If steering goes stiff, I would look at the belt and pulleys. If a pulley is faulty, could slow or drag the belt, and give bad power steering. When My belt snapped in that area, really took some doing to pull the wheel around. If on same belt as Alternator, Some alternator pulleys are know to fail. Took a couple of months for mine to fail completely, Just an error at times, before, as you get, then total gave up.So get it seen to, either yourself or garage, save you being stranded
SD, June 2012