Patent ID: 8251172

Claim:
An electric power steering device comprising: a motor for steering assist that is supplied with a current in accordance with a steering torque applied to a steering member; a temperature detection portion that detects temperature of a specific site whose temperature increases due to driving of the motor; a control portion that controls the current to be equal to or less than a restriction value that is changed according to the temperature of the specific site, if the temperature detected by the temperature detection portion exceeds a threshold temperature; a temperature value storage portion that stores the temperature of the specific site when an engine is stopped; a restriction value storage portion that stores the restriction value provided when the engine is stopped, as a pre-stop restriction value; a computation portion that computes a temperature difference between the temperature of the specific site detected when a starter switch for starting the engine is turned on and the temperature stored when the engine is stopped; a setting portion that sets the restriction value to be equal to or greater than the pre-stop restriction value, based on the pre-stop restriction value, according to the temperature difference computed by the computation portion, over a predetermined time following a time of turning-on of the starter switch, if the temperature of the specific site at the time of the turning-on of the starter switch is above the threshold temperature.