Patent ID: 7779959

Claim:
An electric power steering apparatus comprising: a steering member operable by a driver; a driving gear driven by an electric motor for steering assistance; a driven gear meshed with the driving gear; a steering shaft rotated along with the driven gear, the steering shaft being connected to the steering member; a first bearing and a second bearing for rotatably supporting the steering shaft; a housing accommodating the driving gear, the driven gear, the first bearing, and the second bearing; an urging member arranged in a recess provided in the housing for urging at least one of the first bearing and the second bearing in a direction in which a center-to-center distance between the driving gear and the driven gear increases; an intermediate shaft; and a steering mechanism including a pinion shaft and a rack bar, the pinion shaft being connected to the steering shaft through the intermediate shaft, the rack bar being engaged with the pinion shaft, wherein there are provided as the urging member a first urging member for urging the first bearing in a first urging direction as the direction in which the center-to-center distance increases, and a second urging member for urging the second bearing in a second urging direction as the direction in which the center-to-center distance increases, and the first direction and the second direction are parallel to each other.