Do they just mean the power steering cuts out and brakes lose hydraulics? Because there's a pretty huge difference between that and 'a brief absence of steering and braking'.
If that happened suddenly on the road 'loss of steering and brakes' is exactly how I would describe it. Sure it might not be completely accurate, but it is definitely a dangerous situation whatever you call it.
That being said, I certainly wouldn't be happy if my new volvo did that; they should definitely be held to higher standards than my $500 beater.
As far as how much steering systems have changed, many are still more or less the same variable ratio rack and pinion systems, but most have moved to electronic steering assist instead of hydraulic, which allows for a higher steering ratio since you can adjust the strength of the assist on the fly (to have more control/less of an assist at higher speeds and with the wheel centered but a stronger assist when slower and turning the wheel) so low ratios aren't needed to keep the wheel easily turnable at low speeds. On top of that some cars are going full on steer by wire now, though not many due to the understandable reliability issues.