2009 Chevrolet Impala
This year drew an ordinary 824 complaints for a Chevrolet Impala — the model's median is 505. What they were about is the unusual part: 21.4% of them mention bag, against 5.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Chevrolet Impala, which began in 2006 and ran to 2013. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 824 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 505 |
| Involving a crash | 43 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 21.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- bag — 21.4% of this year's complaints, against 5.8% across the other years of this generation (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: bag, air bag, bag light, bag warning.
- airbag — 12.4% of this year's complaints, against 3.5% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: airbag, airbag light, passenger seat, service airbag.
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
WHEN THE PASSENGER SEAT WAS MOVED, THE AIR BAG WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHERE IT WAS REMEDIED PER NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 16V507000 (AIR BAGS, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM); HOWEVER, THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIE…
THE AIR BAG WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 121,000.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V507000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V355000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 12V377000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 10V480000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 08V517000 AIR BAGS
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 2009 Chevrolet Impala? What happened to yours?
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