[Arco-Zakus]

You'll end up needing a new electronic power steering rack....or front tires. One of the two...maybe both...

Why would a power steering failure cause front tires to wear out?

 

[Arco-Zakus]

That makes it sound like our power steering is pretty fragile.

sykozis, do you know whether any damage can be done to the steering rack or control unit by driving the car with either of the two fuses for the power steering (or both) removed?

 

[Arco-Zakus]

... Have not heard of any solutions

When mine failed under warranty I was told by the dealer that the whole steering rack had to be replaced. That was their solution. Even though the cause was most likely in the "electric power assisted steering" (EPAS) control unit, they said that it and the mechanical part of the rack were matched at the factory and they could not be replaced separately in the field.

That sounds like a dumb design to me, since replacing an electronic module should be really easy but the rack requires the whole front subframe to be removed and replaced. That's a bigger job than I would have taken on DIY so I'm glad it was under warranty. I also saw where a tiny bit of fluid had seeped from the rack housing, so maybe it was good that they replaced that too. The new one has worked fine and stayed clean since then.

Since it was close to the end of the warranty period I decided to wait and see if anything else would fail so I could get everything fixed at the same time, so my temporary "solution" was to drive with no power steering for a few months, Parking was a strain (great shoulder workout though), but anywhere above 25 MPH or so I actually liked the steering feel better unassisted. I wish I could tune it to assist only below 10 MPH, but I don't know of any way to do that.