Driving vehicle in parking lot of church. Power steering failed, causing potential accident if not stopped in time. Personally checked out power steering unit for leaks (non), checked out power steering reservoir for possibility of needing to be filled(N/a). Power steering began to operate normally again. Took vehicle in for inspection of front end knock. Was informed by dealership that the power steering went out during their inspection. I was informed by the dealership that this was caused by a gear that had worn. I asked how that could be and issue and if this was a defect? they stated no. I asked for assistance in the cost of repair due to this being a possible safety defect, and was refused this assistance due there not being a recall on this particular steering component. The first occurrence of the problem was Thursday 10/20/05. After this, the vehicle operated fine. We took the vehicle in for service on Monday evening to be serviced Tuesday morning 10/25/05. We were informed of the defect on Tuesday morning that the steering gear was bad, and informed that this would cost well over $1000 dollars to repair. This vehicle has approx. 67,000 miles, and an immaculate service record to which I have paid dearly to keep the vehicle up. I believe the suddenness of the occurrence of this defect is one to be concerned with, and should seriously be reviewed, by the Chrysler Corp. If negotiating a turn on the freeway system of any city in the us, and having this gear fail; it could cause serious injury to not only the occupants of this vehicle, but other innocent motorists as well. I do plan on ridding my family of this particular vehicle, and upgrading to something possibly in a foreign make or model that's built for reliability, when you invest in the up keep. The complaint is being filed as a precautionary measure. Hopefully someone will follow up on the issue. My file number with Chrysler customer support is 14199982. Regards derrick V. stingley.

- Brown Deer, WI, USA