Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado
When steering rack, gear or tie rod failure gets reported
Owners of the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado report steering rack, gear or tie rod failure at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 29 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 47,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 73,795 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.
3% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47,000 miles | 72,000 miles | 84,000 miles | 95,876 miles | 120,795 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 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 300 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2015 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
On 2/9/17, I had the steering recall work performed. On my way home while making a right, steering completely locked. I crossed into the opposite lane until the steering freed up. I drove a few more days without issue but I did notice a knocking sound coming from the front. The following week there were a few times where the steering did not immediately respond. On 2/22/17, I went back to the dealer and they said that they could not duplicate, but they did secure a loose front fog light to fix the knocking. I picked up the trunk and initially did not hear any more knocking; however, the knocking was still there when on rough surfaces. I continued to experience the knocking and subtle issues where the steering did not immediately respond when corning. Around march 18th, I again started to experience the locking. On march 20th, it happened approximately 20 times or more. On 3/22/17, I was back at the dealer where they were able to reproduce the issue. I was told that there were no codes in the system and I saw no lights on the dash. This time the performed the following: "33967 steering assist motor binding, high effort 3.20 no dtc…
Driving on the highway @ 45 MPH, the "service power steering, drive carefully" sign came on. The power steering stopped working and the vehicle was very difficult to steer to the side of the road. I shut off the engine and restarted the problem went away. The next day on the way to the dealer the same thing happened at 55 MPH. This tin=me I continued driving to the dealer so they could see the problem. The dealer verified the problem was in the steering gear and would cost $2000.00 to repair. This is a safety problem, listed in a partial recall by gm, which does not include my VIN. The NHTSA should be investigating this before something catastrophic happens, perhaps to a family driving down the road.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 chevrolet colorado. The contact stated that the steering wheel seized without warning. The same failure occurred multiple times. The dealer (dublin chevrolet, 4200 john monego ct, dublin, ca 94568) stated that the power steering gear and pinion needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was also contacted and was unable to assist. The vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 16v054000 (steering). The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 79,000. The VIN was not available.
Also reported on the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado
Other steering problem
Loss of power steering
Other driver assistance problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 35 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 2015 Chevrolet Colorado?
Across 29 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 72,500 miles and a quarter after 95,000 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 2015 Chevrolet Colorado?
35 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.7 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