Thread: Power steering drops out

Four month old 1.9 TDI Skoda Octavia. 3750 miles. In the last month the power steering has dropped out three times. The first two times were during slow speed parking manouvers. Switching off the engine, and restarting brought the power steering back on line. More worryingly, the other day my wife was driving in town and as she pulled out into a main road, the power steering failed again. The first she knew of it was as she attempted to straighten up on the new road. She hadn't the strength to overcome the lack of assistance, and ended up on the pavement, to the surprise and alarm of nearby pedestrians. Again, switching off, and restarting brought the power steering assistance back.
It goes in to the main dealer for investigation tomorrow, but in the meantime, has anyone else experienced this?
My take on it is that as it is an electromechanical system, something, perhaps a relay, cannot carry the current load expected of it, and drops out. It only seems to happen at slow speeds, when steering loads are often high.

Problem solved - apparently. The dealer's computer check showed recorded anomalies, but no direct error code which could be used to trace the fault. They checked with Skoda. Skoda are aware of a problem, and authorised the fitting of a complete new steering rack. It would seem that Skoda are working on a software solution, though this has yet to materialise.