Power steering failure

[Possibly]

Hi, hoping someone can help. I bought a second hand Vauxhall, 2014 plate last year from a dealer. It had 13,000 miles on it at the time and had one previous owner.
it now has 30,000 miles on it. The dealer warranty has now expired.

The power steering has now failed completely and needs a new pump which will cost several hundred pounds. Plus I'm having to rent a car so I can get to work while it's being repaired.

I've contacted Vauxhall as I would say this is a dangerous fault. I was driving when it failed and it was not possible to steer at all. Luckily I was on a residential road and not a motorway or I may not be here!

Is there anything I can do? This should not happen on a four year old car with 30,000 miles on it.

I should add, when I spoke to Vauxhall, they were interested in the year. They said that on the old model of my car, pre 2008, steering problems were a known fault but not on the newer models.

[R0b]

Hello

First of all, is the vehicle on finance at all or did you buy outright?

I agree that it would seem unusual for the power steering to have completely failed taking into account the age and mileage of the vehicle. Just to clarify, the vehicle is now getting repaired? would it be possible that the garage who is carrying out the works, give a statement as to the damage of the failed pump or at the very least, ask the garage not to throw away the pump for evidence purposes.

I've tagged des8 who should be able to comment a bit more detail on the power steering issue, but as the vehicle has been in your possession for more than 6 months, the onus is on you to prove that the vehicle was faulty or not fit for purpose. This is usually done by getting an independent report to verify the problem and whether it was likely caused by you or some other reason, hence retaining the damaged components.

[des8]

I thought Vauxhall no longer used steering pumps but now use an electric motor wrapped round the steering column which becomes the motor's shaft.
If the steering is held on full lock the motor can burn out.

Could be that some models still use the pump, but without knowing more details of the vehicle, can't really comment further.

[Possibly]

Thank you. The car is on finance. It's a 2014 Vauxhall Meriva automatic.

It's pretty obvious that I know nothing about cars. I was just told by my mechanic it's the pump and he is looking into getting it sent to be repaired as it will be cheaper than a new one.

[des8]

The Meriva has Speed-sensitive electric power-assisted steering.
It is not a hydraulic system so there is no pump!