Other brake problem on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala
2 crashes 1 injury 3 of the 26 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 other brake problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Chevrolet Impala report other brake problem at a median of 80,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 23 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 111,033 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
39% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6,885 miles | 18,500 miles | 79,000 miles | 101,250 miles | 117,918 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, 2 a crash 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 $300–$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 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 47; the 2003 has 26. 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.
Dt: consumer heard a grinding noise which sounded like metal to metal. The consumer made an appointment with the dealer, but the dealer was not able to get the consumers vehicle in for inspection. Consumer took vehicle to jims mufflers to get the brakes fixed. The mechanic took off all four tires and showed the consumer that he needed to replace front and back rotors and pads. The mechanic the cleaned calipers. The consumer spent about $500.00 for repairs. When the dealer looked at the brakes he stated that they looked as if they had sat in water. Consumer claimed that vehicle had not been in water. The mechanic stated that maybe the rotors or calipers were contaminated because brakes should not have looked that bad for the miles on the vehicle. The mechanic determined calipers may not have been working properly since the rotors were so rusty.*ak *jb
Re: chevrolet impala 2003 purchased 4/7/2003 VIN [xxx] in general I have been very pleased with the vehicle above, but I have had two problems with the brakes since I purchase the car and it only has 11,225 miles of driving. I live in florida and my apartment is on the beach so I park close to the ocean about 8 months out of the year. The first problem occurred at 6,289 miles when the brakes were applied there was a vibration or grabbing feeling unlike normal smooth braking. The car was taken to quirk chevrolet in quincy, ma on aug 16, 2004. The technician said the brakes were rusted or pitted and needed to be ground down or replaced (see copy of work order from quirk attached). I asked him how this could happen. He explained that the brake mechanism is exposed to the air and not protected in any way, so that the salt air from the ocean environment could have caused the pitting in the brakes. The second problem occurred at 11,225 miles when the same feeling in braking was experienced by the driver. Again I took the car for repair at quirk and they reported ''inspected and found the front and rear brakes rusted badly, removed and…
Dt*: the contact stated while driving 55 MPH on normal road conditions the brakes were not responding adequately. The vehicle was taken to the dealership who determined the four rotors had to be resurfaced, however the pads were still in good conditions. The contact expressed concern because the vehicle has only 14950 miles.
Also reported on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala
Other electrical problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other engine problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other lighting problem
Headlight failure or clouding
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 26 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 brake problem happen on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 23 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 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 other brake problem on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala?
26 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