Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2008 Ford Taurus X
When steering rack, gear or tie rod failure gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Ford Taurus X report steering rack, gear or tie rod failure at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 20 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 78,483 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.
10% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40,350 miles | 54,734 miles | 68,501 miles | 103,250 miles | 118,833 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 Ford Taurus X
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.
Power steering , intermittent dis-engagement. This was noticed by my wife in early august 2010. She said it was getting harder and harder to turn. I drove the car for a week and it became worse, (power steering fluid levels were topped off). It would work some times and then completely fail leaving only manual steering without power assist. When I drove on the freeway I could feel the system coming in and our of power, this caused a very dangerous sensation as I never knew when power steering would be active and if I had to do an accident avoidance move at high speed I would not be able to due to the lack of power steering. I read that there is a service bulletin on this problem, I brought it to the dealer and he will gladly fix it at a cost of $1400. My car has 58,800 miles on it and is out of warranty. The dealer wants $562.37 for labor, $ 562.37 for a 8g1z-3504-d steering gear, $190.43 for 8g1z-3a674-a pump, and $69.95 for an alignment. *tr
Driving for work noticed with backing in and out of driveways that steering was tight. Checked power steering fluid level and it was fine thought it was just needing new tires. Driving home after picking my children up from daycare and went to turn right on a curve at about 35 MPH and steering very tight with "throbbing" felt in steering wheel. I did not have good control of the vehicle and needed to slam on the breaks to make the curve. Took car in and was told needed new rack and pinion. Car has 47,000 miles on it. Called ford and they said no problem reported and not covered under warranty. Now it is very hard to turn at all and raises some serious crash aversion issues as well as sometimes works fine and sometimes not at all. I am a visiting nurse and have two young boys and the cost to fix the problem is over $900 plus more if the p/s pump was also damaged. Ford has tsb out (which they denied) and supposedly the new part, that cost at least $200 more than an aftermarket, has to come from ford because they know that there is a manufacture defect. They have remedied the problem with an "improvement" to their rack and pinion…
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 ford taurus x. The contact stated that when attempting to park the vehicle the steering wheel locked; nearly causing a crash. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who diagnosis determined that the contact needed a new steering pump, as well as a rack and pinion. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer said they would assist them with the repairs. The failure and current mileage was 41,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Also reported on the 2008 Ford Taurus X
Other powertrain problem
Other speed control problem
Other steering problem
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 22 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 2008 Ford Taurus X?
Across 20 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 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 2008 Ford Taurus X?
22 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 415 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