Sudden Loss of Power Steering WHEN DRIVING

[426Cuda]

Had this fault originally appear over a year ago at around 20,000km (2014 model), restarted car and hadn't showed its face again till Friday just gone, some 40,000km later and 7 months out of warranty. Booked in at Surfers City and all covered by Holden.. Does anyone know whether the replacement rack has the issue fixed or is it just identical to the old rack and the same issue will reappear?

The new rack should be the later one, with gold connectors, to stop fretting.

 

[RoganJosh]

The new rack should be the later one, with gold connectors, to stop fretting.

Do you know the part number? Is the one I have had replaced have the good connector?

 

[Look44]

Thanks to the OP for this important thread, as a VF owner myself i find this fault alarming for a few reasons, the first is the frequency with which the fault occurs, another is how many here report the power steering fails on sharp turns for some reason, a round about at low speed is likely manageable but what about a sharp turn in the mountains? The edge of a steep cliff or embankment or a right turn at a busy intersection? So many potential high risk and even life threatening examples exist from such a fault and in my opinion the current situation amounts to negligence on behalf of Holden for not issuing a recall for all affected vehicles, especially when recalls have been issued for more minor faults in the past.
The only issue i have personally experienced with the steering system is what sounds like a "grains of sand" noise moving inside the steering wheel as i turn, i brought this issue to Holden and they could never figure out what was causing it, but acknowledged the noise and they even replaced something but it didn't resolve the noise in the end they allowed me to test another VF model and sure enough the "grains of sand" noise while turning the wheel was in this VF aswell and acknowledged by the machanic helping me, but since it was in both cars, it was deemed to be normal while not understanding the cause. It has not caused any driveability issues. What is relevant about this is i recall when i came in the first time to have something replaced in the steering wheel column the first thing the customer service lady said to me was "Oh are you one of those power steering replacements" i didn't know what she was talking about but i guess even at that time it was well known.

For those who have had this fault occur, may i ask how difficult was it to control the vehicle after power steering loss?
Some have mentioned having to use brute force which when taken by surprise would be even more dangerous.

 

[426Cuda]

Do you know the part number? Is the one I have had replaced have the good connector?

No I don't sorry. But I'd bet on it.

 

[RoganJosh]

Thanks to the OP for this important thread, as a VF owner myself i find this fault alarming for a few reasons, the first is the frequency with which the fault occurs, another is how many here report the power steering fails on sharp turns for some reason, a round about at low speed is likely manageable but what about a sharp turn in the mountains? The edge of a steep cliff or embankment or a right turn at a busy intersection? So many potential high risk and even life threatening examples exist from such a fault and in my opinion the current situation amounts to negligence on behalf of Holden for not issuing a recall for all affected vehicles, especially when recalls have been issued for more minor faults in the past.
The only issue i have personally experienced with the steering system is what sounds like a "grains of sand" noise moving inside the steering wheel as i turn, i brought this issue to Holden and they could never figure out what was causing it, but acknowledged the noise and they even replaced something but it didn't resolve the noise in the end they allowed me to test another VF model and sure enough the "grains of sand" noise while turning the wheel was in this VF aswell and acknowledged by the machanic helping me, but since it was in both cars, it was deemed to be normal while not understanding the cause. It has not caused any driveability issues. What is relevant about this is i recall when i came in the first time to have something replaced in the steering wheel column the first thing the customer service lady said to me was "Oh are you one of those power steering replacements" i didn't know what she was talking about but i guess even at that time it was well known.

For those who have had this fault occur, may i ask how difficult was it to control the vehicle after power steering loss?
Some have mentioned having to use brute force which when taken by surprise would be even more dangerous.

I don't have any grains of sand noise in my steering. There should be no noise as far as I am aware. That would indicate to me some sort of abnormal wear if I heard that. If you are worried about your power steering failing, I would just tell them it has happened to you. You shouldn't be forced to produce any code for them to replace it as per ACCC vs Ford Powershift Transmission which I have quoted also my invoice shows no code was observed, so there is no need to have the code present for your power steering to be replaced.

Clearly from what you have said and what has been posted here by a number of owners, Holden is well aware of the issue and that is why they didn't fight me tooth and nail to avoid replacing my power steering.

 

[Vfchick]

Update
Just spoke with holden and they have approved to replace the rack free of charge
Will follow up with holden once i have the car back as to why i was refused at to different dealerships and approved at the 3rd. Will also question why there hasnt been a nation wide recall for this issue.

 

[Skylarking]

Scanned through this thread and i’m shocked how many have had the power steering rack replaced to correct assistance failure due to fretting corrosion.

Just to recap the members that have had the fix:

@KrisHolden, @SSVREDLINE2014, @SnowDoggyDogg, @cashie, @Banjo79, @RockDAhouse, @killingwithasmile, @somfman, @Banjo79, @tabac, @TP 2014 SSV, @Handy Andy, @Sean80, @RoganJosh, @DJF1989, @Dylie, @Scoz2327, @chenka44, @Micaxe, @SSalty, @ivan50, @Vfchick & @14SSV.

That’s 23 instances of people experiencing no power steering assistance while driving their VF’s with the associated dangers of such occurring on public road. It’s not a comforting situation for any road user really.

Of these, it only seems that Banjo79 and Scoz2327 have reported the issue to DOTARS (so it’s likely they consider the issue as minor since not many have experienced it)...

Can I implore those who have had this failure occur, regardless of the fact that Holden fixed their vehicle, either quickly or after a bit of a fight, to report this safety issue to DOTARS.

The fact that there was a UAS recall for rack replacement while down under only a TSB for grease to be applied should not be lost on us and it should make us angry that we are considered less worthy to keep safe than the umericans...

Many reporting this to the regulators may wake them into action and hopefully help to force a mandatory recall to resolve the issue (for all those blissfully unaware VF owners driving on our roads).

Please, please, please spend 1/2 an hour to report your power steering assistance failure to DOTARS as it is a serious safety issue that needs action...

Also, if a Holden dealers stated the power steering failure was not a major fault and then indicated that they can not get a refund as the fault can be repaired, this is a misrepresentation of the ACL.

In ACL the purchaser can choose the remedy they want for a major failure. Likely the courts need to get involved and agree that it is a major failure since the purchaser and seller would obviously disagree (because it IS costly for the selling dealer to refund them chase Holden for payment).

As such, and because Holden made an undertaking to the ACCC not to misrepresent ACL, it would be worth also reporting such behaviour to ACCC if it occurred for some members. Otherwise, the undertaking has no meaning and Holden dealers would continue to behave like the douchebags they occasionally are.

I really hope that those who had problems take the time to report as nothing concrete will happen until the regulators get off their proverbial butts (which won’t happen unless people report).

 

[Look44]

In addition to the 23 people who have directly had this happen and reported it in this forum thus far, you must consider the vast majority of people who experience this failure will never see this thread or post here if they do, it will be quietly fixed by Holden either for free or paid for by the individual at cost, i would speculate the real number could easily be in the hundreds or even thousands of vehicles and since most current reports are from 2013-2014 models, this would suggest in the next few years more 2015-2016 models will experience the failure proportionately, or up untill they started fitting power steering rack with gold connectors, to stop fretting at the factory.

 

[Skylarking]

Yes, @Look44, I agree the impacted numbers may be in the 1000’s but I have no way to contact those people and implore them to report their safety issue to DOTARS.

That is why I have asked the justcommodores members who have been impacted by this power steering assistance failure to report their experiences to DOTARS.

I just hope they do report and DOTARS gets off its arse to the benefit of all commodore owners including those that don’t know any better and have been stung for repair costs. And to the benefit of those that may be injured or killed in some future crash because of this safety issue (be they commodore driver/passengers or driver/passenger of some other brand that a commodore crashed into).

 

[John Revill]

My VF goes into Holden next Monday to get the steering checked among other things. I get intermittent stuttering on a sharp turn somethings. It feels like the power steering is cutting in and out in fast pulses. I see what they say in a few days time.