Steering system and method for operating a steering system

A method for operating a steering system of a motor vehicle, the steering system comprising a steering wheel actuator mechanically connectable to a steering wheel of the motor vehicle, and a control unit operably coupled to the steering wheel actuator, the control unit being configured to determine a target steering wheel torque via which the steering wheel actuator is activatable, the target steering wheel torque being determined from a present state parameter of the motor vehicle using a steering wheel torque algorithm, the method comprising:

• determining whether the target steering wheel torque is considered plausible or not plausible based on the present state parameter of the motor vehicle via a plausibility algorithm,
• determining a fallback steering wheel torque via an auxiliary algorithm, and
• using the fallback steering wheel torque instead of the target steering wheel torque as a target steering wheel torque request if the target steering wheel torque is not plausible,
• wherein determining whether the target steering wheel torque is considered plausible or not plausible via the plausibility algorithm comprises:
• comparing a direction of the target steering wheel torque to a direction of a present steering wheel angular velocity,
• comparing the target steering wheel torque to a torque threshold value, and
• comparing the present steering wheel angular velocity to a velocity threshold value if the direction of the target steering wheel torque corresponds to the direction of the present steering wheel angular velocity.