So I have come into ownership of a 2003 Prius and now I'm having issues with the power steering. I contacted Toyota and they told me the recal for the pinions was completed in 2012. Now own in the car I've noticed the steering wheel will start to violently shake and just last week while driving I got the warning triangle and the PS symbol and I lost all power steering. All this happened while driving on a highway. Toyota wanted to charge me 150 to diagnose the problem which I declined and took it to my well trusted mechanic. He told me the rac needs to replace. I've done a lot of research on this problem and have found many people complaining that even after having the recall done, they still had a problem and also were told the rac needs to be replaced. I've made complaints with the national highway safety and with Toyota manufacturer. I'm curious if there is anyone else out there that has had this problem and had the recall done but still had the problem persist? Also, were you told that the rac needs replacement? I called Toyota again today to express my concern that maybe the recall is a deeper issue than just replacing pinions. They say they will send it along to be looked at but who really knows. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated bc I'm trying to solve this as soon as possible. Not having a working vehicle is hard...not having the $3300 to fix it is even worse.
So I have come into ownership of a 2003 Prius and now I'm having issues with the power steering. I contacted Toyota and they told me the recal for the pinions was completed in 2012. Now own in the car I've noticed the steering wheel will start to violently shake and just last week while driving I got the warning triangle and the PS symbol and I lost all power steering. All this happened while driving on a highway. Toyota wanted to charge me 150 to diagnose the problem which I declined and took it to my well trusted mechanic. He told me the rac needs to replace. I've done a lot of research on this problem and have found many people complaining that even after having the recall done, they still had a problem and also were told the rac needs to be replaced. I've made complaints with the national highway safety and with Toyota manufacturer. I'm curious if there is anyone else out there that has had this problem and had the recall done but still had the problem persist? Also, were you told that the rac needs replacement? I called Toyota again today to express my concern that maybe the recall is a deeper issue than just replacing pinions. They say they will send it along to be looked at but who really knows. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated bc I'm trying to solve this as soon as possible. Not having a working vehicle is hard...not having the $3300 to fix it is even worse.
The car is ~12 - 13 years old now. You will probably face other significant repair issues over time besides the steering system. An alternative to spending $3.3K at the dealership is to have a used steering rack installed.
There were two different issues with 2001-2003 steering, both issues were known to Toyota. The one where the steering pinion nut could come loose would result in a problem where the gear binds up when you try to turn left. There was a recall for that, which was done on your car. The other problem was with the torque sensor that is built into the steering rack. When it gets worn and electrically noisy, it sends noisy signals to the steering amplifier, which amplifies them and sends them back to the assist motor, which shakes the wheel. There was not a recall for that one, but there was a warranty extension that was announced around July of 2011 and ran through December 2013. Not bad, I ended up with a car with a brand new rack eight years and 150,000 miles after the original warranty ran out, pretty classy on their part. But, it did only run through 2013. You will find a great deal of information in this forum about the steering rack, how it goes bad, and what you might be able to do about it; it has been discussed in considerable depth for many years. -Chap
You're talking about two different problems: the recall was for a condition where the nuts at the bottom of the rack pinion could come loose, with the result that the steering would be bindy when turning left. The other problem was with the torque sensor that is built into the steering rack. When it gets worn and electrically noisy, it sends noisy signals to the steering amplifier, which amplifies them and sends them back to the assist motor, which shakes the wheel. There was not a recall for that one, but there was a warranty extension that was announced around July of 2011 and ran through December 2013. Not bad, I ended up with a car with a brand new rack eight years and 150,000 miles after the original warranty ran out, pretty classy on their part. But, it did only run through 2013. You will find a great deal of information in the Gen 1 forum about the steering rack, how it goes bad, and what you might be able to do about it; it has been discussed in considerable depth for many years. -Chap
Mousa, sorry to hear you are encountering problems with your steering. I don't mean to give you false hope, but I had my entire rack and pinion steering replaced on my 2001 by Toyota last week free of charge. I had brought my car into the Toyota dealership to complete the recall for the nuts at the bottom of the steering rack since the steering wheel was binding when turned all the way to the left. I was told that this job would take approximately four hours so I left my car there in the morning. After calling for a status update in the afternoon, I was told that they were additional problems and they needed to order a part that would not be in that same day. A day and a half later, I was told that the vehicle was ready to pick up. I immediately noticed the binding in the steering was gone after picking the vehicle up. Last weekend when I put the car up on ramps, I noticed that the entire rack and pinion had been replaced with what appeared to be a brand-new rack. I did not ask or hear anything about the 2013 recall ending from the service rep, but I am very glad this was completed in my 14 year old vehicle with about 250k miles on it. That really is, in my opinion, standing behind your product for the long term. I applaud Toyota. I hope you can somehow have the same experience.
In your case I would guess what happened is they set out to just replace the pinion nuts, as the recall required. That turns out to be quite technically demanding (a lot more work, in fact, than just swapping the assembly), because the thing wasn't built to have those nuts ever changed, and when they realized there were problems requiring a recall, they had to come up with a 35-page procedure for how to successfully (most of the time) rebuild the rack with new nuts, and the procedure has several places where failure is possible. (For example, the replacement jam nut is made with such extreme locking deformations that it eats the threads on the pinion shaft; if you don't get it properly torqued and locked on try #1, there is no try #2.) So if any of those things go wrong on a pinion-nut-recall job, they are left with no choice but to eat the cost of a new entire assembly. No fun for them, good luck for you. But I think the OP here has already had the nut recall done, so that kind of luck may be scarce in this case. -Chap
There is a specialty market that deals in rebuilt steering racks. One I saw was specifically for first generation Prius. Prices run in the $300-$600 range, certainly far less than a new replacement. I spent a few hours looking for them when a friend with a Gen1 complained about the power steering getting jittery when turned fully (to the right?). As far as I know, he's still just living with the problem until it gets worse. The Prius uses electric power steering, so I'd be careful to select a rebuilt from a shop that specifically mentions Prius units.
Pity that you didn't replace the wrack before the pump went, used parts aren't really relevant with steering, a good mechanic can get parts and do repairs and an alignment. Time for shocks and springs also.
