Car engine cut out & crashed!

[SimonMac]

Presumably the AA would have checked the output of the alternator as a matter of course when replacing a battery, so can rule out a fault in the charging system?

Not always, last time i had the AA out they just boosted the battery with their charging pack and fooked off telling me to leave it running for a bit

[Sysman]

The steering wheel locked not was hard to turn so it sounds like electrical failure. The same effect as if you'd taken the ignition key out.

There could be a short circuit somewhere.

And that short circuit might have been the reason he needed a new battery in the first place.

[Diver]

I think the Rav has electric steering in more up to date models.

Just think of the fun you could have if it had electric brakes as well.

My god! You're right
What idiot came up with that one I wonder

[Sysman]

Loss of hydraulic pressure from the steering pump making steering suddenly harder would only result from loss of fluid or engine failure/stopping.

That old Saab I had would intermittently lose its power steering when starting off on a very cold morning. It was OK after a few hundred yards and fortunately I lived on a straight bit of road.

The power assist hydraulic pump was driven by a belt if I remember correctly. The belt slipping or breaking would also constitute a point of failure.

[EternalOptimist]

Sounds like the seat belt is short circuiting the reverse induction flow. Try taking some tight bends at sixty without the seatbelt

get back to us and tell us how you get on

[Sysman]

It has just crossed what passes for my mind that Toyota are the company that brought the world all those instances of unintended accelleration.

Too much software & tulipe like that in cars these days.

Any car which has a burglar alarm or other assorted electronic junk you cannot turn off will suffer battery drain problems unless you disconnect the battery when parking it up for a few weeks.

Of course, when you do reconnect the battery, make sure that you have a spare key in your back pocket, as the thing is likely to wind its windows up and lock you out.

The kind Touring Club de Suisse taught me that trick when he brought me a new battery. In fact he refused to connect the thing until I showed him my spare key as well as the one in the ignition.

[OwlHoot]

It has just crossed what passes for my mind that Toyota are the company that brought the world all those instances of unintended accelleration. ...

Ah, so it's a Toyota. My parents had a Toyota that would cut out at random. Happened two or three times.

Rather scary when you're in your 90s, with reactions not quite those of a fighter pilot, and the perishing thing cuts out on the motorway.

[Bagpuss]

On many cars the alternator belt as well as charging the battery drives the power assisted steering and the water pump. Get the belt changed (no more than £100 for a garage to do this or the AA should be able to do it).

I had one snap on me on the motorway once, first the electrical warning lights came on then the steering became heavy, then it died.

[OwlHoot]

Sounds like the seat belt is short circuiting the reverse induction flow. Try taking some tight bends at sixty without the seatbelt

get back to us and tell us how you get on

Chortle

[Sysman]

Just think of the fun you could have if it had electric brakes as well.

A colleague had a fuse go on a a big Peugeot he had rented.

Which took out his brakes.

He carried on with his journey with no brakes.

I forgot to mention, he's French.