Out of the blue my dealer's service department called my wife asking if we've received a notice in the mail regarding a possible steering issue with our '07 TCH. My wife is not mechanically fluent but she said the issue is related to loss of torque if the steering is wheel is turned maximum right or left.
Personally I've not heard of anything like this.
I did call the dealer and they confirmed they needed to order a part which is backordered at this time.
Can anyone elaborate on what the problem is exactly?
A search of this forum, ToyotaNation and Google didn't yield anything similar.
Thanks.

 

It's a recall on replacing the steering rack assembly. I'm not sure if it's just the '07 models or other years. I talked to our local tech and he said that the electric steering is coming out on many of the new gas models. The reason being, no power steering leaks, smaller lines, less power pulled from the engine and it's lighter weight. It also slightly improves the gas mileage.

 

I wish I had more specific information but talking to the service rep who seemed to know what he was talking about ...

1) This campaign in new, began only in the past few days.
2) The possible symptom of the potential failure is LOSS OF STEERING. Not loss of steering assist but total inability to steer the car.
3) It's related to the magnets in whatever steering component has magnets in it (I guess).
4) The campaign takes 6 to 7 hours per vehicle to complete.

This is all heresay. I have no firsthand information on it.
My car goes in this morning.
They are giving me a loaner so the inconvenience is minimal.
I hope.

 

I have never heard of any toyota electric assist ever loosing it's steering. I have read about this problem sometimes exist when parking the car like in a parking lot with the steering turned to full lock. If this happens the manual steering takes over. I'm not sure if it's just the 2007 TCH or just certain 2007 build dates.

I'm sure someone will post the TSB and we can then read the details.

 

I like your explanation better. More in line with the symptom the service rep gave my wife. "When steering is turned to maximum blah blah blah loss of torque blah blah blah".

 

Awww....tell your wife she did good

 

Those butchers working on a car for 6-7 hours???? Car will never be the same again!!!

 

I have to be careful. It might go to her head.

 

Actually the service department at my dealer has been superlative. One of the several reasons I continue to do business with them on the sales side.

 

Schmidtj, I'm assuming you bought your TCH about the same time as I bought mine (Sept/Oct 06) since we arrived on this site concurrently. Did your dealer tell you if the steering unit defect involved all TCHs or just those J-built sbout the time we took delivery.