# 2012 Toyota Corolla power steering sudden failure

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-toyota-corolla-power-steering-sudden-failure/158965>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** corolla, toyota\
**Created:** [February 20, 2020, 10:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-toyota-corolla-power-steering-sudden-failure/158965 "2020-02-20T10:31:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![papi54](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5a626/32.png) [@papi54](https://community.cartalk.com/u/papi54)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 10:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-toyota-corolla-power-steering-sudden-failure/158965/1 "2020-02-20T10:31:56Z")

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Power Steering sudden failure: The steering freezes and unfreezes when the car is restarted.

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**Author:** ![davepsinbox\_157004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@davepsinbox\_157004](https://community.cartalk.com/u/davepsinbox_157004)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-toyota-corolla-power-steering-sudden-failure/158965/2 "2020-02-20T18:00:37Z")

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Your Corolla has electric power steering like my '09. The rack and pinion assembly may be going bad but a bad alternator or battery can produce similar problems. Have the battery and alternator tested first. If nothing else you’ll eliminate a possible source and best case you’ll spend a lot less on a repair.

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**Author:** ![oldtimer-11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e79b87/32.png) [@oldtimer-11](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldtimer-11)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-toyota-corolla-power-steering-sudden-failure/158965/3 "2020-02-21T06:20:13Z")

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I am a little confuser by you saying it unfreezes when the car is restarted.

Has the car stalled, or are you shutting off the engine and then restarting it?

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**Author:** ![SteveCBT](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/stevecbt/32/3192_2.png) [@SteveCBT](https://community.cartalk.com/u/SteveCBT)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 11:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-toyota-corolla-power-steering-sudden-failure/158965/4 "2020-02-21T11:02:59Z")

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+1 to @davepsinbox_157004 My son’s 09 Corolla had a failing alternator, the first symptom was the power steering failing. The battery light did not come on until a few moments after. Is the battery original? If so might be time to replace it.