2012 Prius failure of intermediate shaft three times

Our 2012 Prius with now 17,000 miles in 8 months has developed a clunking noise when turning the steering wheel, especially far to the right at low speeds.

The first time the dealer identified it as a failed intermediate shaft and replaced it under warranty. Shortly after we told them it was starting to make the noise again, but they claimed they couldn't replicate the sound and anything they heard was normal 'linkage' (whatever that is). Shortly thereafter the clunking progressed so we took it in for now the third time, and they confirmed the problem, spoke with Toyota who said we must have had a bad part, and replaced it again.

Now it's making the noise again. Car is now back in the shop and a Toyota manufacturing regional specialist is supposed to look at the car with the shop foreman and service manager tomorrow.

I'm not much of a car or Prius guy. I know a similar problem has existed in older Priuses leading to two recalls. I have not seen similar reports for the 2012.

I'll add I'm extra annoyed by this because our 2006 RAV4 developed a steering shaft failure just one month out of warranty in 2009, which was a $680 dealer fix out of my pocket, and that one had a service bulletin issued but not a recall. So I'm wondering if Toyota has even a more widespread problem with steering columns?

Anyway, any suggestions on what I should do from here? In my state a potentially serious problem that exists after two attempted fixes in the first 30 months is grounds for a lemon law claim. I much prefer my Prius back and working well for the long run...

Thank you.

 

Update today is that another part of the shaft (and she didn't know exactly which part) appears 'deformed' and so they are ordering that part and replacing, no ETA yet, will post back when I have the info.

 

They fixed the problem this time by replacing both the upper and intermediate shafts. They say they noticed some deformity at the U joint of the upper shaft, where it interacts with the intermediate shaft. So far, so good, 500 miles and no problems this week. It usually takes about 2-4 weeks for the problem to start recurring so we shall see.