Other steering problem on the 2012 Toyota Corolla
1 crash 1 injury 2 of the 18 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 other steering problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Toyota Corolla report other steering problem at a median of 5,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 300 miles and a quarter after 25,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 100 miles at the tenth percentile to 55,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 53,335 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.
79% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 miles | 305 miles | 4,025 miles | 24,195 miles | 53,400 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 and 1 an injury are 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 $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 22 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 1,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 342; the 2012 has 18. 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.
The component/system is known in the industry as electric power sterring(eps). I purchased my new corolla s on 26 march 2012. I traded in my 2009 toyota corolla base that did not have eps. My corolla s was ordered and I waited approx 2 months before it arrived. I did not test drive the 2012 model(I trusted the model) and have never driven a car with eps to my knowledge. Since I am a prior owner of a corolla I can write this with very good credibility. I started noticing this over steerage as I began to drive the car at length and distance and speeds up to and over the limits here in texas. This includes my wife as well. Here on this form I have entered two dates but this has been from day 1. At higher speeds it is much more evident, at lower speeds not as noticeable but now my mind is telling me to be careful. The speed I listed here on this form is only an example I really wanted to just enter all if I could. I get the feeling I have no control over the steering system. It's far too sensitive. I feel I have to hold less the steering wheel to keep from compensating for any slight deviation as the system really does what it's seems…
I test drove a new 2012 toyota corolla le today and was surprised to find that, at freeway speeds (65 MPH), the steering did not track well (likes to drift sideways, but only slightly) and my constant steering corrections seemed to jerk the vehicle (and driver) side to side slightly. The slightest steering corrections caused my body to jerk slightly with the car (maybe it's caused by a tight suspension combined with tight steering). This jerking was not a comfortable feeling. You need to be "very" steady on the steering wheel to avoid what seems to me like the car's overcorrective steering. I tried to be as steady as I possibly could and kept it under reasonable control and was reasonably comfortable, but in my opinion, this car has some steering "problems" (steering is too responsive and possibly overcorrects). When I got to a toll booth off ramp, I was leaning over and reaching for my wallet when I overcorrected the steering and it scared me "a lot." that has never happened to me before. At lower speeds the corolla seemed to steer ok. I own a 99 buick and have never felt this jerky/overcorrective steering. I also test drove a…
This is the second time I report this issue. I logged 1,500miles roundtrip from houston to el paso. This is also the 4th longest trip I have taken in this car. The problem is the steering is dangerous over 65+ MPH! The front end of the car feels like it floats at highway speeds. I have zero feeling of the road from my hands to the wheels. The car tracks and never stays true on the road. This is constant and not intermittent which means I am focusing more on the steering issue then on the traffic. I am either overcompensating for any slight movement of the steering wheel to barely touching the wheel to keep this car remotely driving straight in the center of the lane, and that doesn't help! It worsens at speeds of 75+MPH. Someone is going to get hurt! Please recall this eps system now!!! *tr
Also reported on the 2012 Toyota Corolla
Airbag inflator rupture
Other body or interior problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Seat belt or retractor failure
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 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 2012 Toyota Corolla?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 5,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 300 miles and a quarter after 25,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2012 Toyota Corolla?
18 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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