A materials handling vehicle automatically applies a steer correction maneuver if an object is detected in a steer bumper zone in front of the vehicle. A controller detects whether an object is in front of the materials handling vehicle and automatically determines whether a steer correction maneuver should be to the right or left of the traveling direction of the materials handling vehicle. The materials handling vehicle automatically steer corrects the vehicle, e.g., at a determined steer angle that is opposite the direction to the detected position of the object, and accumulates the distance traveled by vehicle while steer correction is being performed. The vehicle then automatically counter steers the vehicle, e.g., by a determined steer amount, in the opposite direction as the steer correction for a percentage of accumulated steer distance traveled. After performing the counter steer maneuver, the vehicle may, for example, resume a substantially straight heading.