Steering column or shaft failure on the 2018 Jeep Wrangler
1 crash 1 of the 33 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 steering column or shaft failure gets reported
Owners of the 2018 Jeep Wrangler report steering column or shaft failure at a median of 10,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 12,500 miles, from 25 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 500 miles at the tenth percentile to 35,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 34,530 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.
92% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 470 miles | 5,000 miles | 10,000 miles | 12,000 miles | 35,000 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 $600–$2,500 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 67; the 2018 has 33. 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.
Having issues with steering completely locking up when driving. Notice the effect when driving fast and slow. Also, you can hear a click from the steering column when turning past the center alignment.
Soon after purchasing my 2018 jl wrangler in april I began experiencing steering issues. When veering left or right to change lanes, take a curve, etc. The steering wheel would 'lock' up and I'd need both hands to pull it back to keep the jeep in my lane. It only lasts for a few seconds. I had received notification that it was time for my first maintenance appointment after purchasing the jeep, so I called to schedule that and also told them about the steering issue. One day prior to the appointment, my dashboard alert notified me to "service the electronic stability control". Since I already had the appointment, I knew this could be addressed at that time. Then a few days later I received the safety recall u48 for steering intermediate shaft. I called the dealership and let them know that I had received the recall notice and that I already had an appointment scheduled. I took the jeep in for the appointment and the problem appeared to be fixed at first. Then it happened again about a month later and then again just this past week. It's a scary situation. This last occurrence I was taking a curve in the road with traffic coming…
Soon after purchasing my 2018 jl wrangler in april I began experiencing steering issues. When veering left or right to change lanes, take a curve, etc. The steering wheel would 'lock' up and I'd need both hands to pull it back to keep the jeep in my lane. It only lasts for a few seconds. I had received notification that it was time for my first maintenance appointment after purchasing the jeep, so I called to schedule that and also told them about the steering issue. One day prior to the appointment, my dashboard alert notified me to "service the electronic stability control". Since I already had the appointment, I knew this could be addressed at that time. Then a few days later I received the safety recall u48 for steering intermediate shaft. I called the dealership and let them know that I had received the recall notice and that I already had an appointment scheduled. I took the jeep in for the appointment and the problem appeared to be fixed at first. Then it happened again about a month later and then again just this past week. It's a scary situation. This last occurrence I was taking a curve in the road with traffic coming…
Also reported on the 2018 Jeep Wrangler
Other steering problem
Other suspension problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 33 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 column or shaft failure happen on the 2018 Jeep Wrangler?
Across 25 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 12,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is steering column or shaft failure on the 2018 Jeep Wrangler?
33 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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