I was driving home, heard a crunch, and then my entire steering wheel felt loose and turned a quarter turn to the left even though my car was still going straight.
I was about 10 feet from home so I finished the trip slowly.
Afterwards I looked under the front of the car and saw a broken part.
My car is a 2002 Hyundai Elantra and we've been considering the idea of getting rid of the car at the next major repair.
I don't know what this part is or how much it might be to repair it. We're about a quarter mile away from our regular repair shop.
My questions are:
- What is this part?
- What would the estimated repair for it be?
- Would it be worth the tow to get it to the repair shop to fix?
- Would you scrap the car over this considering it's age and the fact we're already thinking about it?
Thanks for any input!
UPDATE
If you run into this same issue, Hyundai had a recall on some 2001–2003 Vehicles Due to Corrosion on Front Lower Control Arms. Whether or not your car is covered under the recall depends on if the car's VIN falls into some unknown (at least to me) range.
My car wasn't covered, but if the same part breaks on your Elantra or Tiburon it's worth calling in to a dealer or going to Hyundai's repair site to check and see if yours is. Hopefully you'll have better luck than I did!
Thank's for the answers and comments. They helped a lot!
