steering on a smart forfour 2005 manuel

[baronites]

Hi out there.
Its a smart passion 1.1 petrol
Can you shed some light on a smart car we've just bought, the power steering works lovely stationary with no dry spots or squeaks but when you drive it the steering is heavy and when you turn corners the steering does not return to its natural centre position and you have to do it manually. And its quite stiff.
It was bought for my son who's at university to save on fuel costs, at the moment its a problem.
Thanks Ronnie

 

[wheels-inmotion]

I think you will find it has EPS ( Electronic Power Steering ) These have a censor that changes the steering weight, so when parking for example it will be light and when at speed it will be heavy. So the fault might just be the censor or maybe it can be re-set via the ECU?