[3rd Coast Z]

There are quite a few cars that use the electric steering now. From the little research I have done on the subject there are three different setups. One is using an electric pump to control fluid pressure to the rack and pinion. This of course eliminates the parisitic loss caused by the belt driven pump. The Toyota MR2 I believe is the most talked about donor car for this set up.

But also recently I have seen a completely different set up where there is some sort of box on the steering column right where it passes through the firewall. No clue how that one works.

And finally, there is the Nissan steer-by-wire program that they will introduce in some of their luxury cars. There is a computer that controls actuators to steer the car. But it isn't a completely independent system. There will still be a mechanical link in case the steer-by-wire system fails.

Ok I'm done.