Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 1999 Buick Regal
When steering rack, gear or tie rod failure gets reported
Owners of the 1999 Buick Regal report steering rack, gear or tie rod failure at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 80,411 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
22% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35,189 miles | 46,956 miles | 85,000 miles | 102,000 miles | 115,600 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $700–$2,600 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 1998 carries the most reports, with 47; the 1999 has 15. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
In the waterloo courier of 9/23/03 it was reported that the federal government is investigating a possible steering defect in gm vehicles. The problem described involved difficulty in steering when making left turns. This happened to me and my daughter (who was driving my car at the time) on saturday, september 13, in cedar falls, iowa. We were able to drive the vehicle (1999 buick regal) back to waverly to jerry roling's dealership. On monday, september 15, I was informed that the rack and pinion (sp?) had gone out and needed to be repaired. Because the gm dealership was going to charge approx. $400 more than my regular mechanic, I had the car transfered to garry's tire in waverly where the work was done. I picked up my car on tuesday, september 16. I thought I should report this incident to you even though the 1999 regal was not one of those listed in the article.
When making a left turn at low speeds, the vehicle lost power steering. *ak the consumer stated there was a recall regarding the steering issue, however the recall stopped at the 1998 models. *jb
1999 regal with 47,000 mile has developed a clanking noise from steering wheel when making left turn same problem now exist when making right or left turn. Delivery date on service id is 28 oct 98. Yet this model is not listed in lastest power steering recall - the description of my problem is duplicated in this latest recall. *cb
Also reported on the 1999 Buick Regal
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other visibility problem
Other body or interior problem
Exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 15 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does steering rack, gear or tie rod failure happen on the 1999 Buick Regal?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 1999 Buick Regal?
15 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed