[joe_bleau]

The handful of cars I've checked (after Bob Pease wrote about it) won't lock the column unless you remove the key. Some might lock, but only when the tranny is in park. Worth checking out.

Do you even want/need power steering assist in a runaway situation?

[ethanhunt_]

When a car with power-steering loses power, it doesn't become like a car without power-steering. I've had a car shutdown at highway speeds, and turning the wheel is incredibly difficult. At the time I was a fairly muscled weightlifter, and I could not turn the wheel more than a few degrees (I managed to change one lane into a turn off).

mzr's comment above gives good advice: don't turn off or remove the key in a moving vehicle. Shift to neutral if the gas pedal is stuck.

[tadfisher]

This is correct. In cars with hydraulic-assisted steering, you're forcing fluid back through the pump, which is quite hard to do in addition to the fighting the bulk of your car and steering rack. In cars with electric-assisted steering, like the Prius, you're working against the electric motor using a belt and pulleys.

Which begs the question: why isn't the electric-assist motor designed to freewheel when power is lost? Losing steering assist at speed would be a more manageable situation.

[justin66]

> Do you even want/need power steering assist in a runaway situation?

In my sole unintended acceleration incident (floormat) I was beginning (but committed to) a turn. I put the car into neutral and came out of it okay. (people forget that any modern engine has a rev limiter so neutral is really pretty safe)

It would have made a bad situation worse for me if I had lost my steering. I've lost steering on that car (lost the generator for a few seconds in the wet on two separate occasions) and I can confirm what someone else said about the steering getting quite heavy.