Car Will Not Start problems of the 2007 Toyota RAV4

The car failed to start, the battery was extremely hot and had not water in it. Changed the battery, the car started properly; however, once set to drive it hesitated a bit, as if it were chocking for lack of gas but it had gas. Drove on and at about speed of 40 mph steering became hard to handle, ac and engine cut off. Restarted it drove back home. . . Just made the last payment on the car, car was regularly serviced at the dealer.

While driving the car suddenly loses all electricity, all the lights, every light indicator, the radio are off. The engine stops running and the car stops immediately. This normally happens while driving on city streets but also happened once when the car was parked and the key was out. After I entered and turned the key the car wouldn't start and there was no electricity in the car. No lights, no indicators, etc were on. Took it to the mechanic to take a look but he couldn't find anything. Also took it to Toyota dealership and the technician inspected it and ran a diagnostics test but couldn't find the problem either.

1. While driving a 2007 Toyota Rav4 at low speed, the steering wheel lock engaged, instrument cluster lights flashed and the radio silenced for about 5 seconds. The car was able to be safely stopped. Normal steering resumed radio came back on and cluster lights stopped flashing. The car was driven approximately 2-3 miles and parked for apprx. 1 hour. 2. The car would not start, again no radio, but lights were illuminated to full brightness. No warning/fault light was illuminated. The car was "jump-started". When pulling out of the parking stall, the steering wheel lock engaged again. A tow truck was called. The car engine remained running normally. 3. While loading the car, the tow truck driver had the steering wheel lock engage and disengage repeatedly 4 - 5 times. The Toyota of walnut creek (California) technician states that the problem is a discharged battery, causing the electric power steering assist to not operate and stated that the steering wheel lock cannot engage while the car is in motion. The problem was that the steering wheel lock did engage, not a lack of steering assist. The technician stated he "cannot duplicate" the problem.

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota rav-4. The contact stated the vehicle would not start and received a jump start. After receiving the jump start and driving 15 mph, the power steering locked and the power steering warning light began to sporadically illuminate. The dealer advised the contact that the battery would need to be replaced to correct the failure. The battery was replaced. The contact was concerned with the safety of a recurring failure if driving on the highway and the potential of a crash. The VIN was not available. The failure and current mileage was 45,000.