NHTSA Complaint #10669264 — 2007 TOYOTA RAV4

MY 2007 TOYOTA RAV4 HAS DEVELOPED A LOUD CLUNK AND SLIGHT BINDING WHEN THE STEERING WHEN TURNING AT SLOW SPEEDS. THE DIAGNOSIS FROM TOYOTA APPEARS TO BE A WORN INTERMEDIATE STEERING SHAFT. IN MY OPINION, THE STEERING SHAFT ON THIS VEHICLE DOES NOT RESEMBLE THOSE ON OTHER CARS IN THAT STARTS CONNECTED TO THE STEERING WHEEL AND THEN RUNS VERTICALLY DOWN THROUGH THE DASH AREA CHANGING DIRECTION ABRUPTLY. OTHER VEHICLES HAVE A GENERALLY STRAIGHT STEERING SHAFT IN LINE WITH THE STEERING WHEEL AXIS AND NO ABRUPT CHANGES IN ALIGNMENT. THERE APPEARS TO BE SIGNIFICANT DISCUSSIONS ON TOYOTA RELATED WEBSITES OF SIMILAR RAV4 STEERING SHAFT PROBLEMS. IS TOYOTA AND THE NHTSA AWARE OF THIS PROBLEM AND PREPARING AN INVESTIGATION OR REMEDY. *JS