I had steering wheel off my van (merc vito '07) to retrofit a cruise control stalk. I got it back together and the moment I start driving the brakes come on violently and then the esp realises its not doing things right and disables itself. In the meantime I've unplugged the yaw sensor which completely disables the system to stop the unplanned braking, which works just fine apart from the esp light.

First thought was that I'd put the steering angle sensor in wrong but pulled the wheel off and it really only goes in 1 way. I thought maybe I'd damaged it and replaced with a used one but no joy there (although its possible the used one was also f**cked). I'm told turning the steering lock to lock 3 times is all that's needed to calibrate the sensor but no luck there. Maybe it needs reset on merc star software? Star will be needed to activate the cruise control anyway. Any suggestions?

I'd have thought it needs communication/reset using Mercedes software to solve the issue. I've seen things on VAG group cars that require such intervention before. Certainly annoying - perhaps manufacturers trying to protect revenue or prevent modifications!


One further thought - I presume there's an airbag in the steering wheel? If so the fact it's been disconnected my leave an error code in the vans ECU. That code may need deleting to reassure the ECU that the airbag's back in place.

[Edited on 5/2/18 by nick205]