Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Uplander
When steering rack, gear or tie rod failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Chevrolet Uplander report steering rack, gear or tie rod failure at a median of 15,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 25,000 miles, from 24 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 400 miles at the tenth percentile to 50,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 50,825 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
88% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 395 miles | 3,900 miles | 15,264 miles | 27,009 miles | 51,220 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, every year of the Chevrolet Uplander
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.
Tl*-the contact stated that he purchased the 2006 chevrolet uplander truck on 04/2006. He would lose control of the steering. He stated that the vehicle started zig zagging across the road. The contact stated that he took the vehicle to the dealership, and they rotated the tires, and replaced the console assembly. The contact stated that continental tire with size p225/60r17, with DOT# ac794blt5005 was taken to sears ,and they informed him that the tread on the tires was deteriorating and splitting. The dealership did replace the first tire, but not the other tires, which were having the same problem. The vehicle started making a grinding noise and when turning the steering wheel there would be a loud noise, the contact took the vehicle once again to the dealership and they replaced the steering shaft. The contact stated that they realigned the hood and the hood latch assembly. He also had problems with the power doors. The failure mileage was 395 miles, and the current mileage was 13700. *ak several days ago an article stated that there were defective tires and the tire tread may cause deadly accidents. There have been problems…
Tl*-the contact stated that he purchased the 2006 chevrolet uplander truck on 04/2006. He would lose control of the steering. He stated that the vehicle started zig zagging across the road. The contact stated that he took the vehicle to the dealership, and they rotated the tires, and replaced the console assembly. The contact stated that continental tire with size p225/60r17, with DOT# ac794blt5005 was taken to sears ,and they informed him that the tread on the tires was deteriorating and splitting. The dealership did replace the first tire, but not the other tires, which were having the same problem. The vehicle started making a grinding noise and when turning the steering wheel there would be a loud noise, the contact took the vehicle once again to the dealership and they replaced the steering shaft. The contact stated that they realigned the hood and the hood latch assembly. He also had problems with the power doors. The failure mileage was 395 miles, and the current mileage was 13700. *ak several days ago an article stated that there were defective tires and the tire tread may cause deadly accidents. There have been problems…
Tl*-the contact stated that he purchased the 2006 chevrolet uplander truck on 04/2006. He would lose control of the steering. He stated that the vehicle started zig zagging across the road. The contact stated that he took the vehicle to the dealership, and they rotated the tires, and replaced the console assembly. The contact stated that continental tire with size p225/60r17, with DOT# ac794blt5005 was taken to sears ,and they informed him that the tread on the tires was deteriorating and splitting. The dealership did replace the first tire, but not the other tires, which were having the same problem. The vehicle started making a grinding noise and when turning the steering wheel there would be a loud noise, the contact took the vehicle once again to the dealership and they replaced the steering shaft. The contact stated that they realigned the hood and the hood latch assembly. He also had problems with the power doors. The failure mileage was 395 miles, and the current mileage was 13700. *ak several days ago an article stated that there were defective tires and the tire tread may cause deadly accidents. There have been problems…
Also reported on the 2006 Chevrolet Uplander
Other body or interior problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Alternator or charging system failure
Other electrical problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 24 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 2006 Chevrolet Uplander?
Across 24 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 15,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 25,000 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 2006 Chevrolet Uplander?
24 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 27 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