l have a 2001 Bmw 325i....it only has 72,000 miles on it and I've had it for three and a half months and never had any trouble....today, l was (thank god) in a parking lot and suddenly l could not turn the steering wheel for some reason AND when l pressed the gas, it did not accelerate.So l turned off the car, waited a couple of minutes then turned it right back on and have had NO problems and l drove it a lot today and it never happened again....so what the heck happened????

It sounds likes you may have a steering wheel
hydraulic pump is starting to go out.
You may need a new one.

You better take it in to have it checked over
with a repair car place to be sure.

It may do what happened again earlier to
you today later on, maybe tomorrow or next week.

Best bet, take it in to have it checked over.

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Were you moving when this happened, or parked? My security system malfunctioned one time when my bimmer was off, and completely killed the car, until it was reset. l cant be of much help if you were driving though.

If you lost power steering AND you could not accelerate at all your engine stalled. When your engine stalls it no longer spins the serpentine belt and your power steering system no longer works. Have your battery connections checked to make sure they are all clean and tightly connected.

l agree with Joe. l think your engine stalled for some reason.
If the temperature has changed drastically recently and you have less than half a tank of fuel it may have pulled bit of water into the system.
Fill up your tank with a premium grade fuel and this should help ( l am not saying always run premium fuel but usually a high grade fuel has a moisture sequestering agent added at the gas station).