AtWhatMileage
Steering · 42 owner reports

Other steering problem on the 2000 Chevrolet Impala

5 crashes 7 injuries 12 of the 42 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.

Reports of this failure 42
With an odometer reading 18
Reports per 1,000 built 0.5 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 28%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 12
Typical repair $350–$2,400
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 8th

When other steering problem gets reported

Owners of the 2000 Chevrolet Impala report other steering problem at a median of 110,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 160,000 miles, from 18 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.

The mileage distribution

The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 170,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 136,415 miles across the middle 80% of reports.

When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.

28% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 18 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
32,185 miles 35,750 miles 111,691 miles 160,750 miles 168,600 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

Of these reports, 5 a crash and 7 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.

Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,400 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 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 110,000 miles.

By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 90; the 2000 has 42. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

Clunk noise from front of vehicle during turning maneuvers-can now feel a vibration in steering while driving-the dealer has not been able to correct this problem satisfactorily. *nlm

34,607 miles NHTSA complaint 409138 filed 2003-05-24

Chevy impala ls - 2000 year model, 38k miles. Steering wheel locked up while driving straight on a surface street - approx 30 MPH. Battery light came on, but car did not idle or interrupt power. I had maybe 1/4 inch room to move wheel and was able to get car to side of road. Power cycled car (off/on) and that cleared the steering lock up. Dealership repair (allen gwynn chevy in glendale, ca) has not been able to replicate problem. I am terrified it will happen again -- could be fatal if steering locks and I lose control on a turn or on a freeway.

38,000 miles NHTSA complaint 432186 filed 2003-09-26

Ltr re defective steering system in numerous automobiles especially the 2000 chevy impala which caused hand and finger deformalties to the consumer. *ts *jb the consumer purchased a 2000 vehicle and stated that he watched his fingers become bent and twisted as a result of steering. The consumer stated that side view mirror height obstructs the view of the on-coming traffic. *tc *sc

30,000 miles NHTSA complaint 498525 filed 2004-09-28

Also reported on the 2000 Chevrolet Impala

Other engine problem

147 reports median 105k

Other electrical problem

101 reports median 100k

Other body or interior problem

43 reports median 100k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 42 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 other steering problem happen on the 2000 Chevrolet Impala?

Across 18 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 160,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other steering problem on the 2000 Chevrolet Impala?

42 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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