AtWhatMileage
Steering · 11 owner reports

Other steering problem on the 2012 Dodge Avenger

1 crash 1 of the 11 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.

Reports of this failure 11
With an odometer reading 8
Reports per 1,000 built 0.2 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 50%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 1
Typical repair $350–$2,400
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 17th

When other steering problem gets reported

Owners of the 2012 Dodge Avenger report other steering problem at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 17th most-reported problem on this model year.

The mileage distribution

The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 91,220 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.

50% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 8 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
19,176 miles 25,740 miles 54,450 miles 83,653 miles 110,396 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 is 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 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 135,000 miles.

By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 12; the 2012 has 11. 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.

Median
  1. 1996 Dodge Avenger other steering problem 131k
  2. 1997 Dodge Avenger other steering problem 93k
  3. 1998 Dodge Avenger other steering problem
    no odometer readings given
    —
  4. 1999 Dodge Avenger other steering problem
    no odometer readings given
    —
  5. 2008 Dodge Avenger other steering problem 52k
  6. 2009 Dodge Avenger other steering problem 70k
  7. 2010 Dodge Avenger other steering problem 67k
  8. 2011 Dodge Avenger other steering problem 135k
  9. 2012 (this one) 54k
  10. 2013 Dodge Avenger other steering problem 5k
  11. 2014 Dodge Avenger other steering problem 5k

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.

The power steering fluid is leaking, the resevoir was completely empty and I had all the fluid all under the my car and the steering wheel is almost impossible to turn.. I live five to 10 miles from the dealership, so I went to gene's dodge of fairbanks on 11/27/2012 at 5:30 pm alaska time. One of the mechanic came to look at my car and when I started to he knew just by the sound it was to power steering resevoir was completely empty and noticed that there was also a leak. I made an appointment for 12/06/2012 and was top off with atf+4. The next day I went to work no issues, it wasn't 3pm on 11/28/2012, my car was making the same noise and when I checked and saw that my power steering was out of fluid again so when I refilled it it took a whole quart. I called the dealership right away and took the car to them and got a rental covered under my warranty. The next day on 11/29/2012 I pick up my car and was told that the power steering hight pressure hose cracked and was replaced and that this is a common problem and that is why they keep the part in stock also that they will see me before winter is over. On 11/30/2012 from 9am I am…

5,586 miles NHTSA complaint 951811 filed 2012-12-01

Vehicle was purchased new on january 28, 2012. The tires went completely bald by 12,000 miles. On may 28,2013 at 33,000 miles, both tie rods had to be replaced. The front brake rotors were wrapped and had to be replaced. The tires will wear very fast and poses a safety hazard. *tr

32,000 miles NHTSA complaint 990899 filed 2013-07-02

Vehicle was purchased new on january 28,2012. The vehicles tires wore very fast and the front tires had to be replaced within 15,000 miles. On may 6,2013, both tie rods had to be replaced at 25,000 miles. The vehicle is at 30,000 miles and will have to go back to the shop due to strange noise while steering. *tr

25,987 miles NHTSA complaint 990921 filed 2013-07-02

Also reported on the 2012 Dodge Avenger

Heater core failure

95 reports median 62k

Other visibility problem

68 reports median 77k

Other electrical problem

53 reports median 71k

Radiator or coolant leak

38 reports median 78k

Other engine problem

36 reports median 89k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 11 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 2012 Dodge Avenger?

Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 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 2012 Dodge Avenger?

11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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