The contact owns a 2007 Toyota rav-4. the contact stated the vehicle would not start and received a jump start. After receiving the jump start and driving 15 mph, the power steering locked and the power steering warning light began to sporadically illuminate. The dealer advised the contact that the battery would need to be replaced to correct the failure. The battery was replaced. The contact was concerned with the safety of a recurring failure if driving on the highway and the potential of a crash. The VIN was not available. The failure and current mileage was 45,000.

- San Diego, CA, USA

The battery on my wife's 2007 Toyota Rav4 went out without warning, & so on the advice of the folsom lake Toyota garage, I jump started her car to get her home. The next morning I did the same, so that she could drive it to the garage to get fixed. When she started to drive the car however, the steering lock would not allow her to turn the wheel & she ended up driving towards the middle of the road. She immediately stopped, & told me, & so as I thought she meant that the power steering simply wasn't working, I said that I would drive it to the garage for her. When I started off however, the car steering lock stopped me turning the wheel, although only for a second or two, before the steering began to work correctly, & so I very slowly & carefully drove the car to the garage. The garage checked the car & said that it was just a faulty battery, but when I pointed out that if a faulty battery could cause the steering lock to engage while driving, this was a safety hazard, they said that when they asked Toyota, they simply said that it was working as designed, & so there was nothing they could do. Consequently, I called Toyota, & they told me that as the car has an electronic power steering module, the steering lock could engage with a bad battery. When I suggested to the customer services rep that they needed to address this issue as a safety hazard, she wasn't interested in helping, & point blank refused to give me contact details for her boss, or anyone at Toyota North America or Japan, only the customer services dept., I.e., people like herself. I find it insulting that Toyota not only appears not to care about the safety of their customers, but also doesn't appear to want to hear from their customers, e.g., when I took a survey after my call, & entered some very low numbers for service care, the call was deliberately cut off by Toyota. So much for Japanese service!

- Folsom, CA, USA

Leads to battery were colored wrong. The positive lead was painted black and the negative lead was painted red. When I jump-started the car I put the battery cables to the associated colors. It was connected for about 1 minute when I noticed something smoking. After I found out what the problem was I corrected the connection and started the car. The car would only idle due to a blown fuse, which the car dealership had to find.

- Argyle, TX, USA