Yes, I may have misunderstood something. I do realize the difference between the drive belt and the timing belt, but I may have misused referencing the timing belt. My power steering pump and drive belt were replaced at 90k miles. I know that the drive belt can slip when wet and cause a loss of power steering, but the loss of power seems to happen whether it is wet or dry. Since I had the pump, drive belt and steering fluid checked out a few weeks ago, I thought the problem may be what hellokit said: “The engine rpm may be dropping too low to drive the power steering pump fast enough.” I (maybe mistakenly) assumed the timing belt had something to do with that. I’m pretty sure that it had been replaced as well, but I can’t be positive - so regardless of whether the timing belt can affect the power steering, I found it to be good advice to have it checked/changed anyway.
I watched the RPM today when slowing down to under 5mph and turning, but did not notice it going particularly low (at least not lower than when idling). And I can’t seem to reproduce the steering problem intentionally - it just happens once or twice a week (while the brakes are applied and at around 5mph). Please excuse my ignorance… I never had any problems with my car until about 120k miles. I just brought it in for regular service and oil changes and was satisfied. At 120k miles, I just figured that that car is getting old and things happen. Now that I found something unusual that my shop can’t solve I sought out a new venue for a solution, but I’m just now getting educated about what’s going on under my hood. Believe me, things will be different with my next car!