An
electric power assisted
steering system for a vehicle, comprising: a steering mechanism which operatively connects a
steering wheel to road wheels of the vehicle, a
torque sensor (6) arranged to, in use, produce a torque
signal indicative of the torque carried by a portion of the steering mechanism, an
electric motor (1) operatively connected to the steering mechanism, a
signal processing unit (7) arranged to, in use, produce from the torque
signal a torque demand signal (8) representative of a torque to be applied to the steering mechanism by the motor, the
signal processing unit comprising a first calculating unit (12) arranged to calculate an initial torque demand signal (10) dependent on the torque signal, and a second calculating unit (13) arranged to, in use, calculate a torque damping signal (11) indicative of an amount the initial torque signal is to be damped in order to generate the torque demand signal, and a
motor drive stage arranged to provide, in use, a drive current to the motor responsive to the torque demand signal, in which the second calculating unit comprises an input for a signal dependent upon the torque demand signal, a
differentiator (15), arranged to, in use, differentiate the input signal dependent upon the torque signal and a
high pass filter arranged to filter the input signal to reduce
low frequency components thereof.