Hello,

A month ago I bought a new Skoda Karok 1.5 TSI and noticed that when accelerating it starts to pull slightly to the right.

It is most clearly visible when I have stopped and sharply accelerate. The steering wheel turns about 20 degrees to the right.

Has anyone seen this behavior on their car?

I note that it is left-hand drive.

Welcome.  Safer than pulling to the left then as they can in the UK.   ? Have you reset the tyre pressures to the correct pressure since getting the car?  And the TPMS.    Is it FWD and a DSG?   There are run out striped on tyres.  Common tyres mis fitted at the factory.   Also poor tracking and alignment.  Usually for UK cambered roads though.      Common pulling to the left issues in the UK and Skoda blamed the tyres.  Dunlop Sportmaxx back in the day. They never sorted and approved fitting Pirelli,s to hide the fault.    ? What tyres are on your car, brand and size? 

Sounds like a suspension issue, possibly tracking or even incorrect tyre pressure. If it’s only a month old get the dealer to look at it.

A long long time ago, when BMC brought out the original Mini/Austin 7, there were a number of accidents, where the cars would swerve to the right, when rapid acceleration was applied. Many hours spent trying to find the fault, but turned out it was the following:

first front wheel drive car, for most drivers, with superior grip;

for the time, faster acceleration than drivers used to;

mainly only occurred when overtaking, especially slow or stationary vehicles (bus at bus stop was often cited).

Net result that nothing wrong with the car, drivers just needed lighter right foot!

Not saying this applies to OP, but he does mention accelerating, rather than just pulling away. I have a heavy foot, but not noticed any pull, either direction.

Useful if people say tyres fitted, brand and size.  Plenty 1.5 TSI manual or DSG have torque steer, or just pulling to left it right.  Even 1.0 1.2, 1.4 TSI and 1.6 TDI with a dq200 in various models have had it since 2009. 

hi guys,

In my country (Bulgaria) you drive in the right lane.

The car has a DSG box.The tires are currently NEXEN winter tires with a 215/60/16 tread size and are mounted on original rims. Pressure has been checked and it is the same 36 psi everywhere. It seems to me that it started to pull more after I replaced the original tires that I got the car with from the dealer (Continental).

Today I swapped the rear tires with the front, but the problem remained.

I apologize for the bad English

 

I would check a few things first…

 

1) Check if the tyres on the front are the same, if they’re not and the rear two tyres are then swap fronts to the back and adjust pressures.

 

2) Check the wear on the front tyres also, see if anything looks wrong such as excessive wear on either shoulder of the tyres….you’re alignment may have an issue.

 

3) When you’re sure the above is ok, check the wheel alignment. If they’re 4 wheel adjustable then get that done.

 

4) Get the suspension checked over.

@disco-barry did you read the OP,s post above yours?

No, but still what i’ve said is relevant.

 

Wheel alignment next!
 

A car pulling can be numerous things, but it’s usually something simple. 

A further thought, would ESC attempt to negate the effects of torque steer?

1 hour ago, thamestrader said:

A further thought, would ESC attempt to negate the effects of torque steer?

 

Yes, XDS is (depending on the car) supposed to help.

 

That said, on my Leon, I couldn't feel anything 😂

I see this is a known issue and I am not alone in this experience. My Karoq is 2025, actually almost 3 months old. Today I took the Karoq for an oil change. I explained to the service advisor the issue that concerns me the most, for now.

The car pulls to the right. It is not because of road camber, tire problem or whatever else. When driving at low RPM the pulling is minimal, but when I press the gas it noticeably pulls to the right, and even the steering wheel turns slightly by itself. On flat road, on left camber, or on right camber - it is the same. When starting from a stop, if you don’t hold the steering wheel, you can see how it always turns slightly to the right. The more throttle you give, the stronger it pulls.

I explained this to the advisor, then we got in the car together and he saw what I mean. The bad thing is that he then put me in the test Karoq (which during the test drive 4 months ago I also noticed was pulling to the right, but they brushed it off with “road camber”), and we saw that there it is the same situation. The test car has not even 4000 km.

From the advisor’s reaction I judge that he hasn’t encountered this before. He said he will write to Škoda to investigate the issue and whether they will even recognize this as a problem. I’m waiting for a call, but honestly I’m not very optimistic.

Has there been any development on the OP’s side with this issue? Has anyone experienced a similar issue, even on another VAG car?

I will share if there is any movement on my side.

This can happen in front wheels drive cars if you accelerate quickly, nothing unusual.

What is torque steer?

2 hours ago, Rbz5416 said:

What is torque steer?

On a front wheel drive car, it is when applying a lot of power, the car pulls to left or right. There are several potential causes, including different grip level from the tyres (cheap and worn one side, high grade and new on the other), or unequal length driveshafts. I had one car which was ok most of the time but had terrible torque steer if the accelerator was pressed too hard, but no-one could find the fault. I got rid of the car, but thinking about it, I wonder whether the differential or a driveshaft had failed and the power was only on one wheel.

2 minutes ago, Routemaster1461 said:

On a front wheel drive car...

I think you may have missed that was a link explaining the phenomenon, not a question. 😉

Edited 11 March11 Mar by Rbz5416

I understand what torque steer is but from what I know it should mainly appear under stronger acceleration, not cause the car to pull constantly at steady speed.

In my case the behavior is slightly different.

When starting from a traffic light or intersection, even with normal throttle, the steering wheel turns slightly to the right by itself if I don’t hold it. The more throttle I apply the more noticeable it becomes.

Another point is that the car still pulls to the right even at constant speed, for example around 50–60 mph where the engine is running at low RPM just maintaining speed. That’s why I’m not fully convinced this is only torque steer. Will see what Skoda says.

23 hours ago, Rbz5416 said:

What is torque steer?

This ☝️

On 11/03/2026 at 20:02, Karykoff said:

I understand what torque steer is but from what I know it should mainly appear under stronger acceleration, not cause the car to pull constantly at steady speed.

In my case the behavior is slightly different.

When starting from a traffic light or intersection, even with normal throttle, the steering wheel turns slightly to the right by itself if I don’t hold it. The more throttle I apply the more noticeable it becomes.

Another point is that the car still pulls to the right even at constant speed, for example around 50–60 mph where the engine is running at low RPM just maintaining speed. That’s why I’m not fully convinced this is only torque steer. Will see what Skoda says.

That isn't torque steer. Torque steer is when I launched my 350bhp vRS and it scrabbles around from left to right as the LSD works out what to do with the power.

You don't get torque steer in a 1.5 Karoq accelerating like @Karykoff did. Not in my opinion or experience anyway.

Torque steer is due to drivetrain physics - different driveshaft lengths, setups, geometry, etc. I doubt any of those are an issue in a 2025 car. Out of curiosity, have you had an alignment/geometry check done?

I've had torque steer on much lower powered cars. The fact it's a 2025 car doesn't in itself negate torque steer. However looking at the video the OP has now posted torque steer can be ruled out.

2 hours ago, sussamb said:

I've had torque steer on much lower powered cars. The fact it's a 2025 car doesn't in itself negate torque steer. However looking at the video the OP has now posted torque steer can be ruled out.

Sorry - I was exhausted when I posted that. I meant factors like geometry are unlikely to be the cause, since the car is so new.

Similarly, I also meant that in the particular car, accelerating like OP did, it wasn’t torque steer. To be honest, I think torque steer is far more of a factor in 150-200bhp FWD cars, as these are all open diff platforms - most stuff above 230bhp has an LSD of some sort.

It’s not anything with the braking system, is it? Maybe something with XDS? It’s a bit weird the demo car did it too, though.

I made a new clip - exactly the same behavior.

Edited 15 March15 Mar by Apollo323

? What size wheels, what size tyres, set at what pressure and what Manufacture and named tyres?

1 hour ago, Evolution13 said:

What size wheels, what size tyres, set at what pressure and what Manufacture and named tyres?

I don't think it's the tires, since the behavior is the same with the summer ones.

winter - 215/55/16.

summer 225/50/18

Edited 15 March15 Mar by Apollo323

That is quite a circumference / diameter difference you run. I see before you posted 215/60/16.

Edited 16 March16 Mar by Evolution13