Other steering problem on the 2005 Toyota 4RUNNER
Only 7 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When other steering problem gets reported
There are 12 reports of other steering problem on the 2005 Toyota 4RUNNER, 7 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 90,000 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
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 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 400 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 195,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 carries the most reports, with 18; the 2005 has 12. 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.
My SUV only has 66,000 miles on it and recently (past month) the steering is very laborious. To the point that I have neck and shoulder pain. The steering is hard to start a turn (no matter what speed) and as I continue to turn the wheel it will ease up a bit and then be hard to turn it back again to straight. Meaning that it will not return without considerable effort. I was on cars.com website as they had recalls listed. I looked up 4 runner steering problems and they gave me a recall number. When I called toyota they told me there were no recalls for my VIN #. I think toyota is ripping me off because the problem I'm having is just what is described in the summary. The component listed is steering; linkages; rod; relay; connecting. The consequence listed is if the vehicle is continued to be operated in this condition, the relay rod may fracture, increasing the risk of a crash. The recall number is 05v389000 and the recall date is 09-06-2005. Plus my wife and I do not turn the wheel until the vehicle is moving. We are old enough to know what is was like before cars had power steering. This is a safety issue! Thanks for any help…
This vehicle has a very rusty frame. It does not pass state of maine inspection. Like many other 4runners it suffers from toyota's faulty frames. This truck has not fallen apart and crashed like many similar units. This one has a perforated frame, and doesn't pass inspection. With 80,000 miles the truck is like new except for the faulty frame. The rust multiplies sitting still or traveling. The frame is so thin in so many places, there isn't place to make satisfactory repairs.
Also reported on the 2005 Toyota 4RUNNER
Other body or interior problem
Rust or structural corrosion
Other suspension problem
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other visibility problem
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 12 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 2005 Toyota 4RUNNER?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2005 Toyota 4RUNNER?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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