1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

NEED HELP !! steering wheel not controlling tyres

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by margaux, Apr 21, 2017.

  1. margaux

    margaux New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2017
    2
    1
    0
    Location:
    london
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Dears,
    I have a 2006 toyota prius that i bought 9 months ago. Since everything was perfect and was very happy anout my prius.
    Suddenly last time when wanted to turn the steering did a "cracking " noise and my tyres wont move and sonwont let the car turn. Indeed, i could just turn the steering " in the wind" and my tyres not working ! staight with this problem the airbag light turned on and stayed.
    I brought it to a local garage who said they fixed the problem ; i gone to kwiit fit for a "tracking" and my car was back on the road. but 2 days later the same situation happened again and bring myself again being breakdown middle of a reversing...
    PLEASE i need your help; i dont know anything about mechanic and Im very very worried about this problems. No steering controling my tyres suddenly could have bring me in a big accident...
    Do you know what seems to be the issue ? and how much would it normally cost ?
    is it a problem that is definitely needed to go to toyota for ?
    thank you very much for your futur anwers, your help is gonna be very precious to me !

    margaux
     
    edthefox5 likes this.
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,464
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    How did the mechanic fix the original problem? If I had to guess, there's a problem with the steering intermediate shaft.

    There's a recall in the USA for this issue, maybe you can ask Toyota about it

    SM-N900P ?
     
    pashko90 and Data Daedalus like this.
  3. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2007
    1,540
    92
    0
    Location:
    Virginia
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    pashko90 and Data Daedalus like this.
  4. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2014
    2,002
    745
    0
    Location:
    Finland
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    If I had to ques I would ques that some connection in steering intermediate shaft stripped (maybe because it was lose) and the garage that you took it to just tighten it (which won’t fix the stripped splines).

    I would think that any place should be able to fix. But this being the number one safety item in a car, you should take it to somewhere where they do know what they are doing!
     
    Data Daedalus likes this.
  5. Data Daedalus

    Data Daedalus Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2013
    1,022
    1,182
    0
    Location:
    Wembley, London
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Please take your Prius to a Toyota Dealer immediately. Chances are the problem is directly related to major recall, and they'll likely fix it for free! Either way, take it to a Toyota dealer - have it towed there.

    GT-N5100 ?
     
    pashko90 likes this.
  6. margaux

    margaux New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2017
    2
    1
    0
    Location:
    london
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    thank you for your answers.
    i already checked for the recall with my registration number and my car is not part of it...
    Im not good in mecanic job but what i understood from the guy ( when i brought back my car for the 2nde time) he was talking about tightening it ! so im worried they do it again and as you saybit wont fixe the problem...
    If i have to change this steering rack ( or shaft- is it the same ?) do you know roughly how much would it become in UK ?
    im very worried because i saw online people saying that changing it is cpsting an enormous amout if money !!

    thank you again for your answer.
     
  7. Data Daedalus

    Data Daedalus Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2013
    1,022
    1,182
    0
    Location:
    Wembley, London
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I'm curious; I thought all Prii from that period were eligible for this problem to be rectified; was it based on registration numbers / serial numbers? How did you check to confirm it wasn't part of the recall?

    Who carried out the initial repairs to your Prius's steering problem? It wasn't a Toyota Dealership, was it?

    The best way of having this professionally fixed is to have Toyota engineers look at your Prius.

    The exception is if the 3rd party mechanic is Toyota trained, with specific experience working with Toyota Hybrids of that vintage.

    I might be wrong, but that's what I would do.

    GT-N5100 ?
     
    bisco likes this.
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,464
    8,377
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    The repair for a new intermediate shaft cost about $500 in the USA

    SM-N900P ?
     
  9. Data Daedalus

    Data Daedalus Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2013
    1,022
    1,182
    0
    Location:
    Wembley, London
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Okay, I've just found the Toyota Recall Checker online - I'm assuming that's how you managed to check if your vehicle has any outstanding recalls. Understood.

    However, that's still a very unusual fault, and I can't help thinking it's still related to that steering shaft spline related recall.

    I wonder if Toyota might cover 50% of the costs as a goodwill gesture?



    GT-N5100 ?
     
  10. pashko90

    pashko90 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2017
    47
    28
    0
    Location:
    SoCal
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Drill 2 parts thru, hammer strong pin thru and weld ends. You gonna never have a problem with it. They do change material of parts for recall but it did't help in long term.