Power Steering

The power steering went out in my car…how urgent is this? Is it something that needs to be fixed right away or can I drive my car w/out the assistance of the power steering?

You can drive you rcar without the assistance of power steering…right up until someone’s youngster chases a ball out in front of you and you need to make a sudden evasive maneuver, or a pickup runs a red light in front of you and you have to suddenly swerve to avoid being hit.

I other words, you’ll still be able to round corners but it won’t be safe.

just hard to steer,but you can drive it.

What “went out”?? Did the drive belt break? A hose fail? All the fluid leaked out “someplace” unknown? What?

whatever went wrong with your power steering get it fixed asap for safety sake, and for the benifit of others on the road. Can you is one thing, should you is something else.
the design engineer, or the sales and marketing engineer thought it needed power steering, and so did you when you bought it. Why do you suppose that was?

Continued use will make more parts in the steering fail. The longer you drive it like that the more expensive the repair will be.

And then of course, if you cause an accident and someone finds out you were driving with compromised steering, the legal problems will make your power steering problems look like peanuts.

Get it fixed. Or at least have someone look at it. It could be simple and cheap. While at speed normally you do not need the power assist. However if you need the assist and do not have it in a bad situation how much would that cost? Your life, someone else, or a bigger repair?

I think the predominant safety issue is that there is a known failure in the steering mechanism. This failure manifests itself in loss of PS…but we don’t really know the “etiology” of the problem causing the symptom, do we?

As for “could a Mazda Protege be safely operated w/o PS?”, I think this is an example of how this board leans on the “safety” response too much. We don’t know if the OP is a 250# longshoreman, a 88# beautician, or in-between. I think this would have a definite effect on what answer I’d give.

he design engineer, or the sales and marketing engineer thought it needed power steering, and so did you when you bought it. Why do you suppose that was?

Um, perhaps because “If we don’t include PS, we can’t sell this car to ~2/3 of our potential customers?” (Meaning most women, some men, physically disabled and elderly?) I could certainly see the sense in putting PS on a car that “I” preferred to drive without.

Many of automotive industries are provided compulsorily power steering in their every vehicle. Power steering makes the car easier to steer when your driving slow or parking your car. Used Cars

I can see that this post has been added months long. Apologize for reviving it(hope you understand). just wanna share my knowledge as pit crew. As far i know power steering is crucial to being able to safely drive a vehicle. Folks may take their power steering for granted because they have never tried to drive a car without it. Usually, cars can be easily steered with just a slight turn of the wheel that requires almost no effort. Without the power steering, the driver could meet a great amount of resistance in turning the wheel. It may be be extremely dangerous to have a vehicle’s power steering suddenly fail, possibly causing a serious accident. Thus, it is always advisable to check it always. if you can’t do it then, you can take your car to local auto service centers and let them solve the issue if any.