2006 Chevrolet Impala
This year drew an ordinary 544 complaints for a Chevrolet Impala — the model's median is 505. What they were about is the unusual part: 17.3% of them mention power steering, against 6.2% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Chevrolet Impala was redesigned for 2006. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 544 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 505 |
| Involving a crash | 59 |
| Involving a fire | 22 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 19.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- power steering — 17.3% of this year's complaints, against 6.2% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: power steering, hose, fluid, steering fluid.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
POWER STEERING FAILED. UPON STARTING VEHICLE ONE MORNING, HAD LITTLE TO NO STEERING POWER. HAD POWER STEERING PUMP REPLACED, THREE TIMES, FIRST PUMP FAILED, SECOND PUMP FAILED ALSO.(MECHANIC SOURCE FOR PARTS BAD). HOLE IN HOSE ALSO. PROBLEM HAS OCCURRED AGAIN.…
WHILE DRIVING 35 MPH, THE POWER STEERING HOSE BEGAN LEAKING AND SPRAYED POWER STEERING FLUID OVER THE EXHAUST AND FIRE WALL. THE VEHICLE BEGAN SMOKING AND THEN CAUGHT FIRE UNDER THE HOOD. A FIRE REPORT WAS FILED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO A SERVICE STATION AND…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V355000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 09E005000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Impala was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Chevrolet Impala? What happened to yours?
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