hey guys,
a friend in his mini deluxe came to pick me up last night from my house and as he was taking a hard turn on the road (only doing about 20km/h mind you) there was a considerable crunching sound followed by no steering control - we had to steer the car into the curb by turning the tyres by hand.
after a bit of road-side investigation (unbolting the column), I discovered that the pinion gear of the newly replaced steering rack (maybe 3 months ago) was in top condition, but the column's inner teeth where it engages the pinion gear were not feeling quite right. after farting around it seems like the teeth inside the column are stripped or damaged beyond repair, and that my friend now needs a new column. for your information the rack is in good condition and nothing is amiss under the car, it seems like this pinion gear to steering column junction is the problem.
so, my first question is if the teeth inside the column are damaged, what actually needs to be replaced? i am assuming the whole column needs replacing?
more importantly, why the hell would this happen? is this a common fault?

he was not taking the corner at high speed at all, perhaps it is accelerated wear caused by the new pinion gear and the old column gears...
cheers in advance