If somehow this turns out to be the case, at this point, I'm honestly not too familiar with the details of the law, and am also not quite sure weather or not I should look at the law for my state (CO), the state I bought it in (OH), or the state in which it was originally purchased (FL).
I recall seeing a FL lemon law guide of sorts in with the owners manual but don't have the car with me currently...

 

UPDATE 02/11/10

SERIES OF EVENTS:

1.) P/S went out. (at the precise moment I enter a parking garage in the daytime with the lights set to auto mode and they engage)

2.) Dealership replaces Power Steering ECU

3.) 2 Weeks later I start the car before leaving work (with lights set to auto mode) and as soon as I touch the steering wheel it begins to shake rapidly as if possessed. (SEE VIDEO in post #8)

4.) Give dealership the video with the car they try to replicate the problem. Two weeks later after failing to re-create the problem, corporate tells them to replace the steering rack assembly just as they did 6 months earlier for the TSIB because they simply do not have any idea what caused the steering wheel to shake.

MY CONCLUSION:

After doing some research here on CL, I've found and talked to a couple other members who have had the same problems, and both of which also had aftermarket HID systems.

Member #1
This member had their ECU "go out" (as mine did) and actually had their dealership in Florida conclude that his HID Ballast was mounted too close to the power steering ECU, and thus "fried" his P/S ECU.

Member #2
This member had their steering wheel violently shake (as mine did) when they started the car at night with the lights set to auto mode.

It's been almost two months since I got my car back and I have had no P/S issues.
However I have not set the lights to Auto mode since, and though I can't prove it, I truly believe that sometimes when the auto lights go on, the ballast freaks out the system OR vise versa.

I personally followed Muzzman1'S write-up about how to install and HID kit, and if you check out that thread, you can see where I mounted each ballast.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...-pictures.html

I plan to relocate both ballasts in the spring by extending the wires to keep both of them as far away from any ECU or Fuse box type devices as possible.

 

Wow man, I have never seen anything like that. That is scary (and dangerous, it you were driving and that happened). I agree with the above members- look into the lemon law. This is totally unacceptable. Keep us updated

 

If the cause of the issue is where his aftermarket HID ballasts are installed then lemon law won't help him- it's not Lexus fault if aftermarket parts start messing the car up.

 

Agreed... Thanks for reading

 

so which ballast was located next to the ECU? the drivers side or passenger side?

 

I'd assume the drivers, because its mounted right up against a plastic box housing some sort of ECU/Electrical controls...

I've asked before here on CL what that box contains, but never got a 100% confirmation...
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...t-is-this.html

However, the passenger side ballast is "near" (within 16" of) the fuse box that houses the P/S fuse...

All this said, Im honestly not sure...

 

thanks. do you know how a ballast can affect a fuse/ECU? like, is it a heat proximity issue or something? or can an electrical current affect other electrical devices nearby or something? sorry, my electrical knowledge is pathetic.

also, what HID kit were you using? did you use a relay harness?

 

The "ballast" contains an inverter to step up the battery voltage to something high enough to strike an arc in the HID bulbs. The inverter design can make EMI and it can also feed back into the electrical system with high frequency noise. Either or both of these may be the culprits in this case.

There is a torque sensing device in the steering rack that tells the electric motor when to actuate. If the signal from the torque sensing device is corrupted by EMI or there is noise in the power, it is possible the ECU could go into an oscillation loop and cause the steering wheel to move back and forth. There's also a torque zeroing procedure in the service manual that states the wheel may oscillate during the zeroing procedure and gives specific guidelines for what NOT to do while this is happening.

If I were betting, I'd say the aftermarket "ballasts" are of an inexpensive design and do not contain sufficient noise elimination features to work well with the 2IS, OR, the specific units in these two cars are faulty and the noise reduction circuitry is not functioning correctly. It is certainly possible there is a bad capacitor intended to remove noise and the device is now creating noise on the power and EMI. Inverters are like that.

 

Yeah what he said!
I think it's a good thing that you traced it back to the HID's.
Let us know what kit it is and who makes it, this should set off red flags!
This needs to be addressed immediately by the HID kit manufacturer.
Or at least till anything else might pop up causing this malfunction.

 

I am having the same problems, and I am currently running aftermarket HIDs by K-Light.
I had these HIDs installed in 2007 and have had no problems until Christmas Eve 2009. Why would it take so long to affect the EPS?

Oh... and it turns our this steering problem has gotten around to a lot of other forums and sites. Seems like it's gonna go big in the media soon...
Here is it on Jalopnik: http://jalopnik.com/5469487/toyotas-...teering-wheels

 

I have the Mobile-HID kit
http://s3.excoboard.com/forums/4618/...795/122208.jpg

As for the "Relay harnesses" I'm not certain... All I know is I hooked it up just like muzzman1's thread... (Just like many others here on CL)

I think its random, because mine didn't have any problems until 6 months after install...

Than, when it shook violently that ONE night (which I made the video from), it didn't happen over the next two days before I got it to the dealer.

Also, not sure how big it will go in the media (other than jalopnik and other enthusiast forums) being that it's entirely possible that it has nothing to do with Toyota/Lexus build quality...

 

so how much would it cost to fix, if your warranty went out?
this will happen even if you mount the ballast somewhere else?
i was going to install the hid kit i got from HIDXTRA today...damn

 

i'm going to PM Steve from XenonDepot to see if he'd like to weigh in on the issue, since he's the resident aftermarket HID expert around these parts, and since tons of people have bought HIDs from him

 

Wow interesting stuff and here I was just about to install my hid kit too.