My wife started the car and began to back out of her parking space. She suddenly found that she could not turn the steering wheel and warning lights on the dash board started to go on. If this had occurred while driving at highway speeds, she most likely would have lost control of the vehicle and crashed. When I checked, I found that the cast aluminum bracket holding the power steering pump had broken in 3 places, allowing the serpentine belt to fall off. Examination of the fractures showed that one was much older than the others, suggesting that the bracket had broken in one place much earlier and that the first break had increased the strain on other parts of the bracket, resulting in the eventual total failure. When I replaced the bracket, I noted that manufacturer had increased the thickness of the reinforcing ribs in the casting and added a new rib in the area where the older fracture had occurred. The dealer parts clerk also anticipated which engine option I had in the vehicle when I told him the model and the part I needed, and indicated that the dealership had around 30 pieces of the replacement part in stock. Since the manufacturer clearly knows that this part is defective and since the failure of the part has the potential to cause a catastrophic accident, this really should be the subject of a recall. It is possible that major crashes have been caused by this failure without being attributed to it since a frontal impact to the vehicle would also be likely to break this bracket, obscuring the fact that the bracket broke prior to impact. Other model years with this engine and other engine options in this model year have the power steering pump bolted directly to the engine block (no bracket required). The purpose of this bracket appears to be to allow the use of the same power steering pump on two different engine options (reducing cost).

- Severna Park, MD, USA

While driving 70 mph the steering became very hard to maneuver all of a sudden. The dealer states that the bearing for the power steering malfunctioned. Please provide additional information.

- Columbus, OH, USA

The power steering pump bracket broke and ruined the power steering pump in the process. Nlm

- Lolo, MT, USA

While traveling 50-55 mph in rain vehicle skidded out of control, resulting in an accident. Upon impact, airbags did not deploy without indication.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

The fuel sending unit replaced 4 times(car stops in traffic),power steering pulley disentigrated while driving(had no steering), front and rear axles have been rebuilt or replaced 2times, transmission has been replaced, transfer case has been replaced, air conditioning condenser and hoses replaced 3times, and numerous other problems......

- Newhall, CA, USA