I was on side of hill in grass and mud, my power steering went out, and I almost bit the bullet. My neighbor a GM mechanic said they replace them all the time, I called the dealer which he worked and they said they never heard of the problem (service manager). This is dangerous and a joke....I researched and found others with same problem at this site that have Avalanche also. Please help here is the site with some others, they have several thread about it this is just one: www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php/topic,51094.0.html.

- Princeton, WV, USA

Contact stated while sitting at a stop sign and then when he pulled out there was no power steering. There was no noise, there was no indication that anything was wrong. He took vehicle to the dealer and the said that the power steering pump shaft sheared off inside of the pump. This happened about 8-12-05.

- Fuquay-Varina, NC, USA

(1) there was not any specific event, I was turning down my driveway when the steering immediately became extremely heavy and the wheel could not be turned. (2) I could not turn the wheel or stop before hitting my trash containers at the end of the driveway. (3) power steering pump was replaced. The shaft had broken inside the pump.

- Claremore, OK, USA

Sudden power steering pump failure after 50,000 miles - this also caused steering box to fail because of filings from pump getting into steering box.

- Brentwood, TN, USA