How about that...
And BMW says they haven't had any probs with that model before....
Anyone know about more problems of this kind?

hmm i've heard about this with other cars, one of my friends civics tb got frozen open at wot, but aside from that only on american cars

Well, don't think you have to worry about it, probably a once in a lifetime experience... and really hope so

You got a point there... probably would have been a better idea, but in some situations it's not easy to make rational decisions (and it's always easier to say things later on as a bystander).
I've had a Toyota Landcruiser, 2790kg, and I lost powersteering once (and a lot of more...), it was almost impossible to steer the car without powersteering, and that was at extremely low speed... Don't know if it's that easy to steer a car without powersteering at high speeds, especially a heavy car with a lot of electronics....?

actually the tb freezing open is actually a common thing here(mind you the people who it happens to are running cold air intakes in -30c weather)

but aside from that i've always taken the power steering off most of my cars, helps to a little more power to the wheels, its a bitch to drive without it and turning at low speeds are not easy even on the e30, but when your racing a round its a bit harder to steer but not a big difference

aside from clutch on auto transmissions, thats what neutral is for and at least with the car being in neutral you don't have to worry about locking up your power steering while taking the key out(done that a couple times before lol)