dakota

Hi everyone. I took my 04 Solara to the dealership for numerous problems. The popping sound in the steering wheel was one of them and my other issue was my tires needing to be replaced when I only have 24,500 miles on the car. I was told that a part was ordered for my vehicle to fix the popping sound. After not hearing back from Toyota after two weeks I called to find out what part had been ordered. As of yesterday, I was informed that a new steering shaft had been ordered but that Toyota has no idea when it will be in. It seems that there is a huge waiting list for this part and it's all Camry & Solara owners waiting. I guess Toyota has thousands of people waiting for new steering columns although I was assured its not a safety issue. I was informed that my tires being almost bald was just because of an alignment issue and it could happen with any car but after research I found that Toyota is well aware of a vehicle pull/drift problem. Am I the only person who thinks that a steering column issue and alignment problem could very well be linked even though Toyota informed me it wasn't? I don't think I should have to pay for new tires on a car with less than 25,000 miles.