If I had my time again I would have sold our Aurion before the warranty ran out.
These cars are plagued with various issues. VVT-i rattle, melting dashes, problematic oil hoses.
In regards to your questions.
1. Have you turned the vents to recirculate or are they open air?
2. It is likely the intermediate steering shaft knock. Google it, there are heaps of posts and a few fixes on Youtube.
3. Keep on them about it. I am pretty sure(but not certain) that there was a recall on these. Ours was done without prompting our dealer.