Exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado
When exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado report exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin at a median of 25,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 25,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 100,000 miles. It is the 18th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 40,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 19,584 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
88% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18,016 miles | 25,000 miles | 25,000 miles | 25,000 miles | 37,600 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 $250–$2,000 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, every year of the Chevrolet Colorado
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.
While driving down the road at approximately 35mph I struck a piece of road debris ( approx 6" piece of a muffler). The debris must have hit the connection between the gear shifter and the transmission and the vehicle automatically down shifted to 2nd gear from drive. The piece that broke was a plastic conection device that connected the cables of the gear shifter to the levers of the transmission. What concerns me is two issues: the tow truck driver said stated that he sees this all the time on chevy's and had I been driving faster (highway speeds) and the vehicle did such a sudden down shift there could have been a serious acciident. My final comment/question, why would such an important component be placed in such a vulnerable position and why would is be made of plastic and not shielded in some manner.
About 1 yr. And 1 month after I bought a chevy colorado, the thing shut off on me. The first time it left me on the side of I-55 and did not want to start. It did though, but the engine light was on, it soon went off. The dealer reprogrammed the computer. It has shut off on me 4 more times. The dealer will not fix the truck b/c it is not storing "codes". Also, the traction control on the truck seems to engadge itself at the oddest of times when there is really no tire slippage and this has me sputtering and jumping while I'm trying to drive in traffic. At first start up, the truck has always made this rattling ping noise out of the muffler. Every time I step out of the truck, I shocks me, I beleive due to the nylon in the fabric seats. The turn signal will only "tick tock" when it wants to. The hood on the truck will "bow" or "bubble" in and out while driving, usually on the inerstate when there is some little wind blowing outside. The alarm on the truck has gone crazy on me a few times. I can unlock the door, it will go off but the radio inside the truck will be playing. If I were to cranck the truck up, turn the engine off, get…
About 1 yr. And 1 month after I bought a chevy colorado, the thing shut off on me. The first time it left me on the side of I-55 and did not want to start. It did though, but the engine light was on, it soon went off. The dealer reprogrammed the computer. It has shut off on me 4 more times. The dealer will not fix the truck b/c it is not storing "codes". Also, the traction control on the truck seems to engadge itself at the oddest of times when there is really no tire slippage and this has me sputtering and jumping while I'm trying to drive in traffic. At first start up, the truck has always made this rattling ping noise out of the muffler. Every time I step out of the truck, I shocks me, I beleive due to the nylon in the fabric seats. The turn signal will only "tick tock" when it wants to. The hood on the truck will "bow" or "bubble" in and out while driving, usually on the inerstate when there is some little wind blowing outside. The alarm on the truck has gone crazy on me a few times. I can unlock the door, it will go off but the radio inside the truck will be playing. If I were to cranck the truck up, turn the engine off, get…
Also reported on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Cruise control failure
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other suspension problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 9 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 exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin happen on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 25,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 25,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin on the 2005 Chevrolet Colorado?
9 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