Hopefully I won't inadvertently say anything in this post that is not acceptable to the moderators. If I do then I am very sorry and please note that I will very happily amend it as soon as I am contacted.

Last Friday I purchased a USB OBD 2 cable from eBay and I have just reset the Steering Assist from setting 1 to setting 8. The result is a transformation in the feel of the car - much firmer with more resistance to turning the wheel. This goes a long way to sorting out the dislike I had for the car's handling - it still rolls more than it should, and is still somewhat under-damped, but steering the car is now MUCH more progressive and the other faults somehow aren't quite as noticeable.

For anyone else who wants to do the same, get a lead as I did. Here are some notes on what I did (as I have not found anywhere a clear and straightforward walkthrough for the process) - but please (legal get-out!) do your own homework and don't blame me if you make a mistake.

I did this on a system running Windows XP SP2, although I believe (but have not tested) that this should all work fine on Vista as well, as long as you have the latest drivers:

1. Download the updated drivers for the interface from FTDI Latest Drivers and unzip them. The CD I got with the cable had drivers on but they were a very old version (the latest version at time of writing is 2.04.16) and the change notes indicate a lot of improvements since then. In particular you definitely need the latest version of the drivers to use with Vista.

2. Plug the cable into a USB socket on the PC - Windows will then want to load the drivers - load these from the folder where you unzipped the latest drivers. Windows will do this twice in a row (at least it did for me) and then tell you that the device is correctly installed.

3. Open Device Manager on your PC, go to the Ports section and double click on the device called USB Serial Port. Click on the tab called Port Settings and then the button called Advanced. Change the Port number to be within the range of COM1 to COM4 - the popup menu will tell you which virtual ports are already in use so choose a different one than those.

3. Install the VAG-COM software version 409.1. There is ONLY ONE legitimate way to do this, and that is to download it from the Ross-Tech website here. Make sure that you read all of the restrictions to ensure that what you are doing is totally legal - it certainly was for me. Note that you can register the software for only $99 which enables more functionality. I would STRONGLY encourage you to do this so that you support the developers, but it is not necessary for this function which works with the unregistered version. Having installed the software there is no point in running the software yet at this point unless you are actually in the car.

4. Go to your Fabia and unclip the cover to the 16 pin socket which is below the steering wheel. The socket itself is purple coloured and is located below and to the right of the steering wheel.

5. Plug the cable onto the socket and switch the car's ignition on.

6. Launch the VAG-COM software and then click on the button called Options. Check the appropriate radio button in the Select COM Port section for the Port you selected in step 3 above, then click the button labelled Test. Assuming the test completes successfully you can then click the Save button and exit the Options dialog.

7. Click on the button labelled Select in the Select Control Module section. Click on the tab labelled Chassis, then on the button labelled 44-Steering Assist. The software will query the car's computer and populate the fields in the dialog.

8. Click on the button called Recode-07. You will see a field with a value in it which on my car was 10110. This corresponds to a weight of 1, and I understand that this can be set at up to 8. To use 8 (as I did) change the value to 10180, but what value to use is very much a personal thing. Many people have recommended a value of 5 which was pretty good, but I preferred 8. Then click the button called Do It and the change is written to the car's computer - you can then disconnect the cable and try out your lovely new heavier steering.

The next thing I will be looking into is how to disable the dreaded double-click to open all the doors other than the driver's one. Since we don't have a significant problem with car-jacking here (at least not in this area - yet!), I don't know why this is the default setting from the factory. I never get the double-click right first time...

Anyway, enjoy your transformed car!!

Edited 2 March, 200917 yr by nickcoll

Isn't this just changing the weight of the steering? Not actually physically improving the way the car handles? Transforming a car requires uprated suspension, rear ARB, wider & lower profile tyres, etc.

Surely handling is the way the car feels to drive, and believe me, this makes a big difference to that. Roadholding is a different matter, of course.

Check out fabia-vrs.com for the anti-hijack feature - hope it will save you some time

I'd guess that the dealer may be able to change to 2 clicks to unlock at service time? Might enquire when mine is serviced at the start of May.

I agree about the steering weight - more weight would help with the feel of the handling (even if not actual steering feel).

One thing I find when the roads are slightly slippery is that I have very little indication as to when the front tyres are starting to lose grip - the steering is that light all the time that there's virtually no change in steering weight when the tryes start to slip.

Would be interested in trying this myself but would be worried about invalidating the warranty (especially as mine likes to visit the dealer so often)

Thanks