2013 Chevrolet Impala
This year drew an ordinary 270 complaints for a Chevrolet Impala — the model's median is 544. What they were about is the unusual part: 30% of them mention abs, against 5.8% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Chevrolet Impala ran from 2006 to 2013, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 270 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 544 |
| Involving a crash | 16 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- abs — 30% of this year's complaints, against 5.8% across the other years of this generation (5.1×). Owners wrote it as: abs, abs light, control abs, stabilitrak service.
- noise — 31.5% of this year's complaints, against 8.1% across the other years of this generation (3.9×). Owners wrote it as: noise, grinding noise, noise heard, noise front.
- grinding — 28.5% of this year's complaints, against 6.1% across the other years of this generation (4.7×). Owners wrote it as: grinding, makes grinding, backing out, hesitates.
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
CAR MAKES GRINDING NOISE ON LOW SPEED LEFT TURNS. ENGINE HESITATES WHEN MAKING LEFT HAND TURN FROM DEAD STOP . VERY DANGEROUS .
WHEN MAKING LOW SPEED LEFT HAND TURN SERVICE STABILITRACK AND SERVICE ABS WARNINGS COME ON, STEERING IS DIFFICULT AND A GRINDING NOISE IS HEARD. GRINDING STOPS WHEN STEERING WHEEL STRAIGHTENED THEN TURN CAN BE MADE AFTER SPEED IS BUILT UP.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V355000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 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 2013 Chevrolet Impala? What happened to yours?
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