Owners of vehicles with electrical steering beware of danger !

[sonanio]

I have a WRX 2018 CVT with eyesight and electrical power steering with a mileage of 72,000 KMs. I bought it as a second hand car from a Mazda dealer three years ago.
10 days ago, I got in my car in morning and warmed it up to go to work. Then as I was backing up on the driveway, I noticed the steering wheel was locked up and wouldn't move in either direction as if the steering had lost its power assist. Alerts filled up the control panel saying "EyeSight is disabled" and "RAB" is disabled, consult your user's manual, which informs that the vehicle should be diagnosed by a dealer.

I towed the vehicle to a Subaru dealer, who diagnosed the issue and said the steering system wasn't getting signals from the controller.
They looked underneath the engine and found a harness of wires burned from having a short circuit, and said that may have been caused by Roden chewing up the wires.
They said that the whole steering system has to be replaced with a new package with a bill of $4,200 Canadian.

I opened a claim with my insurance company. They sent an appraiser to go check the damage. They took pictures of the burnt wires and it is horrible to look at.
The insurance thinks it is a manufacturing defect by Subaru and don't think the damage was caused by Roden.
They are still investigating the incident and until now they haven't decided to fix the vehicle.

I am wondering if this happened while driving on the highway, It would be highly likely I would get into a serious accident.
I am so much against this technology of electrical power steering for how dangerous it is should it fail while on the road.
It is not even fail-safe, why are car manufacturer so hung up on this fail-prone system?

I owned a Nissan Pathfinder for 22 years and never had any issues with its power steering that was conventional.

I hope owners of vehicles with electrical power steering take notice of this scary event I have had with my Subaru WRX 2018 sport-tech.

 

[BarryB333]

If you can't park your car in a garage and must leave it outside where rodents can get to it, consider spraying a peppermint spray in and around the engine compartments as well as other exterior areas of concern as the odor keeps the rodents away pretty effectively. I had a Toyota Tundra that I had to leave outside and the rodent's ate wrining as well as insulation in the engine compartment. As an aside, I'd suggest getting a report from you dealer/mechanic as to what caused the problem. If they say that the wiring being eaten by rodents as the issue, then take that to your insurance company.

 

[Dick Foster]

Good info.
BTW If you have trouble with bears and garbage, the magic elixir is Ammonia and or PineSol. They really hate the stuff, so even if they knock it over, at least they won't scatter it around.
Country folks gotta stick together.

 

[sonanio]

If you can't park your car in a garage and must leave it outside where rodents can get to it, consider spraying a peppermint spray in and around the engine compartments as well as other exterior areas of concern as the odor keeps the rodents away pretty effectively. I had a Toyota Tundra that I had to leave outside and the rodent's ate wrining as well as insulation in the engine compartment. As an aside, I'd suggest getting a report from you dealer/mechanic as to what caused the problem. If they say that the wiring being eaten by rodents as the issue, then take that to your insurance company.

Thank you for the advice! That is what is happening where the insurance is asking for a report from the dealer with their diagnosis and finding. The insurance company would like to walk away from the claim, but they are doing their due diligence on the matter.

 

[manicmechanic007]

One more reason to hate on electric power steering
They lock up constantly when they fail
Damn straight, they are unsafe at any speed IMO
Been dealing with (replacing them) for years on 4 wheelers
Hate is hate

 

[sonanio]

An update on this incident. The insurance company finally agreed to fix the car for me, but reluctantly.
They didn't believe that problem was rodents, but I argued that since the wire harness burst in fire due to short-circuiting the wires, my car is insured for fire. I will pay the deductable amount only.

I hope this doesn't happen to anyone who drives a vehicle with electric power steering.