Electric Power Assist Steering System Problems of Toyota Highlander Hybrid

I own a 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid with 43058 miles. On October 6, 2008, after driving on the highway for one hour, I decided to visit my parents, while backing-up to park on the side of the street, I loss all the power steering. It was very difficult to maneuver the vehicle, finally I reach a save area. A signal was lighted on my instrument panel, after reading the owners manual, I find a page were states that the eps system can protect itself from overheating causing the loss of power steering assist. In a highlighted section of the owners manual, it ask the owner to take the vehicle to a Toyota service center if a eps failure happens. I took the vehicle to a Toyota dealership as recommended by the owners manual. They are aware that the eps system is not working but were unable to diagnose the problem. By the similar cases found in the internet with the same eps issue I can forecast that the cost of the repair will be anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 plus the fact that spare parts are about 20% higher cost in puerto rico than the rest of the us, if they are available. I do not agree that this issue is not a safety problem. This is a design flaw and quality issue that is the manufacturers (Toyota) responsibility. Why do I need to pay for a repair that is a manufacturers responsibility? neither the dealership or the Toyota distributor on puerto rico has been able to identify or provide support to identify the cause of the eps failure. Apparently, Toyota has not issue a technical service bulletin about the eps failure in the 2006 Highlander Hybrid.

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The steering wheel suddenly pulled to the left in the direction of oncoming traffic, then to the right and left very quickly. My husband had to steer with his arms braced against his knees to drive it down to the dealer, where they told him that the steering assist motors were not getting the information from the driver properly and so were pulling the car in random directions. If someone with less upper body strength (like me) had been driving, the car would have gone right into oncoming traffic. The highlander will be at the dealer for a while; they can't tell us how long it will take to fix it. We are hoping that the replacement assembly will not do the same thing.