Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Only 2 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When steering rack, gear or tie rod failure gets reported
There are 4 reports of steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500, 2 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 21st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 42,550 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 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 200,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 15; the 2002 has 4. 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.
I have a 2002 chevy silverado 2500 hd truck with 80,000 miles. The steering wheel 'play' has become progressively more sloppy since I purchased the new truck. It is difficult to safely remain in my designated lane when at highway speeds. There is about 6-8 degrees of steering wheel travel from side to side before the front wheels turn in either direction. Additionally, the steering wheel column, steering shaft, and intermediate shaft make clunking noises while going over the slightest bump in the road, and while turning. The vibration is felt in the steering wheel. It has done this since the day I purchased it, and grown progressively worse. My local dealer could not initially diagnose the problem (while under warranty). I've discovered a chevy service bulletin 02-02-35-006a, which has had mixed success. Additionally, many other owners I've spoken with have had identical problems. (chevy service bulletin no. 00-02-35-003k *jb identifies seven different models that have the same mechanical problem.). I am most concerned about the possibility of steering failure while driving. A recall should be initiated to remedy this safety…
On july 23 2008, I was backing out of a parking spot and I lost all steering, the pitman arm sheared off. I had installed the fab-tech pitman arm, idler arm, tie rod ends, and steering stabilizer kit. I found out later that the pitman arm, and idler arm, had a recall. I contacted fabtech via email and they told me who to contact about the recall. I later got transferred to another guy at fabtech. He sent me instructions on how to go about the recall to get refunded the original purchase price and get a check for the installation and front end alignment and they are also suppose to send the new idler arm and pitman arm. Fabtech asked that I box and ship the old parts to them and they would then inspect them and send the check and parts. I sent the parts in and then they decided they were not going to honor the recall. I had complete steering failure, luckily I was in a parking lot when it happened. Just hours before I was on the highway. A recall is a recall and they need to honor it for me as well. *tr
Also reported on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Loss of braking
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Other brake problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Other engine problem
Engine sensor failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 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 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500?
Across 2 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. 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 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.2 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