Steering Rack And Pinion problems of the 2002 Dodge Stratus

My steering all of a sudden got locked to the left and I almost ran into and other car. I went to a repair place and they told me it was my rack and pinion. I just got back from a trip and had no problems thank god but to go out all of a sudden. It scared me pretty bad I parked the car it is to dangerous to drive.

In or around October 2004 I took my car in for it's 30,000 checkup. I have a 2002 Dodge Stratus. I told the service technician that I had a "thud" in the front in of my car. He told me that it was my "front suspenssion". It was fixed, but was not noted on my invoice. A while later I felt the same "thud" everytime I turned the corner or turned my steering wheel to the left. Sometime in January my check engine light came on. Well, I took it to the dealership to find out what was going on with my 2002 vehicle. Now, mind you, I paid my car off 10 months after I purchased it from Dodge. Anyway, not only did I feel that I shouldn't have to pay for the diagnostic but I also feel that car is too new for the "rack & penion" and my "evap system" to go out. They talked me into buying another car this past weekend,April 9, 2005 but decided to return the car on April 11, 2005. They didn't even want to compensate me for my car being a "lemon" as the salesperson deemed my car to be except for trade my car for $6,000. 00 and have payments, again, of $275. 74 for 71 months. I don't think that's fair. For one, my car is paid off and two my car is too new for it to have these kind of problems. I want to know if there's been any recalls or problems on the 2002 Dodge Stratus'.