but my ex's Chrysler 300 (RWD) pulled to the right until we swapped the front tires from side to side. Then it didn't pull anymore. I didn't believe that could be the problem so a few weeks later I swapped them back without telling her and she complained the next day that it was pulling again. So I swapped them back and she said it was fine.

That being said, your SA is full of it. Cars are not designed to drift to the right (power drifting notwithstanding), nor are the roads designed to push cars to the right, they are designed so that water will flow off of them.