Steering Angle Sensor Circuit

I have had an interesting weekend... We lost power for 3 days thanks to the hurricane that got us for maybe 20 minutes... This is part venting and part asking for advice.

On Friday, the traction control light turned on (with no sound) and stayed on while driving, stopped and parked. I brought it to my local dealership to check and see what was wrong. I was informed that the steering angle sensor circuit went bad and that it would be $944 to replace (the part alone was $725!!!). I asked if the car could drive fine without the repair and was told it would be okay. I also asked if this error light could be turned off and was informed that it was impossible. I went home and parked. Sunday night, I noticed that none of the interior lights would work.

Monday, I brought the car back to the dealership because I was sure that it was due to something they did on Saturday. This is where I get angry. I only stated that I brought the car in on Saturday and that none of my interior lights now work. The guy at the counter said "Let me just go check something before we make a bug deal out of this. I bet this will fix it." He walks out to my car and flips the dome light switch. Yes, I am too dumb to have tried that before... He also told me that my car was old and that a 20,000 mile car is very different from a 120,000 mile car. My car was just in for a 100,000 checkup 2 months ago. Anyways, after being told that I should just drop the car off for a diagnostic instead of being looked at then, I requested to talk to the manager. The guy only goes to talk to the manager and then talk to me. I never get to see the manager. We finally agree that I would be charged nothing since I was just in on Saturday.

After 3 hours, I am informed that it was just a bad fuse due to my aftermarket door lights which have been functioning fine for quite a while. Anyways, driving home, I noticed that the traction control error light was no longer on. Could my original problem have just been a bad fuse? I am looking for someone to give me a second opinion or buy an error code reader.