Power steering died when I was on the Freeway
 

I was driving on the freeway and the power steering died on me, the steering became extremely heavy and I could not turn it. I ended up on the opposite lane and luckily there were not coming traffic on the opposite direction or else I would be death.

Exact same recall is documented here for the Yarris http://www.autonews.com/article/2013...-steering-flaw

The steering is heavy as when you turn off the car, not sure if anyone here experienced this problem but it was a frighten experience for me so guys be extremely careful not to drive too fast around the bends.

Taking the car to Toyota tomorrow.

dammm

The steering couldnt be that hard without power assistance........

Meh.

Sounds more like it locked up rather than died. Similar to when you stall or turn off your car, like the OP said.

Thats scary...

What Panda said, I mean driving without power steering isn't that bad when you're moving, but if it locked up somehow and wasn't able to actually turn no matter how much force you use. Then, I think you have an issue.

No no no! Don't start a mass panic. OP did not say it "locked."

Until OP replies, refer to my previous "Meh."

Yeah, the steering on these cars isn't that bad. Even with my 2JZ in it it turns fairly easily. Hope you get taken care of OP!

Probably too late already!
One of the click bait blog sites will be running the headline "GT86 Death Machine Due Too Reported High Speed Steering Lockup" any second now!

lol ...big time

I'll keep driving too fast around the bends until further notice, but thanks for the warning mate.
Let us know what Toyota says about it.

Even if they find something it may not apply to us since it is right hand drive.
https://i.imgur.com/v21CPie.gif

And upside down.

http://i62.tinypic.com/wjg9jl.gif

Had me until this part.

Toyota said they could not fault it...
 

The Power steering icon came on with the exclamation mark next to it when this happen. it wasn't totally locked but was extremely hard to turn like when you turn off the car and try to turn the steering.Just try that and see how hard it feel for you.

It was a hot day and I did have the aircond on at the time. Toyota wanted to send the car back to me because they cannot fault it and I am so scare to drive it again. What do you guy think I should do?

Yes it is hard to turn...
 

turn your car off then try to turn the steering wheel and see it for yourself...

Hey, is your car a Toyota 86 GT or a GTS? Your profile says "FT 86" which is a bit strange.
Also, would you please post a photo?

If that warning light has been on it should turn up when Toyota scanned for error codes. Did they say they did not find any error codes, or that they could not reproduce the error?

If it happens again: Pull over and stop the car. Engage emergency lights. Call for help.

I don't think there's a fault code stored for that. It's just a servo high-temp indicator. It cut out as designed to protect itself.

The aircon is separate and actually would have helped by keeping the cabin temp low.

If it were me, I would continue driving with a little extra vigilance while looking to see if a pattern emerges. Maybe the thermal overload circuit is faulty and is triggering too early, or intermittently.

That's how I would design it - as a failsafe instead of allowing a cascade failure. Like when circuit breakers eventually fail, they don't stick on. They flop open.

What do you guy think I should do?

A) More push ups

OR

B) Sell it to me for a dollar.

I think there would be fault codes stored for something like this. When a warning light is lit the reason will be logged.

Hmmm... Owner's manual just says ease up until it cools off and go about your business. :iono:

I don't know, I just remember when I bought the OBD scanner I found two fault codes. Got me worried until I looked them up:
U1201 - Invalid or Missing Data for Seat Motion / Control
B14A1 - Open in Solar Sensor Circuit for AC unit
So I would expect something as serious as a power steering problem to be logged, too.

It's obvious you've never driven a car with a manual steering rack.

As difficult as it is to turn, it's not impossible and definitely not a safety issue.

-alex

This, especially if the car is moving.

I should clarify: if your power steering fails at any speed and you can't control the car, you're either 1) driving too fast, or 2) need to know how a manual rack feels like to compensate accordingly.

Steering lock is a serious safety issue. Power steering loss is not a serious safety issue.

-alex

Next question is........what were you doing just prior to the steering becoming hard?

Do some searches for posts from Element Tuning. Phil has an FRS that is a pure track car and he has run into this problem several times while on track. If memory serves me, the power steering is an electro assist and the unit is on the lower part of the steering column under the dash (I believe).

There may even be some info in the owners manual about it.

It is a GT model, Toyota could not see if there is any problem so it is hard for them too.

if I still alive next time it happen then I will stop for help.

Australia , middle of summer, on the highway and he said it was hot. I think the cause is a simple overheat. No mystery here.

Now you know what to expect at any rate. Yes, they get harder but certainly not impossible to steer especially when moving. Just don't panic and all will be fine.

The car is unmodified and I was driving it normally. Before the problem happened, I did rev the car to about 5 thousand RPM but that is normal for this car...

I can vouch for this I had a serpentine belt snap in a CR-V before and have driven older cars even though I'm super young and also had a Mazda MPV stall on a highway once, it's not that hard to turn and although it's disconcerting to some I feel anyone could do that all day without strain.

I have! 80% of my cars had no power steering. Mind you they had bigger steering wheels to give some leverage but still were pretty tough.
Probably just took him by surprise and made it seem worse then it was.

I think power steering was designed for heavier modern vehicles as technology progressed but I'm wondering if maybe in the future someone will come along and say make manual steering on a sports car an option for less money, I doubt it.

There is a lot to be said for a nice manual rack and pinion steering system in a sporty car. I do like the 86 steering though since with the electric assist you get the feel of a manual system with the ease of power. A hydraulic system sucks up a lot of the road feel.

This car has a electric power steering unlike other cars using oil pump power steering. When the electric motor died you are actually working against the power steering motor that why it is much harder to turn however it is not impossible.

When you are experiencing this situation at high speed on the freeway for the first time (without knowing there is problem) you will know how frighten that is..

A/C was on, though. Servo unit is inside the cabin. o.O

Under the dash, in the sun, blocked by other things, with no vents blowing on it. Gonna get bloody hot even with the air on.

No one is attacking you. It's an operating mode that is clearly stated in the owner's manual.

I often do dumb shit like clutch in and kill the engine (not all the way! Don't lock the column!) just to see what the brakes and steering feel like when shit goes sideways.

Find an empty street and try it. Then practice bump-starting the engine. ;)

True, I know but I've driven the shit out of mine. Tried to find the limit last summer. Couldn't get it to complain no matter how hard I beat on it.