Steering column or shaft failure on the 2009 Toyota Camry
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 steering column or shaft failure gets reported
There are 8 reports of steering column or shaft failure on the 2009 Toyota Camry, 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 85,000 miles. It is the 29th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 64,000 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 $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 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2008, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 28; the 2009 has 8. 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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2009 toyota camry. The contact stated that the steering column locked and the only way to unlock it was to turn the ignition off and lower the steering column. The contact had a disability and was unable to adjust the steering wheel without assistance. The contact is concerned about the safety risk. The contact called the manufacturer and was advised that the vehicle was designed that way and they were unable to offer him any assistance. The current and failure mileages were approximately 4,500.
Tl*the contact owns a 2009 toyota camry. While driving approximately 70 MPH, the steering column suddenly broke off. The contact was able to put the column back on while applying pressure in order to drive the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnosis but had not been repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 81,000.
The steering intermediate shaft on my 2009 toyota camry is worn out and has a lot of play in the steering along with a popping noise when turning the steering wheel from left to right at any speed. I began to notice the problem around 60,000 miles, I now have 80,000 miles and it has gotten much worse. On 11/09/12, I took it to the dealership and they diagnosed the steering intermediate shaft as the problem and advised they stocked the parts because of it being a common problem. On 11/14/12, toyota released a voluntary recall for 2004-2009 toyota prius models which involved the steering intermediate shaft. The recall describes the exact problem I am having with my camry. The recall should be extended to the camry model as well. *tr
Also reported on the 2009 Toyota Camry
Other body or interior problem
Other speed control problem
Excessive oil consumption
Other visibility problem
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 8 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 8 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 2009 Toyota Camry?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 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 column or shaft failure on the 2009 Toyota Camry?
8 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