Steering Column problems of the 2008 Toyota Tacoma

I was driving my truck in the parking lot of a shopping center. As I was going through an intersection the steering column fell down causing me to be unable to turn causing a wreck with another vehicle. My insurance company will not pay for repairing the steering column. Toyota has been jerking me around for 3 months. My truck has been repaired as far as body work but Toyota tells me that I will receive a letter with their determination as to whether they will repair the steering column. 4 weeks ago they told me that I would receive a letter. I am still waiting. When I call the person in charge of my case at Toyota (casey) he never returns my calls. My case number is 1603142032. Casey's number is 800-331-4331.

Rack assembly shot causing steering to "stiffen" had to replace the rest of the components around 60000 miles. When I called a Toyota dealership they knew exactly what the problem was. Hopefully, no one gets killed before this gets addressed. Seems like Toyota is performing another manufacturer watergate by issuing bogus recalls for the steering column spiral cable and the frame inspection and preventive under coating. Really sounds like they are looking for the real problem as per other complaints.

On the day of July 9th 2014 I was driving my vehicle down a dirt road hill. Once reaching the bottom of the hill my steering column assembly separated itself from the dash board completely, causing a total loss of control. Fortunately I was able to stop in a safe distance and avoided impact with any obstacles. This experience left me wondering about the integrity,safety, and trust I had in my vehicle which has not been the same since. I brought my vehicle to the dealership where I bought it from to have an inspection on the damage and expressed my concern for what happened. Afterwards I contacted the manufacturer of my vehicle and expressed what happened to them and that I was not responsible for what had happened. In conclusion, after the manufacturer spoke with the dealership they informed me that they will not take responsibility for what happened. They feel it is an impossibility for this component to fail on this particular vehicle. I feel this is a serious matter that threatens my life and my families lives. I feel this is completely unacceptable and may be a design issue for my vehicle and anyone else who owns this particular vehicle.

Vehicle upper steering shaft assembly at the joint where steering shaft goes through the hole in the joint underneath column inside the cab is completely worn out and is flopping around and could lead to the complete loss of steering if it was not caught by myself at 49k. . . .

While driving on a rural road, approximately 55mph my steering column came out of the dash and into my lap. After receiving a recall notice from Toyota for a spiral cable recall in the steering assembly I made arrangments to take it in for both to be repaired. Toyota called me this morning telling me that the tabs in the steering columns were sheared and it would not be covered by the recall or my extended warranty. I feel that the tabs are obviously another cheap part that Toyota is making thier vehicles out of and risking the safety of people. This truck is a four wheel drive and should not fall apart going over a bump on a dirt road. Luckily I was able to replace it into the column and steer off the road safely, but someone else may not react as fast as I did. The service employee at Toyota requested someone from the warranty department come tomorrow to inspect it to see if they can approve coverage if not they are requesting appr $1200. 00 from us to install a new steering column. I was able to find other Toyota blogs where other makes and models have had this same thing happen to them.