Six problems related to steering rack and pinion have been reported for the 1998 Dodge Intrepid. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I was driving around 40mph, came to a complete stop in order to make a right turn on to another street. Once making this right turn the vehicle's steering would not respond to the wheel being turned back to the left. This caused the vehicle to strike the curb. Once stopped the steering seemed to be corrected but this has happened at least two more times. The inner and outer tire rods have been replaced along with the struts and have had multiple alignments none of which have fixed the problem. Now the problem has been diagnosed as the rack and pinion.
The contact states the vehicle went to the other side of the road and he lost control. The vehicle was driven to the dealership at about 3 mph with the hazard lights on. They found the rack and pinion came apart. The vehicle has been at the dealership since this happened. They were unable to obtain the parts needed to repair the vehicle.
This vehicle was assembled in Jan. 1998 and is not old enough or has not had harsh enough treatment to have the steering rack and pinion fail. We feel this is a definite safety hazard since the steering can lock up during a turn (it did for us) which could cause a serious accident since the car would be going in an unintended direction. I found several examples of complaints about this exact topic and feel that the company should recall the vehicles or reimburse those of us who have had to incurr unnecessary repair expenses due to either low quality parts or bad design.
Vehicle experienced a rattle in steering; vehicle taken to an independent repair shop, and informed consumer that rack and pinion steering needed replacement. Manufacturer notified, and informed consumer that vehicle was not covered under a recall, and out of its warranty.
No summary listed for abov evehicle.
Rack and pinion steering is loose, and vehicle is hard to straighten out while making a turn.