No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Chevrolet Impala report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 97,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 52,500 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 86 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 37,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 157,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 121,200 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.
9% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36,500 miles | 52,500 miles | 98,000 miles | 129,057 miles | 157,700 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–$1,800 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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 65,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 122; the 2003 has 105. 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.
The car was bought new from dealership, with occasional grinding noises noted in reverse and headlights "surging" at night while driving. Dealership unable to replicate with the exception of grinding. I was told a loose wire was causing noise in reverse. On 09/26/05, after noticing hard stalls while attempting to start, the fuel pump went out $281.60 for new one. 12/09/05, to dealership for starting concerns and maintenance. 04/13/06-car would not start to leave work. Ward's chevrolet came to my work site. Left me a rental and kept my car until 04/20/06. I paid $674.56 for a 2nd fuel pump and fuel module. 06/21/06- to local garage with same complaints. $100 paid for "short" in electrical that caused no start and towing. 08/04/06-cooper buick in monroe,la- $281.00 for another fuel pump and recall on 2003 impala headgaskets that I was unaware of. 11/22/06-no start, turn over-went outside 3 hours later-starts with hard start. 12/06/06-brakes went from quiet to grinding-slow hard starts continue. Ward's kept the car for a month-never told me what was wrong with car except brakes. Did not charge. At this time I had requested a gm…
The car was bought new from dealership, with occasional grinding noises noted in reverse and headlights "surging" at night while driving. Dealership unable to replicate with the exception of grinding. I was told a loose wire was causing noise in reverse. On 09/26/05, after noticing hard stalls while attempting to start, the fuel pump went out $281.60 for new one. 12/09/05, to dealership for starting concerns and maintenance. 04/13/06-car would not start to leave work. Ward's chevrolet came to my work site. Left me a rental and kept my car until 04/20/06. I paid $674.56 for a 2nd fuel pump and fuel module. 06/21/06- to local garage with same complaints. $100 paid for "short" in electrical that caused no start and towing. 08/04/06-cooper buick in monroe,la- $281.00 for another fuel pump and recall on 2003 impala headgaskets that I was unaware of. 11/22/06-no start, turn over-went outside 3 hours later-starts with hard start. 12/06/06-brakes went from quiet to grinding-slow hard starts continue. Ward's kept the car for a month-never told me what was wrong with car except brakes. Did not charge. At this time I had requested a gm…
The car was bought new from dealership, with occasional grinding noises noted in reverse and headlights "surging" at night while driving. Dealership unable to replicate with the exception of grinding. I was told a loose wire was causing noise in reverse. On 09/26/05, after noticing hard stalls while attempting to start, the fuel pump went out $281.60 for new one. 12/09/05, to dealership for starting concerns and maintenance. 04/13/06-car would not start to leave work. Ward's chevrolet came to my work site. Left me a rental and kept my car until 04/20/06. I paid $674.56 for a 2nd fuel pump and fuel module. 06/21/06- to local garage with same complaints. $100 paid for "short" in electrical that caused no start and towing. 08/04/06-cooper buick in monroe,la- $281.00 for another fuel pump and recall on 2003 impala headgaskets that I was unaware of. 11/22/06-no start, turn over-went outside 3 hours later-starts with hard start. 12/06/06-brakes went from quiet to grinding-slow hard starts continue. Ward's kept the car for a month-never told me what was wrong with car except brakes. Did not charge. At this time I had requested a gm…
Also reported on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other lighting problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 105 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 no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 86 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 97,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 52,500 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala?
105 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.2 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