I have been battling a poor ride for quite a while where the vehicle seems to feel unsteady and rocks side to side while driving on the road. Seems worse when I have passengers. Initially I thought it was related to the air suspension, but I have replaced bags, height control sensors, and ensured height is set properly and no codes stored. I then thought it could be the shocks, but I recently replaced all with OEM and the issue is still there. I brought to the dealer and they could not identify any issues, but I don’t think they tried real hard either. Today I ran an active test with Techstream and I noticed that the Damper Step associated with the shock comfort settings were changing while I drove. I verified that they all read the same value at each setting while sitting still (IE, “6” at the default comfort setting). Shouldn’t the settings remain the same while driving? If not, is it likely the control switch has gone bad? I am thinking I could disconnect the harness at all shocks and see if ride improves. Any help/recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Thanks for the response. It seemed to change randomly while driving. I did a quick drive with harnesses disconnected and it seems better, but true test will be on longer drive with passengers.

No, I don’t have KDSS. Thanks for idea about bushings. I have replaced front control arms and upper rear control arms since the bushings looked a little worn, but the condition remained. I also thought comfort setting should be static, so I think I may have found the issue, but I am curious if anyone with OEM shocks can verify.

Thanks for providing this. I wonder if the sensors which track the changes in terrain are fouled up. I have driven 3 times since disconnecting the harness at the shocks and the vehicle seems much more stable and I don’t feel the side to side rocking.

It’s a 2008 GX470

I bought it in 2014, and it drove great for a few years then I started to notice a “rocking”, unsettled sensation when driving that got worse with passengers and it has been driving me crazy for over a year. Thought for a long time that it was related to the air suspension, then the shocks. I have replaced a bunch of parts and adjusted the height sensors. Nothing seemed to work until yesterday when I unplugged the harnesses at the shocks. I have not driven it much since then, but it definitely has improved the ride and the handling. After doing this, I found a few posts by another member who also unplugged the shocks and cited an improvement in the ride. I guess this is another reason to ditch OEM shocks!

Thanks for the response. I recently replaced the front shocks and the shock mount and surrounding area seems to be in good shape. Also, after having driven it for almost a week since unplugging the shock harnesses I am certain now that my issues with the ride are somehow related to the AVS system as the ride has drastically improved. I am unsure of what drives the changes to the damper step setting, but I think either a sensor, the suspension control ECU, or harness must be faulty. Regardless, I am not going to dig real deep as I do not view the ability to manually change the suspension setting as a major benefit.