Other steering problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado
1 crash 1 injury 1 death 3 of the 15 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other steering problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado report other steering problem at a median of 15,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 20,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 40,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 32,922 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
89% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,660 miles | 11,500 miles | 13,177 miles | 18,500 miles | 38,582 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
Of these reports, 1 a crash, 1 an injury and 1 a fatality are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,400 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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2002, at a median of 1,500 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 70,000 miles.
By volume the 1997 carries the most reports, with 44; the 2004 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.
2004 chevrolet silverado. The problem I have been having with this truck started from day one. When I purchased this truck it was right off the showroom floor it was sold to me with brand new gm certified 20" rims and tires which really make the truck look great but one thing they failed to tell me was that the steering on the truck would be effected. I have brought the truck back several times for the following problem.when the vehicle is not in motion the steering on the truck is very very hard to turn as if it does'nt have power steering. This makes turning the truck around or backing into an area were you must first turn the wheel very hard. After the second time I took the truck back to ricart chevy on hamiltoin rd they told me that they could not fix the problem and it would be somthing I would have to live with. When I heard this I went to the ricart coorprate level and they got a gm rep. Involved .when I talked to the rep for this area he told me that they could not fix it and that all the trucks in the ricart truck lot with these 20" wheels all did the same thing. I questioned him about the fact that they know there is a…
When at low idle the power steering is inoperable. I have taken this to my dealer @ told it is normal . I do not feel that a car that is extremely hard to turn at low idle is considered normal.*ak
05v043000/hydraulic brake bosch. The consumer is experiencing a problem with the brakes and steering. The consumer stated that when driving and applying the brake, the vehicle lost power steering. The brake does not return to its normal position after the brake has been released causing the vehicle to lose power steering. Owner took the vehicle back to the dealer and was told that because they can not duplicate the problem they will not do anything. Also the owner contacted the manufacturer and was told that there are no recalls on this vehicle, what so ever. Provide further details. *jb
Also reported on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Loss of braking
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Other powertrain problem
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 other steering problem happen on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 15,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 20,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado?
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