2017 Chevrolet Impala
This year drew an ordinary 116 complaints for a Chevrolet Impala — the model's median is 544. What they were about is the unusual part: 15.5% of them mention leak, against 5.6% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Chevrolet Impala, which began in 2014. 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 | 116 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 544 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- leak — 15.5% of this year's complaints, against 5.6% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: leak, taken back, vehicle crashed, vehicle damaged.
- complaints — 12.9% of this year's complaints, against 4% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: complaints, customers, com, noticed car.
- regarding — 6% of this year's complaints, against 0.8% across the other years of this generation (7.5×). Owners wrote it as: regarding, some reason.
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
BROUGHT MY CAR IN FOR ROUTINE OIL CHANGE. INFORMED DEALERSHIP OF LOUD EXHAUST SOUND. ASKED IF THEY COULD CHECK FO AN EXHAUST LEAK. UPON PICKING UP MY VEHICLE I WAS INFORMED THE LOUD EXHAUST WAS DUE TO A CRACK IN THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER. I ASKED WHAT WOULD CAUS…
HEADLIGHTS DO NOT LIGHT UP THE ROAD ON RIGHT SIDE, CANNOT SEE ROAD, CURBS OR PEDESTRIANS WHEN TURNING. PROJECTION SYSTEM, DEALER SAYS NOTHING WRONG, VERY DANGEROUS AT NIGHT ESPECIALLY IN THE RAIN. THEY NEED TO FIX PROJECTION SYSTEM TO COVER RIGHT SIDE OF VEHIC…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
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 2017 Chevrolet Impala? What happened to yours?
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