A steering angle sensor assembly 10 for determining absolute angular position of a steering wheel of a motor vehicle and includes a multi-axis detector 24 having an active operating mode and a standby operating mode and being adapted to measure speed and direction of rotation of the steering wheel. The steering angle sensor assembly 10 further includes at least one second detector 26 arranged to form a quadrature encoder to detect movement and direction of the steering wheel when the multi-axis detector 24 is in the standby or powered down operating mode.