Problems with raycast obstacle avoidance

I'm working on a raycast driven obstacle avoidance that will steer characters away from obstructions, but I'm having problems with making the character completely steer away from obstructions.

The character steers fine when slightly parallel to walls, but makes no attempt to navigate away from obstructions that are in front of it.

P.S: I am avoiding UnitySteer since I'm not really looking into having to use an outside framework.

Here is the code I am using:

     void ObstacleAvoidance(Vector3 dir, Vector3 steering, bool checkObstacles)
     {
         List<Vector3> steeringRays = new List<Vector3>();
         var _holdTheJump = dir.y;
         
         bool left = false;
         bool right = false;
         bool front = false;
         Vector3 adjDirection = dir;
         
         steeringRays.Add(trans.TransformDirection(-steering.x, steering.y, steering.z)); //ray pointed slightly left 
         steeringRays.Add(trans.TransformDirection(steering.x, steering.y, steering.z)); //ray pointed slightly right 
         steeringRays.Add(trans.forward); //ray 1 is pointed straight ahead
         
         RaycastHit hit;
         
         if (checkObstacles )
         {
                 Debug.DrawRay(trans.localPosition, steeringRays[0].normalized * rayLength, Color.cyan);
                 Debug.DrawRay(trans.localPosition, steeringRays[1].normalized * rayLength, Color.cyan);
                 Debug.DrawRay(trans.localPosition, steeringRays[2].normalized * rayLength, Color.cyan);
 
 
                 if (Physics.Raycast(trans.position, steeringRays[0], out hit, rayLength))
                 {
                     if (hit.collider.gameObject.layer != 13 && (!front && !left))
                     {
                         isSteering = true;
                         front=false; right=false; left=true;
                         Debug.DrawLine(trans.position, hit.point, Color.red);
                         trans.forward = new Vector3(dir.x,0,dir.z) + (hit.normal).normalized * Time.smoothDeltaTime;
                         Debug.Log("Steer Left");
                     }
                 }
                 else                
                 if (Physics.Raycast(trans.position, steeringRays[1], out hit, rayLength))
                 {
                     if (hit.collider.gameObject.layer != 13 && (!front && !left)) //Character layer
                     {
                         Debug.DrawLine(trans.position, hit.point, Color.red);
                         front=false; right=true; left=false;
                         isSteering = true;
                         trans.forward = new Vector3(dir.x,0,dir.z) + (hit.normal).normalized * Time.smoothDeltaTime;
                         Debug.Log("Steer Right");
                     }
                 }
                 else 
                 {
                     isSteering = false;
                     left = false; right = false; front = false;
                 }
         }
         //if (isSteering)
         //trans.forward = new Vector3(adjDirection.x, 0, adjDirection.z)  * Time.smoothDeltaTime;
         //Quaternion rot = Quaternion.LookRotation(new Vector3(direction.x, 0, direction.z));
         //trans.rotation = Quaternion.Lerp(trans.rotation, rot, 15f * Time.smoothDeltaTime);
     }