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!