Steering Became Very Tough...dealer Tells Me That Its The!

[dh80]

I park the is350 in the garage as I do everynight. I reverse in the morning and when I get to the end of the drive way to where I would normally turn the steering wheel to get onto the street, I CANNOT turn the damn wheel. At first I thought, nice, a flat tire, (although no TPMS warning)...I do a walk around of the car and verify all tires look good.

I get back in the cars shut if off and restart...notice nothing unusual on the dash as far as warnings or lights.....I can not steer without being hercules. I call the service advisor, then call road side assistance, the car gets towed to the dealer yesterday and I'm told that tech will inspected it in the morning and I'll get my call following the tech's remark.

I get the call today....I'm told that the Rack & Pinion failed. I ask what does that mean....the service advisor (not sure she is technical at all although I'm told these people are suppose to attend a lot of tech classess as well) tells me she can not explain in detail and that Rack and Pinion assembly failed and it has to be replaced. Cost is about 2K for the part...she goes on to assure me that its all covered under warranty.

Has this happened to anyone??? Has anyone heard of this????

Jeez...I've owned honda's, acuras, audi's that lived 5-10 years without any steering issues.....a mechanical failure of rack & pinion on a 2006 is350 with less than 15K miles which has never been driven on a track. What the %$#@?????

I'll talk to the technician tomorrow when I pick up the car. I'm really *BLEEP*ed as that this could have failed while i was on my daily commute on the tollway in Houston which regularly sees 85MPH. Would lexus have stood behind a crash and admitted a rack and pinion failure????

People, talk to me - am I over exagerating or should I really be *BLEEP*ed.

Cheers,

DH

[Step Hen]

Wow, sorry to hear about the problem, but you are right and are lucky it happened in your driveway and not on the highway!

Here's some more info on what rack and pinion steering is as I just did a quick Google. Has some nice picture references. I haven't heard of something like this going out ever as R&P steering is usually found only on newer cars. Glad they're taking care of you warranty wise. Are they providing a loaner as well? Lexus offers this service.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/steering2.htm

[gordonw]

Its probably not a mechanical failure, as the steering system in the car is electric. It could be a motor or sensor failure.

[dh80]

Its probably not a mechanical failure, as the steering system in the car is electric. It could be a motor or sensor failure.

I'm told that the rack & pinion assembly is being changed out. I'm very sure that they would not change a 2K + part out if it was a sensor that had failed. What do you think??

[gordonw]

Its probably not a mechanical failure, as the steering system in the car is electric. It could be a motor or sensor failure.

I'm told that the rack & pinion assembly is being changed out. I'm very sure that they would not change a 2K + part out if it was a sensor that had failed. What do you think??

They would replace the rack if it was a torque senor circuit failure as the torque sensor is built into the rack, and it sounds like thats what failed if you have a heavy steering issue.

[Lazar1389]

1. You have EVERY right to be upset. *Most* people by Lexus because they have high expectations of reliability. However, that does not mean perfection (even though some of us - like me - expect it).

2. Good that it is covered by warranty.

3. Service seems to be handling it promptly and efficiently.

4. Compared to what happened to me, you're in paradise. For those who know me from the "IS forum", I had a 2007 IS with 1,800 miles on it replaced last week pursuant to NJ's Lemon Law. Top that! LOL Now I've got a brand spankin new 2008.

[dh80]

1. You have EVERY right to be upset. *Most* people by Lexus because they have high expectations of reliability. However, that does not mean perfection (even though some of us - like me - expect it).

2. Good that it is covered by warranty.

3. Service seems to be handling it promptly and efficiently.

4. Compared to what happened to me, you're in paradise. For those who know me from the "IS forum", I had a 2007 IS with 1,800 miles on it replaced last week pursuant to NJ's Lemon Law. Top that! LOL Now I've got a brand spankin new 2008.

I'm happy for your replacement.

And I agree with you completely.....i wish more people show furustration. from everything i've read, it seems people are very happy with the loaner, the frapiccino and the cookies and forget that a similar problem could have cost them an accident had they had the failure going 75-85 mph....at which point it would have been a driver fault and i really really doubt that a failure of r&p can be diagnosed post crash - specially if its front end and a pretty bad one.

My wife and I're expecting....I'm really grateful that she wasn't driving. And I'm really *BLEEP*ed that this happens and its considrered a normal warranty issue. Shouldn't this be a flag for a recall given that a lot of people have complained about it...specially on the hybrids (not just IS's).

Regardsless, just venting my furustration.

Cheers from H-town. Safe driving my friend.

DH.

[Surrender]

I have had no problems with my IS (other than rattling which most likely came from my subs in the trunk).

You have a right to be mad but I don't think that your problem is much of a widespread one (if it was I am sure the car would be recalled).

Hopefully your car works better now. The car sure is fun when its steering isn't failing though, isn't it?

[warhummer1]

I'm curious to see what they mean by "rack and pinion failed". I've never heard of one jamming, but if the power steering went out, you would have a !Removed! of a time trying to turn the wheel at a dead stop. That sounds more plausible, but would be easily controllable at highway speeds. Now, if you're trying to yap on the cell phone while eating something at the same time, you'd have some issues.