Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 1997 Toyota Avalon
Only 6 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 steering rack, gear or tie rod failure gets reported
There are 32 reports of steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 1997 Toyota Avalon, 6 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 98,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 51,000 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 $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 on other years
The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 45,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 170,000 miles.
By volume the 1997 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
I purchased a brand new 1997 toyota avalon for my wife. The vehicle has just recently turned over 29,000 miles, and obviously has passed the 3 year warranty. However, it has yet to reach the normal 36,000 mile warranty mark. On january 18, 2003 I noticed a large puddle of fluid underneath the car. I checked the fluid levels, and found that the power steering reservoir was almost empty. I took the car to the local toyota dealership (where I purchased the car) and was informed that the power steering rack was leaking, and would have to be replaced at a cost of $850.00 plus tax, for a re-manufactured part. I contacted the customer service rep with the dealership, and was told that there was nothing they could do, even though the vehicle had such low mileage. He suggested I contact toyota corporate, but that due to the current economic conditions, that toyota was not being very generious with "good will" compensations. I called toyota coroporate in california and lodged my complaint. While I have yet to hear back from them (it is now february 6, 2003) I was given the impression that nothing would be done to help me defrey the cost of…
I purchased a 1997 toyota avalon xls with 55,000 miles on it from leith toyota in raleigh north carolina in march of 2002. I now have 74,000 miles on it and have discovered that the power steering pump and complete power steering rack needs to be replaced at the cost of $1200.00. I do not understand why I should be responsible for this. I have reviewed the ntsb website and there are numerous complaints of the same problem. Why is there not a recall? I tried to get the dealership to cover some of the costs and all they offered was a free rental. Maybe I should write oprah, seems everyone listens to her and see if she can make it public!
I noticed a wobble in the steering and took the car to a tire dealer. Dealer balanced tires and said all would be ok. In less than 10 miles wobble reappeared and took car to another shop of tire dealer. Wobble was less noticible and next day noticed power steering oil on driveway. I took car into toyota and was told I needed to replace the rack & pinipn steering unit at a cost of 1200.00. I was able to negotiated price of repair down to 1044.15, apparently because I was a good customer. I yelled a lot! *ak
Also reported on the 1997 Toyota Avalon
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other suspension problem
Strut, shock or spring failure
Other wheel or tire problem
Other body or interior problem
Oil leak
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 32 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 32 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 1997 Toyota Avalon?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 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 steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 1997 Toyota Avalon?
32 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 5.1 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