Out of the blue: Steering warning light...and no steering.

[airmotive]

2009, 2.4, Auto Trans, 53K, Red Drove home from work this afternoon...all is right with the world.Pulled into the garage and parked. Shut off the engine.Wifey: "Can you run to the store and get...."I hop back into the Vibe, start her up...I have a red warning light (steering). I also have no power steering. Everything else checks out fine. All the lights, locks, radio...all else is good.I go through all of the fuses under the hood. None are labled "pwr strg"...ditto for all the fuses under the dash. The owner's manual says there should be a 20A "pwr strg" fuse under the hood...but there isn't one. There IS an empty fuse holder labled "steering lock". I stuck a 20A fuse in it just to see if it did anything, but no.I see nothing that has anything to do with power steering electrical power on this vehicle. Donde esta power steering??The nature of the failure (working fine, then zero functionality) leads me to believe there's a fuse blown. I've checked every fuse under the hood...okay. I'm on my out to check every fuse under the dash, even though none are labled to have anything to do with steering.Advice anyone??Thanks.Edited to add...found a power steering fuse under the dash....all the fuses check out. Damn,.

[keithvibe]

If it's out of power steering fluid it would trigger the light.Check for leaks. It's not normal to run out of fluid.

[airmotive]

"Electric power steering."Nothing to leak but electrons.(I saw no pool of electrons on the garage floor.)But yeah...the first thing I did was look underneith, expecting to see a pool of something...only after doing my homework did I learn about the 09's steering system. I haven't seen any complaints about it though....until now.

[keithvibe]

I forgot they did away with the hydrolic set up... my bad

[airmotive]

A little digging and it seems the steering system on the 09 Vibe is shared by the Corolla (true??? I can't verify.) which is, in turn, currently under recall by Toyota. However, no such recall is issued for the Vibe.

[ParknVibe]

I read about your problem with interest. I have the big service manuals. This will be something only the dealer may have to fix. However, the first thing that you can do before going to the dealer is to check the battery and the charging system for proper voltage levels. This is what the manual ask you to do.Also I didn't read if you try to drive the car anyway to see how if feels, If bad it will be very hard to turn the wheel, but you can still steer it.It is very complicated to deal with diagnostic procedures without the service manual, scan tools, and knowledge. Just hope your still under warranty.

[star_deceiver]

Did the plug come loose? The unit is on the steering columb directly under the dash.

[Entelodont]

If your Vibe isn't going anywhere today, why not try the classic fix of disconnecting the battery for a while and reconnecting it. The idea is to reset the ECM, and steering control module, and all of the other brain boxes. Don't cost nuthin'

[airmotive]

Gave the ol' ECU reset trick a try.Still no luck.Toyota is performing a voluntary recall of all 2009/2010 Matrix (and Corollas) that are equipped with this model of electronic steering system. 1.3 million vehicles. So far, GM says there's nothing wrong with the exact same steering system on the Vibe....even though mine has completely failed.The dealership where I bought the Vibe opens Friday morning.We're going to discuss this. I'm thinking this issue could be a real study in contrast of the American auto industry versus the Japanese auto industry.

[frankiemenz]

So any News??????

[frankiemenz]

Nothing yet??????

[frankiemenz]

Did this get posted/resolved on another thread??? Just wondered about the outcome of this?

[BahamaTodd]

This happened to my 2009 GT with 30k miles over the weekend. I had just changed the engine and cabin air filters and when I started it up the steering light was on and there was no power steering. I knew the steering control module is on top of the HVAC so I checked all nearby connections and everything was secure. Finally I disconnected the battery and that did the trick. I'll be watching it though because if it happens again its going to the dealer under warranty.

[airmotive]

Sorry about leaving everyone hanging...but you won't like the answer.

In short, after 3-4 months of driving without power steering, it suddenly began working and has worked ever since.
The dealership gave an estimate of $1500 to take the dash apart and troubleshoot/fix the problem, and I wasn't in a position to make that work....so I just lived with it. Then one morning, I started it up and it worked perfectly and hasn't given me any problems since then (over a year now).

No idea what went wrong, or what went right.

[jake75]

Posts like this leave me wondering if I should have bought the GM Extended warranty. A lot to go wrong with these cars. $1,300 to fix the power steering???

[airmotive]

Just an update.....
It's April of 2014 and the power steering hasn't so much as hiccupped since the miracle cure.

I have no idea what the cause was, or the cure.
That said, this episode has given me every reason I need to buy Japanese and not GM.
I'm thinking a 2014 Rav4 is in my future.

[robcalgary]

I had similar experiences with my 2009 Vibe (2.4L) , 5 speed auto transmission where the speed sensitive power steering light would come on and I suddenly had manual steering. It would seemingly come and go on its own but more often during fall and early winter. The dealership never did find anything wrong and the only solution I ever found that sort of worked (or was co-incidental) was washing the undercarriage more.
My thread is "2009 Vibe Speed Sensitive Power Steering".

[lannvouivre]

Just an update.....
It's April of 2014 and the power steering hasn't so much as hiccupped since the miracle cure.

You fixed it! Excellent work!