[68RT]

Yeah, but they got soft touch surfaces, fancy stitching, and big screens…it’s the stuff they can see that matters, amirite? They won’t notice cheaper steering parts…..well, not for a little while anyway.

It is a lot easier to design and predict dependable upholstery and other HARD items than to make something electronic totally fail safe. I did not see where the report stated TOTAL STEERING FAILURE. Loss of power steering can be surprising and a problem but it has happened thousands of times since introduction in the early fifties. Electric assisted steering has been more reliable (EVEN ON MOPARS) over the life of a vehicle. However, we are now asking for no failures ever. Yes, we need to correct any design or production problem whether it is an in-house or vendor supplied item.

 

[68RT]

Hydraulic steering was a lot worse than electric steering, in my experience. The systems often failed in some way once you hit six figures on the odometer. Belts snapped early, or people forgot to replace them; you'd lose fluid and not realize it; adn so on.

Oh, that reminds me, I have to refill the fluid in my Valiant. Hope it's not a real leak...

I have yet to experience a failure of electric assist steering (hopefully never do). But difference on hydraulic failure varies greatly. Some early power steering systems had a boost that allowed easy one finger turning. When you had a failure, they turned about as easy as a fully stopped loaded semi. Within a few years the boost levels seemed to go down and the driver was able to get road feedback. Hard to turn when it failed but doable. GM also had a period when the power brake was directly in line with the pedal and if the engine stopped, you could barely slow the car down if you touched the pedal more than once.