USE OF AN ASSIST MOTOR OF A POWER STEERING SYSTEM TO GENERATE TEST CYCLES ACCORDING TO A POSITION ASCERTAINING CYCLE

A method for a power steering system for empirically determining at least one property of the system including at least one steering wheel, a steering mechanism with a rack, and at least one assist motor, the method including, outside a steering phase during which the power steering system is assigned to drive a vehicle to follow a trajectory determined as a situation function of the vehicle with respect to its environment, a step (a) of automatically activating the assist motor, during which a computer automatically generates and applies to the assistance motor, without requiring action on the steering wheel, an activation instruction following one or more pre-established exploration cycles for measuring, during or at the end of the at least one exploration cycle, at least one indicator parameter is specific to the power steering system response to the automatic activation of the assist motor and is a desired property characteristic.