What breaks

Which Cars Have the Most Steering Problems

Every complaint filed about this part since 1995, by model, by model year, and by the mileage it failed at.

3 min read · 302 figures, all from the federal record · rebuilt 3 hours ago

Owners have filed 143,306 complaints with NHTSA about the steering — 6.7% of every complaint in the file. This is where those complaints land.

The heaviest single model year is the 2010 Ford Fusion, with 1,660 complaints about this part alone, 24% of everything reported about that car.

Where owners recorded an odometer reading, the typical steering failure on this list happened at about 78,000 miles.

Worst model years

Vehicle	Complaints	Share of that year	Median failure	Crashes	Fires
C 2010 Ford Fusion	1,660	24%	101,023 mi	32	1
F 2012 Ford Fusion	1,479	48%	83,500 mi	46	2
F 2011 Ford Fusion	1,436	39%	90,000 mi	42	0
F 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt	1,308	43%	60,750 mi	79	4
F 2006 Pontiac G6	1,235	47%	74,000 mi	58	4
C 2011 Hyundai Sonata	1,174	25%	65,000 mi	21	6
F 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt	1,154	52%	61,000 mi	52	7
F 2008 Ford Escape	1,132	47%	116,000 mi	28	0
F 2018 Jeep Wrangler	1,114	42%	5,000 mi	9	1
F 2004 Chevrolet Malibu	933	57%	62,000 mi	30	0
C 2012 Ford Focus	928	19%	78,000 mi	23	2
F 2009 Nissan Altima	862	40%	80,000 mi	4	1
D 2013 Ford Explorer	839	30%	95,000 mi	12	1
D 2009 Ford Escape	828	35%	121,000 mi	16	0
F 2006 Chevrolet Malibu	814	55%	85,142 mi	23	1
F 2019 Ford F-250 SD	775	40%	20,000 mi	6	0
D 2009 Chevrolet Malibu	768	33%	120,000 mi	13	1
F 2011 Ford Explorer	746	50%	68,000 mi	19	0
F 2022 Honda Civic	731	63%	26,263 mi	27	0
F 2017 Ford F-250 SD	717	39%	28,000 mi	6	0
F 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt	694	35%	52,000 mi	61	4
F 2007 Chevrolet Malibu	673	54%	105,000 mi	20	0
F 2013 RAM 1500	628	39%	90,000 mi	21	0
F 2006 Saturn ION	551	36%	65,000 mi	17	1
D 2007 Pontiac G6	543	30%	99,771 mi	21	7

By brand

Across whole ranges rather than single years. On Ford vehicles this part accounts for 8% of everything owners reported about the brand.

Ford 30,243 25.2%

8% of all Ford complaints, across 126 models

Chevrolet 24,526 20.4%

10% of all Chevrolet complaints, across 145 models

Dodge 10,549 8.8%

7% of all Dodge complaints, across 81 models

Honda 8,250 6.9%

7% of all Honda complaints, across 58 models

Jeep 7,429 6.2%

6% of all Jeep complaints, across 34 models

Toyota 6,869 5.7%

5% of all Toyota complaints, across 71 models

Pontiac 5,070 4.2%

13% of all Pontiac complaints, across 26 models

Hyundai 4,900 4.1%

6% of all Hyundai complaints, across 44 models

Nissan 3,963 3.3%

4% of all Nissan complaints, across 46 models

Chrysler 3,793 3.2%

6% of all Chrysler complaints, across 40 models

GMC 3,436 2.9%

5% of all GMC complaints, across 82 models

RAM 3,292 2.7%

11% of all RAM complaints, across 9 models

Saturn 2,861 2.4%

14% of all Saturn complaints, across 19 models

KIA 2,680 2.2%

4% of all KIA complaints, across 36 models

BMW 2,178 1.8%

5% of all BMW complaints, across 133 models

Complaints about this part, by make.

Where this sits in the whole record

Engine & Cooling 288,020 13.4%

Electrical System 246,872 11.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 216,960 10.1%

Brakes 196,407 9.1%

Airbags 155,546 7.2%

Steering 143,306 6.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 127,175 5.9%

Other & Unspecified 115,162 5.4%

Body & Structure 103,108 4.8%

Suspension 88,852 4.1%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 84,656 3.9%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 76,576 3.6%

Every complaint in the file, by part.

Source — NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaint file.

How this was made. Nobody wrote this article and left it to age. It is generated by a query against the complaint database, and rebuilt every time the data is — so the numbers in the sentences above are the numbers as they stand today, not as they stood when somebody last had time to update them. How the grading works.