I've always thought that losing connectivity between the steering wheel and
front wheels could be the "ugliest" failure in many circumstances.  For
instance, at speed in traffic on a curvy road.  When I first thought on this
subject my driver was probably a somewhat out of order older vw (splittie
with worn front drum brakes and improper tires, not to mention loose tie rod
ends etc. etc.) that would pull to one side under hard braking.

What part failure could cause this diconnect on a Vanagon?  I'm guessing
quite a few but I don't know of any single points of failure that are
likely.  Fortunately if maintained well at all our front ends don't seem to
be vulnerable to any sort of full-disconnect failure.

That is my nomination for number 1.  Gas lines may be a good number two,
seat belts (when needed) a number 3, etc.  I may be on the wrong track
though as ugly makes me think catastrophic!

Jonathan Poole