Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2002 Chevrolet Impala
1 crash 1 fire 1 injury 3 of the 54 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.
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Chevrolet Impala report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 67,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 47,500 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 49 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 132,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 103,600 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.
14% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30,000 miles | 48,000 miles | 68,000 miles | 99,800 miles | 133,600 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, 1 a crash, 1 a fire and 1 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 $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 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2000, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
1. Within this past month, am noticing tremendous power loss and shifting/timing issues with the transmisson when accelerating to higher gear.. Potential consequence would be insufficient power to accelerate out of the way of oncoming traffic.*ak 3. Have investigated and seen numerous complaints online concerning a shift solenoid that is a very troublesome issue with a lot of gm owners. Typical parts cost and labor for this problem runs in the $400.00 ballpark.
I recently(3-7-05) purchased a used 2002 chevy impala from my uncle. He told me that based on info received from a former gm mech.; there was a starter problem that he had yet to experience. I have had the car a little over 3 weeks now and have experienced the problem 4 times in the last 5 days. I replaced the starter yesterday(3-23-05) based on what my uncle had told me. 20 minutes after installing the new 1 the car did not start. Called a local dealership this morning(3-24-05) and was told that the problem was with the body control module and the ignition cylinder. This dealer told me that he has 1 monte carlo/impala come in every month with this problem. I asked him if it was recall on the part(s). He told me "no" and the the replacement cost was between $450-600. Now I'm out $250 for a starter I didn't need and being told I'm looking @ another bill around $500. In my opinion 1 car a month is too many and that was at just 1 dealer. I have 14 chevrolet dealers within 15 miles of my house. That is 168 cars just near me in 1 year. I think this needs to be looked into.
I recently(3-7-05) purchased a used 2002 chevy impala from my uncle. He told me that based on info received from a former gm mech.; there was a starter problem that he had yet to experience. I have had the car a little over 3 weeks now and have experienced the problem 4 times in the last 5 days. I replaced the starter yesterday(3-23-05) based on what my uncle had told me. 20 minutes after installing the new 1 the car did not start. Called a local dealership this morning(3-24-05) and was told that the problem was with the body control module and the ignition cylinder. This dealer told me that he has 1 monte carlo/impala come in every month with this problem. I asked him if it was recall on the part(s). He told me "no" and the the replacement cost was between $450-600. Now I'm out $250 for a starter I didn't need and being told I'm looking @ another bill around $500. In my opinion 1 car a month is too many and that was at just 1 dealer. I have 14 chevrolet dealers within 15 miles of my house. That is 168 cars just near me in 1 year. I think this needs to be looked into.
Also reported on the 2002 Chevrolet Impala
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other lighting problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 54 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 2002 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 49 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 67,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 47,500 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. 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 2002 Chevrolet Impala?
54 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 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