Flash forward to now. I went to get in the car and drive to lunch (a week ago Monday) and the steering wheel turns, but the tires don't. I have it towed to my father's mechanic. He fixes it and when I went to pick it up he asks me where I had the rack & pinion steering replaced at. I told him and asked why. He told me that he felt the reason the coupler/steering knuckle needed replaced was because the rack & pinion steering was installed improperly and caused the threads to wear and break. He also told me that it had been a hazard for me to have driven the car around and I was lucky this broke while parked, not while driving somewhere.
I have tried calling Big O Tires (local) and they have a too bad so sad attitude. The warrenty is long gone, but how was I to know that it was done wrong in the first place? I've been driving around with my son and his friends in that car! The corporate headquarters said "Sorry, but since each is a franchise there is not much we can do other than tell you to take it up with that particular store." I'm frustrated and scared because of their bad service I am out a couple of hundred dollars in new repairs and was driving in an unsafe car!
