AtWhatMileage
Steering · 19 owner reports

Other steering problem on the 2011 Dodge Journey

1 crash 1 of the 19 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 19
With an odometer reading 16
Reports per 1,000 built 0.3 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 31%
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 3rd

When other steering problem gets reported

Owners of the 2011 Dodge Journey report other steering problem at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles, from 16 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.

The mileage distribution

The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 90,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 84,300 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.

31% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 16 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
6,700 miles 29,750 miles 66,250 miles 75,243 miles 91,000 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 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 97,500 miles.

By volume the 2009 carries the most reports, with 48; the 2011 has 19. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

The car has been shaking for a few months now, worse when braking. Twice now, we have had to stop abruptly and the front brakes did not work correctly. Once it did cause a minor accident. There is a loud grinding sound from the front wheel area and poor stopping and the steering wheel shakes. It has been to the dealer four times now for the same complaints. They replaced the rear rotors for some reason. Now they are replacing the front rotors. The dealer claimed there have been no reports of braking/steering problems for this year/model so they do not know what to do. The problem is much worse at interstate speeds of 60+. The dealer service center also advised us that after 12000 miles, the rotors/brakes/etc will not be covered by warranty although it has been a noticeable issue since within a few months of purchase. *tr

5,400 miles NHTSA complaint 895550 filed 2011-12-16

Tl* the contact owns a 2011 dodge journey. The contact stated that when driving 30 MPH or lower, the vehicle would veer out of lane when atetmpting to accelerate. The failure was experience only when the acceleration was increased. The dealer test drove the vehicle and was able to duplicate the failure but advised the contact that the vehicle was performing normally. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 8,000 and the current mileage was 14,000.

8,000 miles NHTSA complaint 982407 filed 2013-05-29

My 2011 dodge journey steering wheel shakes quite hard when braking and pulls to the right. Took car to dealer and was told that the brake rotors were warped. The car only has 14,000 miles and dealers said brakes were like new. This would appear to be premature to me as well as a safety issue. This is not covered by warranty. *tr

14,000 miles NHTSA complaint 988111 filed 2013-06-21

Also reported on the 2011 Dodge Journey

Other brake problem

36 reports median 19k

Other electrical problem

24 reports median 80k

Other engine problem

16 reports median 89k

Other powertrain problem

9 reports median 14k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 19 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 2011 Dodge Journey?

Across 16 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 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 2011 Dodge Journey?

19 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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