2025 Toyota Corolla Cross

I turned on the car after it had been sitting in the hot sun for about 4 hours (after a 180 mile trip). When I turned on the vehicle, about a minute into driving (on a gravel driveway), the car started blaring multiple lights and the steering wheel locked. Notifications were “System Failure" & "Electric Power Steering Malfunction - please contact dealer.” The steering wheel completely locked/uncontrollable - 3 others tried to help me. I was going ~5 mph when it happened. I was able to put the car into park & turned it off for 10min. On restart, the car acted normal again. If this happened while driving at a high speed I believe it would result in serious injury or death. This is the second episode. The first time it happened (XXX), Toyota did a full inspection/scan of the car but couldn't reproduce the issue despite confirming it was documented in the car's system log. This time, I emailed toyota same day. The car has now been at dealer for 4 days. They haven’t been able to reproduce the issue despite acknowledging both times that the events are documented in the car's log. The dealer recommended replacing the ECU. Unfortunately, toyota corporate claims they "cannot replace it without reproducing the issue" which is ridiculous given that the issue is inherently unpredictable (which is what makes it terrifying) yet irrefutably present. I am concerned I will die due to a malfunctioning steering wheel before toyota corporate will take it seriously. I do not feel safe driving the car now that this has inexplicably happened 2x. Multiple people online reported a similar issue [XXX]; the sounds occurring during the linked video are similar to my event. The main difference is that my car never once said low battery; no engine problems, never have had a dead battery. I was even able to drive 180 miles home that night (praying the whole time cause I had no other choice in a rural area). INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Engine turned off at stop light while stopped for about 30 seconds, then started a long beep. The engine light and the power steering light came on. The screen also said put in park and restart engine. I did and it started back up and the dashboard warnings went away. It was unsafe because when the light changed to green I couldn't immediately accelerate and the cars behind me could not either. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer, they cannot find anything wrong.

I had the 2025 Toyota Corolla Cross LE for one week and have experienced two occurrences of a serious safety concern. After coming to a complete stop (with the auto stop turned off), I will accelerate for a few second before the car completely loses power in the middle of the road. After a few seconds, it seems to pick back up and continue like nothing happened. This malfunction has left me in situations that will cause an accident. I am terrified to put my [XXX] and [XXX] back in this car just to be a sitting duck waiting to be hit by other drivers. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)