A steering characteristic control apparatus and method for a vehicle is disclosed which can carry out behavior control of the vehicle regarding a steering characteristic and so forth appropriately in accordance with the type of turning and the road surface situation. To this end, if the steering characteristic of the vehicle is placed into an oversteer or understeer state exceeding a reference level, then the control end condition when the steering characteristic is controlled to the neutral steer side by control of a braking mechanism is set in accordance with an estimated road surface state and the type of turning (steady turning or non-steady turning) of the vehicle. Upon steady turning, during traveling on a low road, it is set as the control end condition that the stability of the vehicle behavior is restored sufficiently, but during traveling on a high road, it is set as the condition that the stability of the vehicle behavior is restored to some degree so that the control can be ended rapidly. Upon non-steady turning, the condition is set such that the stability of the vehicle behavior is higher than that upon steady turning during traveling on a high road but lower than that upon steady turning during traveling on a low road.