Shudder over bumps

[HMPower]

I have a recent issue that seems to have suddenly developed. When driving, I can feel a shuddering sensation through the steering wheel when going over minor bumps/cracks in the road. Where normally I might hear them but not feel them, I now get a vibration and shudder - it's hard to describe, but the sensation is like a heavy mass jostling about. The shocks/struts seem fine, and the car runs normally, so I don't think it's a motor mount. I had a friend follow me on the freeway and he didn't notice anything odd. Could this be something like a bad ball joint? It seems premature at only 70k miles. But something is definitely amiss. Any ideas?

[Caretaker]

I'm guessing it is the steering column/rack, even though your car is the first generation model. The topic on the current model is covered in several threads just below this one. Check out those postings.

[HMPower]

Thanks, I'm taking it to my mechanic in the morning to have it checked out. I'm hoping it's just something that worked itself loose, not a bad steering rack...eek.

[HMPower]

It turns out the issue was a bad front strut. Oil came pouring out of it as soon as they put it on the lift.