Houston...JULY....in an above-ground parking garage...

If you check your owners manual you will see that the electric power steering is subject to overheating and if such occurs will operate in degraded mode, apparently SEVERELY degraded mode.

And then being forced to "man-handle" it to get it down to the first floor would probably have put a permanent "twist" in the torque tube making it totally disfunctional. Just where is the "CHIP" (power transistor{s}) located..??

Was the second floor open to sunlight..??