Model years Chevrolet Trailblazer
2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer
This year drew an ordinary 195 complaints for a Chevrolet Trailblazer — the model's median is 62. What they were about is the unusual part: 12.3% of them mention manifold, against 2.7% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 195 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 62 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 11 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 16 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- manifold — 12.3% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the model's other years (4.6×). Owners wrote it as: manifold, exhaust, exhaust manifold, cracked.
- trailblazer driving — 6.7% of this year's complaints, against 1.2% across the model's other years (5.4×).
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
AFTER ENGINE STARTUP, THE EXHAUST BECAME ABNORMALLY LOUD. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A PRIVATE MECHANIC WHO CONFIRMED THAT THE EXHAUST MANIFOLD WAS CRACKED AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE [VIN] WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE…
WHILE STARTING THE VEHICLE, THE INTAKE MANIFOLD CRACKED. THE CONTACT DID NOT TAKE THE VEHICLE TO A DEALER OR A MECHANIC FOR INSPECTION OR REPAIRS. THE CONTACT DID NOT CALL THE [VIN]. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 93,000.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Trailblazer 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 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer? What happened to yours?
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