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Steering Assist Problem

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Stalix, Sep 2, 2007.

  1. Stalix

    Stalix New Member

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    I have a 2001 Prius with a power steering problem. once in a while on slow turns the steering wheel gets jerky and then suddenly becomes very hard to turn. I know its a problem with the power steering. I had felt the onset of this while going down a very winding road from the mountains and the wheel felt like it got stuck at some times. But now when I take a turn slowly it gives me a PS light and the exclamation point of death and of coarse the power steering dies.

    I have a little over 84k miles and no warranty, but I read many occurances of this problem where the people were out of warranty and got a free reapir done where the dealer replaced the steering rack. I was hoping someone with some experience with this problem could guide me to ge the reapir done for free.

    This problem is so widely know I'm surprised its not a recall, I'm kinda surprised they haven't been sued for this.
     
  2. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Use the PriusChat search function on "power steering" and take notes on what you've read. Do similar at Prius Online, Green Hybrid and the Yahoo! toyota-prius group.

    Take a copy of this file with you on your next consultation:

    [attachmentid=11053]

    Ask your Toyota shop whether they want to be the one known (throughout the internet) for denying this safety-related repair.

    I do not wish to be too hard on new posters with problems, but PLEASE there are mechanisms available to you to become very well versed on known Prius problems and their previous resolutions.
     

    Attached Files:

  3. Stalix

    Stalix New Member

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    I'm sorry if this has been posted before a lot but since I'm way out of warranty I wanted to know how to get the repair done at no charge to me.
     
  4. jk450

    jk450 New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tochatihu @ Sep 2 2007, 06:33 AM) [snapback]505758[/snapback]</div>
    The extension is five years from date of service. The vehicle is MY 2001.

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tochatihu @ Sep 2 2007, 06:33 AM) [snapback]505758[/snapback]</div>
    It's not up to the dealership. It's Toyota's call. Let's not make this Prius owner look like an arrogant idiot.

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tochatihu @ Sep 2 2007, 06:33 AM) [snapback]505758[/snapback]</div>
    I do not wish to be too hard on any poster, but it's time to stop with the threatening behavior every time a part fails out way of warranty. Too many folks on the forums expect free repair of any problem, regardless of mileage or time elapsed. It's no surprise, then, that new members read those posts, then ask "I'm way out of warranty I wanted to know how to get the repair done at no charge to me."

    And the "be nice to us, as [insert favorite enthusiast forum here] is in part responsible for the success of your product" argument is just silly.

    Before you buy a car, read the warranties. If you don't like them, don't buy. For decades, Toyota (and Honda) have consistently gone above and beyond the response of almost any other auto manufacturers. Yet there will always be some for whom that will never be enough.