For every car sold, owners filed about as many complaints about the 2012 Impala as about the typical Impala year. Among the 10 Impala years with enough complaints to compare, owners filed the fewest about the 2010 (0.18 per 1,000 sold) and the most about the 2014 (0.88).
Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.
1.1 times this nameplate’s own median
Counted from 79 complaints filed in the first three years, of 258 ever. 95% lower bound 0.36. Not counted: 4 complaints that reported only that a recall repair was unavailable, not a failure.
The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters. The bar is how many complaints each rate rests on.
| Model year | Per 1,000 | Complaints | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 0.37 | 99 | |
| 2009 | 0.34 | 73 | |
| 2010 | 0.18 | 31 | |
| 2011 | 0.79 | 135 | |
| 2012 | 0.46 | 79 | |
| 2013 | 0.44 | 72 | |
| 2014 | 0.88 | 130 | |
| 2015 | 0.41 | 53 | |
| 2016 | 0.22 | 23 | |
| 2017 | 0.52 | 45 | |
| 2018 | 0.42 | 28 | |
| 2019 | 0.28 | 14 |
Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.
| control | 21 | 36% | |
| traction control | 11 | 19% | |
| traction | 11 | 19% |
| stabilitrak | 14 | 26% | |
| engine power | 11 | 20% | |
| grinding | 10 | 19% | |
| service stabilitrak | 10 | 19% | |
| service traction | 10 | 19% | |
| chevy | 10 | 19% |
Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.
That is not a clean bill of health, and not a criticism of the agency: investigations open for many reasons and complaint volume is only one of them.
For every car sold, owners filed about as many complaints about the 2012 Impala as about the typical Impala year. Among the 10 Impala years with enough complaints to compare, owners filed the fewest about the 2010 (0.18 per 1,000 sold) and the most about the 2014 (0.88). The typical year is the median across its model years.
The parts owners named most often in complaints filed to date: Electrical System (58), Electronic Stability Control (Esc) (54), Steering (49). The phrases they used are listed above.
Complaint records cannot settle that on their own. They count safety problems owners chose to report to the federal government, not every repair. What they do show is how this year compares with the other Impala years: for every car sold, owners filed about as many complaints about the 2012 Impala as about the typical Impala year.
Among years with enough complaints to compare, the 2010, at 0.18 per 1,000 sold. Every Impala year, ranked.
No guide we read covers the Impala.
Example records behind this page, each on NHTSA’s own site: