Cruise control failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Colorado
Only 6 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 cruise control failure gets reported
There are 10 reports of cruise control failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Colorado, 6 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 72,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 52,676 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 $200–$1,400 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 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2024, at a median of 1,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2004 carries the most reports, with 34; the 2006 has 10. 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.
When using the cruise control on my 2006 chevrolet colorado, particularly when going downhill, the cruise control does not hold the set speed. Setting the cruise control at 55 MPH and then going downhill, the vehicle will accelerate up to 64 or 65 MPH. Obviously, to obey traffic laws, the brakes are applied and disengages the cruise control. However, when the cruise control is set at 65 MPH, and goes down hill, the speed will only increase to only 67-68 MPH. I have tried setting the cruise control at 55 MPH on various roads going downhill, and the results are consistent. The speed of the vehicle will increase by 9 to 10 MPH. When I first purchased the vehicle, general motors did contact me soliciting my feedback on the new vehicle. I did make the representative aware of the problem with the cruise control. I was also asked if I would be willing to talk to an engineer about the problem. I was agreeable to this, but was never contacted by gm. I had the cruise control checked by my dealer. The dealer found that the cruise control was working according to specifications. The vehicle was not tested under the same driving conditions…
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet colorado. The cruise control and the brake lights were inoperative. He replaced the break light bulb. The repair did not remedy the failure. He filed report 71-786235821 with the manufacturer. He was advised that his vehicle identification number was excluded from recall 09v310000 (exterior lighting:brake lights:switch). He was then advised to let them now what the dealer diagnosed and they might be able to help him. He took the vehicle to the dealer to be diagnosed. The stated that the break light switch failed. The vehicle will be repaired. The failure and current mileages were 65,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet colorado. While driving approximately 35 MPH, the brake lights did not illuminate when the brake pedal was depressed. She was informed by another driver of the vehicle that the cruise control had also malfunctioned. She believed that the brake light failure was related to recalls 06v139000 and 09v310000 (exterior lighting brake lights switch) and recall. The vehicle was being repaired by the dealer when the complaint was filed. The current and failure mileages were 40,351.
Also reported on the 2006 Chevrolet Colorado
Other engine problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 10 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 10 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 cruise control failure happen on the 2006 Chevrolet Colorado?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 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 cruise control failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Colorado?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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