Steering Problems

There was a recall associated with replacing the intermediate steering shaft on earlier 2G vehicles.

A failed spiral cable (aka clockspring) would potentially impair the driver's airbag in the steering wheel hub and the steering wheel controls, but it should not prevent the car from being driven.

Either the car has other problems causing a "limp mode" or else your daughter has fallen into the hands of a crooked service dept.

I am not aware that aftermarket replacement steering racks exist. Are you sure that this is not a salvage part? It would be interesting if you were able to identify the aftermarket manufacturer and part number.

 

They probably broke the clockspring while putting in whatever rack. And the steering knuckle broke? How???

There is no limp-in mode that I am aware of with regards to the clockspring. Probably the airbag light is on but that is it. Technically, the dealer can argue that the car is not safe to drive without a working airbag or horn. But that shouldn't stop you from retrieving the car and ALL parts that were removed.

 

Yes, I've had a problem TWICE on my 2004. The first is detailed here: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/87621-close-steering-disaster.html

The second happened yesterday, 20 May 11. As my wife backed out of the garage, she heard a noise like a snap or pop. When she tried to go forward there was absolutely no steering. I could just spin the wheel, even with all power off. We had it towed to the local dealer, where they found that the splines on the Steering Intermediate Shaft No. 2 were stripped/sheared. Now they were apparently still good last November when the Steering Sliding Yoke Sub-assembly was replaced. As it stands they are perplexed as to how this could happen and are going to investigate further, possibly getting Toyota involved. So we'll see what they say next week. Oh, since the wheel spins freely, they think the clock spring might also be broken.

You also asked about the TSB: It is SSC-60C and I'll try to upload the PDF

 

My dealer called today. The parts are ordered and I should have it back either tomorrow or Wednesday. Also, they said the repair would be at no charge to me. We'll see. They are replacing the Steering Intermediate Shaft Assembly #2, and the Sliding Yoke Sub-assembly, both of which were replaced back in June 2006 under SSC-60C, and latter part also was replaced in November 2010 when we had the steering break.

 

Well, the steering is back in and working, but they are waiting for the clock spring to arrive tomorrow and then we should get the car back in the afternoon. They said again that EVERYTHING is no charge to me. Probably because it was less than 6 months since the last repair.

mbarlow, what is the status of your repair?

 

Toyota parts carry a 1 year warranty. It's a pain to have them do it all over again, but at least it is free. I wonder what they did wrong 6 months ago. At least the failure circumstance was benign.

 

Except that the part that actually broke wasn't replaced 6 months ago; it was replaced 3 years and 11 months ago as part of SSC-60C. Additionally the clock spring had never been replaced. What I think is that because they could not say for sure if it was a manufacturing defect in the part that broke, or possibly something as a result of the work back in November, they decided to just cover everything, parts & labor.

Yes, we were lucky. We had made a trip to Las Vegas & back in early March. The night before it broke, I would have normally used the Prius to attend a meeting in a neighboring town, but used my Miata instead.

 

This is scary to think about. What if the steering failed while you were at speed, traveling on a curvy mountainous road.

Any accident history on that car?

 

Nope. We bought it new in August of 2004.

It makes me wonder about Toyota's parts quality. First, the Sliding Yoke and Intermediate Shaft #2 are the subject of a recall in 2006. Then in Nov 2010, the Sliding Yoke (again), Shaft #1, and Steering Rack all have to be replaced because of a failure. And now in May 2011, the Sliding Yoke (again) and Intermediate Shaft #2 (again), and the clock spring. So in less than 4 years we've gone through: 1 steering rack; 1 steering shaft #1; 1 clock spring; 2 Steering Shaft #2s; 3 Sliding Yokes.

In 25 years of owning GERMAN-built VWs and 21 years of a JAPAN-built Mazda Miata, we've never had as many major problems. The only other vehicles we've experienced similar problems were AMERICAN-built vehicles, which is why I refuse to buy anything built in the Americas.

However, the Prius is back home and, as promised, at no charge to us. The dealer is great; it is Toyota itself I wonder about. They seem to be more concerned about out-selling GM world-wide than quality. Quite frankly, I may be in the market for a German-built vehicle to replace the Prius as I've lost confidence in Toyota.

 

Your story makes me wonder if the initial recall repair was botched. Otherwise, if it were a problem in general with the parts, there would be class action lawsuits for multiple out of warranty repairs and many accidents due to unintended steering.

 

In the cases where you've had the shafts break or other safety issues, you guys should definitely file a safety complaint w/NHTSA, if you haven't already. That is scary.

That is unfortunate about your Toyota experiences. I can't explain it... Statistically, VWs (even some German made ones) seem to have generally poor reliability records in Consumer Reports. Perhaps you've been unlucky w/your Prius or something else is at play?