Rear Wheel Steering Absent or Non-Functional?

[Altieb]

My 2026 Gravity Grand Touring is spec'd to include RW steering. The dealer has verified that it is, indeed, listed as included in the build. I have no evidence that the car has RW steering or if it does, that it is working.

1. Turning radius is abysmal - typical of pickup trucks I've driven in the past.
2. I stop the car, turn the steering wheel full left or right, get out and look. The rear wheels point straight ahead.

It's as if there is a setting that needs to be selected or a switch that needs to be activated. As my closest dealer is 70 miles away and taking the car in for service is very inconvenient (say what you will about the Mercedes EQS 580 SUV , mine required repair-related service only once in 3 years and my Tesla S never over 6 years), and as this car has only 500 miles on it, I thought I'd ask if anyone has insight to offer.

Grateful for any and all assistance!

-A

 

[investmentgamer]

Try going to a parking lot and making slow tight turns with your side mirror angled down to see the left rear tire. I thought mine wasn't working either until I tried that. The rear wheels can only turn up to 3 degrees in each direction so it is a pretty subtle effect. When I just got out of my car and looked at the wheel I couldn't tell it was working.

 

[Altieb]

My 2026 Gravity Grand Touring is spec'd to include RW steering. The dealer has verified that it is, indeed, listed as included in the build. I have no evidence that the car has RW steering or if it does, that it is working.

1. Turning radius is abysmal - typical of pickup trucks I've driven in the past.
2. I stop the car, turn the steering wheel full left or right, get out and look. The rear wheels point straight ahead.

It's as if there is a setting that needs to be selected or a switch that needs to be activated. As my closest dealer is 70 miles away and taking the car in for service is very inconvenient (say what you will about the Mercedes EQS 580 SUV , mine required repair-related service only once in 3 years and my Tesla S never over 6 years), and as this car has only 500 miles on it, I thought I'd ask if anyone has insight to offer.

Grateful for any and all assistance!

-A

Thank you! Very good insight. I guess I'd have to say I'm pretty disappointed with it. The EQS rws was so much more effective. Dramatic by comparison. I'm not sure that the benefit of the Lucid rws is worth the additional mechanical and electronic complexity, or the cost. I appreciate your reply and hope you have a great holiday season.

-A

 

[Baumer55]

My 2026 Gravity Grand Touring is spec'd to include RW steering. The dealer has verified that it is, indeed, listed as included in the build. I have no evidence that the car has RW steering or if it does, that it is working.

1. Turning radius is abysmal - typical of pickup trucks I've driven in the past.
2. I stop the car, turn the steering wheel full left or right, get out and look. The rear wheels point straight ahead.

It's as if there is a setting that needs to be selected or a switch that needs to be activated. As my closest dealer is 70 miles away and taking the car in for service is very inconvenient (say what you will about the Mercedes EQS 580 SUV , mine required repair-related service only once in 3 years and my Tesla S never over 6 years), and as this car has only 500 miles on it, I thought I'd ask if anyone has insight to offer.

Grateful for any and all assistance!

-A

I have a 2023 Air Touring. Get used to it.

 

[mandevu]

Our Gravity has rear steering and is a noticeably tighter turning radius than our model X was. Looks like the EQS has up to 10 degrees of rear-steer (vs the Gravity at just under 3°), so it makes sense that you’re noticing it less.

 

[ClearlyLucid]

I know when I make a U-turn with the rear wheel steering I feel the vehicle turns very tight, almost back on itself. I suggest finding another Gravity to compare it to.

 

[PGHGravity]

Maybe it’s just psychological but I feel like I can always tell the difference on the few occasions when I’ve driven with rear steering disabled due to an error.

 

[investmentgamer]

I think they limited the motion of the rear wheels like this in order to preserve interior space.

 

[borski]

I have a 2023 Air Touring. Get used to it.

Not the same at all. RWS in the Gravity gives it a significantly lower turning radius than the Air.

Source: I own both.

 

[FrankHaase]

I habe a eqs 580 with 10 degree rw steering and the gravity with rw steering. The turning radius of the eqs is 1’ shorter. So yes it’s better but the gravity is still great. Mercedes has a 4.5 and 10 degree option. Overall the handling of the gravity is so much better than the eqs in my opinion.

 

[indigo6]

It seems like the wheels only turn when driving. Here’s a video of a three point turn with the rear wheel steering:

Gravity RWS

This is "Gravity RWS" by Anton Brown on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

vimeo.com

 

[Alex]

It seems like the wheels only turn when driving. Here’s a video of a three point turn with the rear wheel steering:

Gravity RWS

This is "Gravity RWS" by Anton Brown on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

vimeo.com

Oh, it appears that the rear wheels automatically realign themselves when the vehicle comes to a stop. This explains why, when making a complete turn in a parking lot, leaving the steering wheel fully turned, and stepping out to look, the rear wheels appear to be straight. Additionally, when the vehicle is stopped and the steering wheel is turned end-to-end, the rear wheels remain stationary.

This is unlike my CyberTruck, where turning the steering wheel will make the rear wheels turn, even when stopped.

 

[eelpout]

Try going to a parking lot and making slow tight turns with your side mirror angled down to see the left rear tire. I thought mine wasn't working either until I tried that. The rear wheels can only turn up to 3 degrees in each direction so it is a pretty subtle effect. When I just got out of my car and looked at the wheel I couldn't tell it was working.

I've tried that myself but I can never see the tires in back and I've tried leaning out of the car. I've also put phones out to video but I never see anything moving. also had my wife watch and she hasn't seen anything either. maybe I'm not going fast enough? guess I'll have to go to an empty parking lot so I can go faster.

one odd thing in the back of my brain is when I picked up the car and the service guy was driving it out of their garage, an error did flash about Dynamic Handling something or other, but I've never seen it since. Figured it was one of those ghost errors.

 

[Saksak]

I tested at very low speeds (just barely moving) and it worked. My wife couldn't tell by watching from outside the car. She had to be in the car leaning out the window, using the wheel fenders as a reference point. It was noticeable, just like in the video posted by @indigo6.

 

[eelpout]

here is another video of the rear steer in action. it's just at the beginning of the side, rear view, watch for it turning right.

I'll obviously have to do this setup myself to convince me it's working. (even though a friend watched it last week from outside the car and said he saw it move).

This is a good review BTW from CarGurus. He does mention even with the 3-damper system, some of the bumps getting into the cabin. I concur with that.

 

[XTesla]

When we arrive home we need to chuck a u-ee in the street to back into our garage... so we end up comparing the turning radius of all our cars over the last few years frequently.

The Gravity is the tightest turning radius, followed closely by the Cybertruck. Then the 3, then the Y, then the X and finally the R1T with the biggest radius. Haven't measured the RAM 1500 (haven't put it in the garage) and I can't recall how our old S, LEAF or i3 performed on that test back when we had those.
If the turning radius of your Gravity isn't tighter than a S/3/X/Y then I don't think your rear wheel steering is working.

 

[Altieb]

Just as an update -

I have tried to incorporate all of your thinking and analyses into my understanding of the car's rws and its resulting turning radius. All I can say is that backing out of a parking space yesterday, I had to make a 3 point maneuver to avoid a curve, at a location the old Mercedes would do it easily in 1, with about 2' to spare. I cannot count the number of times I have, being used to the Mercedes, tried making a U turn in a space that I have easily done so with the Mercedes, and found the Lucid about to hit a mailbox or run onto a neighbor's lawn. I'm willing to bet my wife's Volvo XC90 will turn tighter. Honestly, it feels worse than a car the Gravity's size should turn without rws.

Anyway, I am very disappointed with this supposed rws and do not recommend paying for it. That said, as a more broad evaluation of the car - it's an outstanding vehicle with new tech issues, but I expected that. I am really very happy with it, all said. I always look forward to driving it, am still, after about 3 months discovering features and capabilities, each update improves it further, and I enthusiastically recommend the car to anyone considering it. Just skip the rws.

Best to all!

A

 

[nelslens]

Just as an update -

I have tried to incorporate all of your thinking and analyses into my understanding of the car's rws and its resulting turning radius. All I can say is that backing out of a parking space yesterday, I had to make a 3 point maneuver to avoid a curve, at a location the old Mercedes would do it easily in 1, with about 2' to spare. I cannot count the number of times I have, being used to the Mercedes, tried making a U turn in a space that I have easily done so with the Mercedes, and found the Lucid about to hit a mailbox or run onto a neighbor's lawn. I'm willing to bet my wife's Volvo XC90 will turn tighter. Honestly, it feels worse than a car the Gravity's size should turn without rws.

Anyway, I am very disappointed with this supposed rws and do not recommend paying for it. That said, as a more broad evaluation of the car - it's an outstanding vehicle with new tech issues, but I expected that. I am really very happy with it, all said. I always look forward to driving it, am still, after about 3 months discovering features and capabilities, each update improves it further, and I enthusiastically recommend the car to anyone considering it. Just skip the rws.

Best to all!

A

Sorry to hear you're not satisfied with the RWS. I'm super happy with the Dynamic Handling package in general, and I'm not disappointed in my GGT turning radius. This is the biggest vehicle I've owned, yet it feels like it handles better & turns tighter than a car this size ought to, even if the RWS is on the subtle side.

One odd side-effect of RWS that I wonder if anyone else struggles with: Parallel parking takes a bit of getting used to. You're backing into a space & cranking your wheels to bring the front to the curb, as you draw parallel your butt actually starts moving a bit *away* from the curb. Then you crank the wheel the other way to pull forward & nudge your front closer, and -- the back moves out more! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!! I'm sawing back & forth, thinking how hilarious this would look in a sped-up time-lapse...

Thankfully with the 20" Front / 21" Rear wheels I'm not seeing a tendency to grind the back wheel when I reverse in too steeply; just a bit of tire might contact the curb. I'm only a few months into my Gravity after 3 years of a Polestar 2 with 21" wheels. My flip-flops had more sidewall -- so that setup was insanely easy to rash!