Originally Posted by AMGLover
Not uncommon and very much influenced by the use of steering wheel - ever drum on your steering wheel at a light? Try to force wheel when it's locked? Use wheel as a handle to get in and out of car? Are you the original owner? Mileage? Now it most likely gave you a warning, but it could have been easy to miss if you have not owned the car from the onset. Ever hear a light grinding when you turn the wheel? Maybe a slight binding? Was the steering wheel loose? Did the horn ever work intermittently? Airbag light come on? One of the reasons that I drive the car periodically with no audio on is to listen for various rattles and squeaks. Your incident is one that is 100% attributable to poor preventive maintenance.
Every car is unique, every owner uses their car in a unique manner. Don't assume that a mechanical failure on your car is not the fault of the operator... present or past (I know we are all so perfect, how can it be our fault?).
Its not a drum, I don't force it, I don't use it for a handle, I steer the car with it. I am the original owner, it has 22,500 miles on it. The steering wheel never made any noise, no binding, it's was not loose, no horn problems. The airbag light comes on each time I start the car but then goes out, and I drive this car daily, usually without the any audio.
I do not understand what any of this has to do with a major malfunction in an automobile? I have been driving for 35 years in many different cars both domestic and foreign, new and used, and this is the first time I've had the steering lock up. I'm sure people do all of the things you mention to cars, but I'm also sure manufacturers are aware of this and design their products to withstand such abuse! No! I do not claim to be perfect, but I do know how to care for an automobile, and I know that steering lock up should not happen in any car for any reason!
If this is, as you say, "not uncommon", why then hasn't NHTSA stepped in and done something about it?
For you to imply that this is somehow my fault is the kind of reply I would expect from the service manager who tried to tell me that something I was doing caused my seat heater to fail 4 times. You can make all the assumptions you want to, but this not something "common" or normal, and I intend to find out how or why this happened.