NHTSA Complaint #11662705 — 2018 LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER EVOQUE

When traveling on [XXX] in New York, at 78 mph, my 2018 Range Rover Evoque experienced an electronic power steering rack failure I had just picked up my neighbors from the airport and were on the way home. When traveling on a smooth, straight highway, the audible notification alerted and a message on the dash appeared stating "power steering reduced". When just trying to change lanes on the straight highway I would feel the strong resistance. When exiting the Interstate my neighbor sitting in the passenger seat even helped me with turning the wheel on the exit ramp. We manage to make it back to my driveway. My wife normally drives this vehicle and if it was her driving at the time of the failure in our more rural area, there is no doubt she would not have been able to steer and would have crashed with a high possibility of personal injury. There is no way she would have had the strength to control the vehicle. The possibility of injury or death is high. If that had happened legal action would have been taken. I had the vehicle towed 90 miles to the JLR dealership and they eventually completed the fix by replacing the electronic power steering rack at a cost of over $6k. There was much discussion with the dealership about the failure and the kept saying nothing could be done. I chose to pay for the repair only because I wasn't going to continue making monthly payments for a vehicle i couldn't use, or even move. There is a recall in regards to steering rack bolts. However my vehicles VIN is just shy of meeting the require range. Cost of tow, fix, and travel to pick it up after the repair is close to $7k. The large amount of added debt is a huge inconvenience for a repair that should be covered by a major part that was defective. I have attached the dealer repair estimate, the dealer repairs made, and the text communication with the dealership in regards to the steering rack failure. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)