Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2008 Chevrolet Aveo
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
There are 4 reports of control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2008 Chevrolet Aveo, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 12th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 76,300 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $700–$3,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 75,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 20; the 2008 has 4. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I have a 2008 aveo that I purchased from a chevrolet dealership in russellville, ky. Since the 2nd day I owned it, it has been nothing but problems. Air bag sensors not working, have had this repaired three times. Yesterday the air bag light came on again. My biggest trouble has been with the throttle position sensor. Get a p2135 code that tells you to replace the entire throttle body. I did this ($300 part) did no good. The car has been in the shop for over 7 months in the 15 months I've owned the car. Computer has been "flashed" numerous times. Didn't work. Gm customer care asked me to take the car to and authorized chevrolet repair shop. I did. After 2 trips there and a total of 6 weeks in the shop, they tell me they think the problem is with the ECM engine control module. This part has an 8 year, 80,000 mile warranty. I bought the car with 76,000 mile on it. The problem has been documented by the chevy dealership I purchased the car from for many thousands of miles prior to me purchasing the car. Gm refused to honor the warranty because the car now has 82,000 miles. This is the thing that gets me. When I bought this car, they…
I have a 2008 aveo that I purchased from a chevrolet dealership in russellville, ky. Since the 2nd day I owned it, it has been nothing but problems. Air bag sensors not working, have had this repaired three times. Yesterday the air bag light came on again. My biggest trouble has been with the throttle position sensor. Get a p2135 code that tells you to replace the entire throttle body. I did this ($300 part) did no good. The car has been in the shop for over 7 months in the 15 months I've owned the car. Computer has been "flashed" numerous times. Didn't work. Gm customer care asked me to take the car to and authorized chevrolet repair shop. I did. After 2 trips there and a total of 6 weeks in the shop, they tell me they think the problem is with the ECM engine control module. This part has an 8 year, 80,000 mile warranty. I bought the car with 76,000 mile on it. The problem has been documented by the chevy dealership I purchased the car from for many thousands of miles prior to me purchasing the car. Gm refused to honor the warranty because the car now has 82,000 miles. This is the thing that gets me. When I bought this car, they…
I have a 2008 aveo that I purchased from a chevrolet dealership in russellville, ky. Since the 2nd day I owned it, it has been nothing but problems. Air bag sensors not working, have had this repaired three times. Yesterday the air bag light came on again. My biggest trouble has been with the throttle position sensor. Get a p2135 code that tells you to replace the entire throttle body. I did this ($300 part) did no good. The car has been in the shop for over 7 months in the 15 months I've owned the car. Computer has been "flashed" numerous times. Didn't work. Gm customer care asked me to take the car to and authorized chevrolet repair shop. I did. After 2 trips there and a total of 6 weeks in the shop, they tell me they think the problem is with the ECM engine control module. This part has an 8 year, 80,000 mile warranty. I bought the car with 76,000 mile on it. The problem has been documented by the chevy dealership I purchased the car from for many thousands of miles prior to me purchasing the car. Gm refused to honor the warranty because the car now has 82,000 miles. This is the thing that gets me. When I bought this car, they…
Also reported on the 2008 Chevrolet Aveo
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other lighting problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2008 Chevrolet Aveo?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2008 Chevrolet Aveo?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed