Steering Tie Rod Assembly problems of the 1996 Dodge Intrepid

I have owned a 1996 Dodge Intrepid for 6 months now and when I bought the car I was aware that the steering was a little loose, what I did not know was that the entire rack and pinion system as well as most of the tie rods around them were completely shot. My steering wheel grinds when I turn it left and right now and my steering has a horrific drift when turning from extreme to extreme. The bushings on the rack and pinion (as told by my mechanic) are completely gone. The broken pieces are rattling and vibrating so violently that the shimmying I feel on my car is actually caused by the steering. When I brake at high speeds (50mph) the steering pulls to either an extreme left or right. After doing research, I found out that I wasn't the only one struggling with these same issue. It seems like every owner of a 1996 Dodge Intrepid is experiencing the exact same issues. My mechanic said to me that he has no guarantee that my steering will work right. Driving down the road now I'm afraid I'll lose control of the vehicle. My girlfriend might frequently drive the vehicle but I am afraid that the steering may go out when she is driving it. I spoke with my mechanic and I am in the process of getting the defective parts replaced. I plan to save the parts that are defective in hopes that I will get some compensation for them.

Bolts holding tie rods to steering gear (rack) broke. Unable to steer vehicle. Fortunately, I was just leaving my parking lot and didn't cause any accidents and/or injuries. Paid $700 to have car fixed.

There are severe problems with the steering and front components such as tie rods, bushing failure- multiple replacements, etc. Steering hasn't been right for years. Low mileage, strange noises, handling. Car doesn't stay in alignment, wheel doesn't return to center, car jumps out of driving lane.

My son was traveling to work on August 10 2005. He was driving a 1996 Dodge Intrepid. He was turning a corner when his steering control was suddendly and completely lost. His car went over a curb at an elementary school before he was able to stop. No one was hurt. Inspection of the car showed that 2 bolts that connect the tie rods to the rack and pinion steering were completely severed. A picture here is worth 1000 words. . Read more...

Car started shaking violently at around 55-65, took it to the mechanic and tie rods had to be replaced. Has much other damage (maybe partly due to the bad tie rods or maybe due to the deficient design) that I can file other reports on if needed.

While traveling on highway heard a noise coming from the front of vehicle. Dealership is aware of problem. *akboth of the inner tie rods and eight bushings needed replacement. The dealer informed consumer that this failure was premature.

When are you guys going to take some action against this very serious design/part failure. I have searched the database and there are a lot of complaints about steering failure. This will cost someone their life if it hasn't already. Here is the problem. The bushings on the inner tie rod deteriorate. On my car it happened to the passenger side bushing at 30,000 miles. I was able to replace the tie rod(they didn't just sell the bushing). At about 33,000 the other one went out so I replace it. Had I not known what to look for (the wavering to the left and right on a straight road allerted me) I could have eventually sheered the bolts on the gear housing. At 71,000 the stearing started acting up again. Well this time the bushings that hold the gear housing to the frame have deteriorated. Fortunately it was caught in time. What happened here was as you steered left or right the gear housing would move about three inches. As you would oversteer, the steering gear box would go as far one way as it could then it would actually turn the wheels. It is obvious to me that there is a major defect in the design of the steering. Please do something before someone dies and before we have to waste more money paying Dodge for something that should break this easy. They sell us a piece of crap and we have to pay them big to repair it. Do something already!.

While turning vehicle to right it kept going straight. Driver took vehicle to a mechanic, and they stated that rack and pinion steering had disintegrated. Mechanic replaced rack and pinion and tie rods.

The right side tie rod separated from the rack and pinion, the bolt connecting the tire rod to the rack snapped, four months later the exact same failure occurred again.

Was backing out of parking spot when I felt a small thump. Lost all steering capability. Dealer salvaged rack and pinion (said bolts holding it to firewall completely sheered off. . . I left instructions to save the part but of course, the parts disapeared. ) dealer also refused to let vehicle leave without new tie rods and control linkages which they said were damaged (could be true. ) my brother is a mechanic with over 25 years in the business and has never seen anything like this before. I've lost confidence in my ability to keep this vehicle running safely, regadless of how much money gets sinked into it. Can you imagine driving at 55mph on a slow right hand curve and this item failing, sending you into on-coming traffic? kids in the car?.

Consumer backing out of driveway & turned the wheel to head down the road, heard a loud noise, steering wheel spinning freely and lost control of the vehicle, due to both inner tie rods had sheared off.

While pulling out of a parking space, the steering failed. Subsequent examination showed that the inner tie rod attachment bolts both shearred off and the tie rods separated from the steering rack. The vehicle had these tie rods replaced in sept 98 and the steering rack replaced in Jan 1999. Unknown if this is related to TSB 190899 but attachment bolts do appear to have failed from improper torque values.

Two weeks after buying my 1996 Dodge Intrepid ES I felt a strange jolt from my front passenger side wheel when turning corners. This jolt was accompanied by a popping noise. Upon investigation by a professional, I was told that my tie rod was about to come loose from the wheel and that I was lucky I noticed the problem in time. Had the tie rod actually come loose I would have lost control of that wheel, leaving me control of just the drivers side wheel.

Ea99031, steering rack and pinion and inner tie rod broke, which could cause loss of vehicle control. Common problem. Please provide further information.

Steering wheel is shimmying and knocking. Right tie rod failed.

Consumer experienced a steering problem. Vehicle taken to dealer, and informed consumer that both tie rod ends and bushing needed to be replaced. Repairs made at consumer's cost.

Left tie rod failed originally in June 99. In Jan. 2000. The left tie rod separated from the rack and pinion gear assy. Tis resulted is loss of steering, but car was brought to a safe stop. This is the second failure of the tie rods and the firstt failure of the rack and pinion gear assy. I have never seen a car have this kind of failure before. I have grave concerns about trusting the safety of the rack and pinion steering on this car.

While driving at any speed on rough road or hitting a small bump, front end of the vehicle rattled. When vehicle was taken to the dealership, owner was told that steering rack and pinion assembly,and inner tie rod ends would need to be replaced because of bad bushings. Please provide any further information.

Steering was getting shaky and uncontrollable due to a faulty inner tie rod. Dealer has replaced the inner tie rod.

Innertie rod has become defective ,affecting rack and pinion, and causing loss of control.

Ea99031, while driving there is a knocking noise and seemingly "too much play" in steering which may result in loss of vehicle control. Dealer replaced the inner tie rods and rack and pinion steering due to a worn out bushing. Please provide further information.

I am submitting a complaint about deficiencies in the durability of the inner tie rod bushings and rack and pinion steering bushings on a 1996 Dodge Intrepid, VIN 2b3hd56f0th231577. Premature wear out of these items are a safety concern. On multiple occasions, it felt like I was losing control of the steering on the car. Some of those occasions occured while driving across an uneven, washboard type asphalt road surface. Other occasions were on a smooth concrete or asphalt road. On all occasions, I had to slow down considerably to regain control of the car. I have had to replace the inner tie rod bushings twice, once in March of 1999 at 49,818 miles and again in August of 2002 at 89,404 miles. The rack and pinior steering bushings were also replaced during the August, 2002 repair. None of these parts should be considered normal maintenance items. Total repairs have cost me $1,071. I have read numerous other postings of a similar nature on Intrepids and other related Chrysler vehicles and am concerned about the safety of these cars.

Front tie rod bushings broke. Bolt holding tie rods into rack and pinion steering came off. Driver lost steering control.

Rubber grommets inside the inner tie rods were worn/cracked causing vehicle to shake violently.

Front end tie rods keep loosening and steering wheel tends to creep to the left and not position itself back to center. After making a turn driver must manually turn the steering wheel. Dealer contacted, and repair work was done. Incident ocurred two times. Problem still exists. Provide further information.

Premature failure of both front tie rods at low milage. Suspecting bad design, basically materials used in bushings in tie rod ends. Contact with mechanics and other vehicle owners indicate this occurrence not an isolated case. Failure causes poor steering response and pulling of vehicle right upon acceleration, and left upon deceleration. Drivers control of vehicle degraded. One owner contacted reported item failure was not covered by warranty during warranty period.

Two different sets of rubber bushings in the steering have failed on this vehicle. The tie rod end bushings failed on the right side causing a shimmying in the steering wheel. The more dangerous failure is the four rack and pinion bushings that hold it in place. The failure of these bushings allow the entire rack to move laterally, causing loss of steering control in sudden maneuvers. One night while avoiding a dog in the roadway, I attempted to move the car a foot to the left, but instead the car lurched all the way into oncoming traffic, nearly causing an accident. The dealer makes you buy the entire rack at a cost of $700 or more because no aftermarket manufacturer makes this component yet. I complained while the vehicle was still under warranty at 32000 miles of a creaking in the front while turning the steering wheel, but they did not identify the problem until complete failure at a later date.

Front tie rods wear prematurally, causing steering difficulty. Dealer has inspected vehicle.

The vehicle pulls to one side when braking or accelerating and the steering is uncontrolable due to the bushing coming loose on the inner tie rod. Dealer has fixed problem.

The front tie rods and the bushings in the rack and pinion failed. The steering at first became very sluggish and then the steering wheel got to where it would not return to center. It got so bad that it would not trigger the turn signal switch. We first had the tie rods replaced and the car aligned but that did not take care of the problem. We contacted several repair shops and then were told that the entire rack assembly would have to be replaced. We contacted champion Chrysler in independence, mo and were told that there was an "upgrade kit" available to replace the bushings in the rack. We purchased the kit but no one would take on the repair other than the dealer, so we were forced to have it repaired by the dealer.

Manufacturer reimbursed consumer for defective tie rod, recently the other side went out but manufacturer refuses to reimburse consumer for the other tie rod. Nlm.

Reported to dealership that theree ws excessive play in steering wheel. They replaced the inner tie rod bushings in November of 1999 at a cost of $300. Sixteen thousand miles and 7 months later the same problem has occured. They say their service warranty is only 12 months or 12 thousand miles. I am now faced with another repair bill. Also my cruise control has quit working. It would cut off or pick up speed then one day just quit working totally. I dont know about the cruise control but I think there is something wrong with the front end of these Intrepids that they didnt correct when they replaced the bushings.

Rack & pinion steering & bushings were changed approximately 13 months ago. Now problem has returned. Rack & pinion steering/inner tie rod ends are wearing excessively. This causes vehicle to be either thrown to the left or to the right, if cuts or deep cracks are in the road. Will be taking vehicle back to dealership to check.

There is noise coming from the front end of the vehicle due to the inner tie rods breaking. Dealer replaced the tie rods/stuts/ sway bar, and did a front end alignment.

When traveling at any speed consumer noticed play in the front end due to the tie rod which went bad. Also noticed a noise coming from the front end. Consumer has contacted the dealer, dealer has replaced the steering wheel rack and pinion ea99-031. Please provide any furhter details.