No power steering on '08 Yaris after airbag recall done

[madradjessica]

TL;DR: My car has no power steering after passenger airbag recall done at dealership and is undriveable; they are saying my car needs $2,000 in repairs. How could that happen?


I could not find any posts from anyone else with a situation like mine, but I really need help from anyone who might know what could have happened to my car because I am not the most car savvy. On December 6 I FINALLY took my car to get my passenger airbag recall done after putting it off for literally years. I never take my car to the dealership anymore UNLESS it's something like this because they are always trying to tell me I need stuff I don't need done to my car.

After waiting 2+ hours, the service guy comes out to tell me my car now has no power steering and tells me the technician says I need all these repairs done totaling over $2,000. Keep in mind I have been driving this car everyday for years WITH power steering. After having a breakdown, the guy, who could not care less, just says "you can get it towed if you want". How could my car just all of a sudden lose power steering? They kept claiming when they took the dash off they noticed someone did bad work on my steering column and they were just the ones to find it. I have been the only owner of this car and the only dealership that has ever done anything to my steering sensor was this exact dealership in 2010.

So...I'm guessing the service manager came over and saw how upset I was and I was set up with a loaner vehicle while they "look into it". Since that day they have been strictly contacting my brother on the phone because he is way better at dealing with this than I could be. The technician that worked on my car says I need my entire steering column replaced plus the whole electrical system that makes the power steering work. The dealership is doing everything they can to say it is not their fault but we are thinking they did not disconnect the battery before doing the recall. I've been going back and forth with Toyota corporate. The dealership keeps claiming they ran my carfax report and see 2 different owners on my car and 2 accidents which is not accurate.

The most recent update was that the service manager said that Toyota regional did not approve them to fix the issue that we are pretty sure they caused. The dealership is giving regional and corporate a totally different story so now we are waiting for a decision from corporate which they said they would have an answer for me on Monday.


Does anyone know if there is any way I am at fault for this happening? Like I said, my car was in perfect working condition when I drove it into the service center there. The only semi-major repair I've had done on this car is getting the serpentine belt replaced. It does have roughly 140,000 miles on it, but I have taken good care of the car these past 10 years.

Sorry this is all over the place, I am just extremely worried about the outcome right now. :(

[IllusionX]

AFAIK, you don't NEED to disconnect the battery for an air bag swap. I've had my dealer do some work behind the dash which involved removing the passenger Air bag, and never did they disconnect the battery.

Sometimes it could be very little thing that causes something on the verge of dying, to die.

What kinda work did you have done in 2010 on the steering column anyways?

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[dogsridewith]

Pretty sure the 2007 factory shop manual says to disconnect battery before doing anything related to the airbag.
Did you call the owner's manual 800 number to confirm what recalls were done and what are not done for that specific car? My 2007 had about 5, including the "spiral cable," which is a steering column area operation. Mind of Toyota did not know if my particular base model Yaris had the power windows option (another recall), and sent a mail questionnaire to confirm it doesn't.

[madradjessica]

AFAIK, you don't NEED to disconnect the battery for an air bag swap. I've had my dealer do some work behind the dash which involved removing the passenger Air bag, and never did they disconnect the battery.

Sometimes it could be very little thing that causes something on the verge of dying, to die.

What kinda work did you have done in 2010 on the steering column anyways?

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I have all paperwork regarding repairs since I bought the car, and the only thing steering related was doing the spiral cable assembly recall 2/2010. The dealership saw that in the system and said it would have nothing to do with what's going on right now. Kind of confusing. In 6/2010 this same dealership had done some work with "odor coming from evaporation core"...a few days later I had to take it back because my radio stopped working and I had difficulty turning left. According to the work order they "adjusted steering sensor". Since they would not show me in person the damage they claim they found, nor took any pictures, my car is just sitting in their lot right now. :/

[madradjessica]

Pretty sure the 2007 factory shop manual says to disconnect battery before doing anything related to the airbag.
Did you call the owner's manual 800 number to confirm what recalls were done and what are not done for that specific car? My 2007 had about 5, including the "spiral cable," which is a steering column area operation. Mind of Toyota did not know if my particular base model Yaris had the power windows option (another recall), and sent a mail questionnaire to confirm it doesn't.
I didn't call, but I have looked at all my paperwork. I did have the spiral cable recall done in 2010. They are telling me it would not be related the current problem.

Can't find a video of this recall being performed on a Yaris, only this: https://youtu.be/g5E4edXKuHM

[dogsridewith]

Your paperwork won't tell you what wasn't done. A free call gets you what recalls the Toyota system thinks your car had done and what are open. Since you're getting a story about multiple owners try to find everything you can from the human operator...nothing hurts to ask.

Put in writing to them the dealer's assertion of the prior owners of this car and ask for a copy of the carfax report they are quoting.

It sounds like something related to steering was damaged in the 6/2010 work...and the fix stopped working.

[Hamster]

I know this isn't helpful, but thank you for convincing me to never get any recall work done. I have never gotten the spiral cable or airbag recalls taken care of, because I read stories like yours, and I get nervous. Seems like dealerships like screwing up on recalls. I don't know if it's a conspiracy, but maybe they intentionally break stuff? When my sister took her 2010 Honda Civic to a Nevada dealership for the Takata airbag recall, the dealership somehow "found" $500 worth of repairs that needed to urgently get done.

[IllusionX]

I know this isn't helpful, but thank you for convincing me to never get any recall work done. I have never gotten the spiral cable or airbag recalls taken care of, because I read stories like yours, and I get nervous. Seems like dealerships like screwing up on recalls. I don't know if it's a conspiracy, but maybe they intentionally break stuff? When my sister took her 2010 Honda Civic to a Nevada dealership for the Takata airbag recall, the dealership somehow "found" $500 worth of repairs that needed to urgently get done.Be sure to never take a passenger in your car.

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[Hamster]

Be sure to never take a passenger in your car.

Not a problem at all, actually. I haven't had any passengers in my car in a couple years. That's a big reason why I haven't worried about the airbag recall. Kinda pointless for me to risk the dealership screwing things up, when I only use the front passenger seat as a place to put my purse.

[WeeYari]

I am going to assume the power steering fuses have been checked and verified. Fuse #43 in the engine bay fuse box, and #35 in the instrument panel box.

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[madradjessica]

I know this isn't helpful, but thank you for convincing me to never get any recall work done. I have never gotten the spiral cable or airbag recalls taken care of, because I read stories like yours, and I get nervous. Seems like dealerships like screwing up on recalls. I don't know if it's a conspiracy, but maybe they intentionally break stuff? When my sister took her 2010 Honda Civic to a Nevada dealership for the Takata airbag recall, the dealership somehow "found" $500 worth of repairs that needed to urgently get done.
Honestly, I don't blame you. I never have any passengers in my car and I had been putting it off for so long due to this exact reason. I cannot say exactly what part of the process they messed up on since I did not see it being done, but they have to pull the whole dash out. I'm filled with regret right now.

[madradjessica]

I am going to assume the power steering fuses have been checked and verified. Fuse #43 in the engine bay fuse box, and #35 in the instrument panel box.

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I'm not sure, they have not mentioned anything about that to me yet. Is that one of the first things they should check?

[komichal]

I have had both my airbags replaced, no problem occured.
Two months before that I had crashed and damaged front of my car heavily. I was probably lucky that my old airbags did not engage as they could actually injure me more than the accident itself.... :)

[WeeYari]

I'm not sure, they have not mentioned anything about that to me yet. Is that one of the first things they should check?Yes!

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[Hamster]

Honestly, I don't blame you. I never have any passengers in my car and I had been putting it off for so long due to this exact reason. I cannot say exactly what part of the process they messed up on since I did not see it being done, but they have to pull the whole dash out. I'm filled with regret right now.

Again, this isn't going to help you, but there's no deadline for when a recall has to be done. You can get it done ten years from now, and it'll still be free. I've been ignoring those "urgent recall" cards that I've been getting in the mail. It's not like the passenger airbag is going to spontaneously go off. It'll only go off if an adult is sitting in the front passenger seat at the time of an accident. I don't understand why the whole dash would have to be pulled out. Based on what I've seen in YouTube videos, they just need to go behind the glovebox (just like if you were changing out the cabin air filter). Wonder if they used your car as a training opportunity for the kid that does oil changes. Anyway, keep us updated.