DonnaD

Has anyone had a problem losing steering while driving? I was driving at about 42mph and my steering locked. I had to brake hard but i crossed the yellow line and went in to the ditch on the opposite side of the road. I did a lot of damage to the car.

1ATony

Welcome to the site.Man sorry to hear that hope you're alright.

T

DonnaD

I searched every site I could find to see if anyone has had this problem. Friends told me to search for recalls for this problem. I can't find any but I'm sure that I can't be the only one.
I'm very nervous to drive the car again once it's repaired for fear that this will happen again but this time at a higher speed and kill myself or someone else.
Have you heard of this happening before?

FlamingoGT

I haven't heard of that one happening, especially on that new of a car. Have you had any suspension work done on it recently such as lowering or alignment? The only other thing I can think of is the ignition steering lock.

mustang_302

did the rack lock up some how?did anything get wedge that u may have hit on the road?

Improvisedtech

Wow now that is really scary...It could also have to to with the steering pump, maybe a bad valve. just make sure to ask if they are able to locate where the problem occured.

DonnaD

Hi. Thanks for replying. I haven't had any suspension work done but back in June we had a problem with the ignition. The key wouldn't turn. We took it to the dealer and they replaced the ignition swith. It just started happening again and were about to take it back for the same problem. Could the ignition switch have anything to do with it you think?

DonnaD

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to make them go over it with a fine toothed comb. I've been driving for 29 years and have never had an accident. I have 2 kids (18 and 16) that occassionally drive this car. I can't imagine them behind the wheel and this happening. They are very inexperienced. I was able to handle the car but how would they have responded to this. Very Scary!!

FlamingoGT

Well.... when you turn the ignition key to off, it locks the steering column as sort of a cheap (and not very reliable) theft deterrent. Basically it moves a rod in your steering column that engages a cog to lock the wheel.
So COULD that have been the cause? Yes. I haven't heard of this happening (and I will be the first to admit there is a lot I don't know), but theoretically it very well could.
Not that it does you much good now, but for that original problem, could you put some pressure on the steering wheel and would that then allow the key to turn? What that does is release the pressure from the cogs on that rod so that the rod can move easier when you turn the key.