Purchased 2008 Toyota Yaris Sedan used in July 2009 for my daughter, it had about 16,000 miles on it. I bought Toyota because of its "safety" record. She's at college so I drive it every other day to work which is only 10 miles. I began to notice a sound when I made a sharp right hand turn into a parking spot like the noise of an actual bar and also a rattle if I went over a small dip in the road. I was told it needed new tires on 10/12/12 @ 29,645 miles. I bought Goodyear Eagle LS Tires 185/60R15. I bought good, safe tires for my daughter's car. On May 10, 2013 I had her car serviced at Toyota: oil change, tires rotated, inspection of air filter, ball joints, dust covers, drive shaft boots, nut and bolts on chassis, fluids, tire pressure and check wear, brake linings, etc. From there I drove my daughter and I up to my son's for his college graduation. It was 80 degrees F outside, sunny weather, clear roads, at 52 miles into our trip I was in the slow lane following traffic at the 65 mph speed limit. I was watching the road, both hands on the steering wheel, my daughter had her head down listening to her ipod. All of a sudden the steering wheel jerked to the left and we began to go into a skid. I've been driving for 35 years no accidents, but I have experienced skids before on icy roads and always regained control of the car. As I was avoiding hitting other cars I was trying to regain control of the Yaris. It was buckling under me each time I tried to carefully get us out of the skids four times. My foot was not on the brake but I had carefully pulled it off of the accelerator and I remember thinking why wasn't the car slowing down, it just kept skidding. After the 4th skid it went into a complete 180 degree spin with us slamming into the cement median which probably saved our lives. As we went into the final spin I slammed on the brakes as we went toward the wall. I do not not know what caused the steering to malfunction. I have read about faulty bolts on the control arm. The auto repair shop did tell me they replace the stabilizer bar. The accident damaged both front and rear wheels on the passenger side. I have noticed since the repair the noise under the car is gone and the throttle no longer "screams" when I take my foot off the gas going downhills, also the engine seems to run at a higher "throttle", it seems louder. Mechanic told me no repairs were done to the engine. I hope no one suffers this kind of accident. If we had been killed that day, they would have blamed the accident on us. We were not speeding, nor driving carelessly or in and out of traffic. I hope whatever is wrong with the 2008 Yaris sedan gets discovered before anyone else is hurt. Ours does not have abs not anti-spin brakes. So if your Yaris is making any kind of noise underneath, please take it to a good mechanic.