Steering Failed problems of the 2002 Toyota Prius

In a model 2002 Toyota Prius with less than 60000 miles, while starting out from park going into reverse the electric power steering violently started shaking and pulled the steering wheel from the drivers hands. This caused a temporary warning/caution light that quickly went out. After the incident the problem became more frequent, happening while driving at any speed and while stopped. Eventually the problem caused the steering assist to fail completely. When Toyota was contacted, they knew about the problem and said they had recalls on other year Prius models for the same issue. They reported the gear rack electronic sensor fails and the rack must be replaced but unfortunately the 2002 wasn't under the recall. When asked why, nobody seemed to know.

2002 Toyota Prius steering rack failure. Approximately 2 weeks ago the steering in my Prius became difficult to turn and pulsated when turning. The Toyota dealer, where I had purchased the vehicle, inspected the car and informed me that the steering rack was failing and needed to be replaced at a cost of $3,000. After researching this on the internet I found that this is a problem inherent to these 1st generation Prius models. I contacted Toyota customer service and opened a case to see if Toyota would offer any assistance in the repair of my car. Online at owner forums regarding this problem there were many instances where Toyota would repair the vehicle at no cost to the owner or at least offer some assistance with the cost. I was refused by Toyota with any help of any kind. I believe that since Toyota was aware of this defect during the 2001- 2003 model run and changed the steering rack for the 2004 redesign to eliminate this problem that there should be a recall to address this matter. I base this on the volume of cars experiencing this along with the fact that Toyota had a special service campaign in place at one point that repaired these affected vehicles when customers experienced this problem. Toyota is no longer running this repair campaign.

My 2002 Toyota Prius's electronic motor steering assembly stops working after approximately 1hr of driving at highway speeds. At 75 miles per hour, warning lights turn on and steering assist fails. Steering the car from the road is incredibly difficult. After turning the car off and back on, the steering works once again. The car is not safe to drive as the steering fails unexpectedly at high speeds. The dealer states that the fix will cost $3200, which is over half of the vehicle's kelley blue book trade-in value.