Steering wheel seized up

[Stuart Giles]

If the problem is in the steering box, a sudden seizure could well be caused by the staked on thrust washer at the base of the steering column's worm having broken up or come adrift resulting in bits of metal getting jammed between the worm and the wheel. I was "lucky" to have this occur as I reversed out of my garage a few decades ago rather than being out on the open road. Although this isn't a common failure, it's far from unknown.