Tail light, brake light or signal failure on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala
When tail light, brake light or signal failure gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Chevrolet Impala report tail light, brake light or signal failure at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 23rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 180,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 168,890 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.
50% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,000 miles | 25,188 miles | 55,024 miles | 110,250 miles | 181,890 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 $100–$900 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 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2011, at a median of 50,000 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 155,000 miles.
By volume the 2001 carries the most reports, with 48; the 2003 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.
About 9:00 pm I was driving about two km. From home when my headlights went out. I had hazard lights, parking lights and rear lights. I tried high and low beams turning lights on and off but they would not turn on. I took it to the shop the next morning and still no lights. When they flipp the hi-low beams the lights came back on-they do not know why this happened. *nm
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet impala. While decelerating to 10 MPH and activating the turn signal, the headlights completely dimmed. Two or three seconds later, the headlights illuminated again. While the vehicle was parked, the contact conducted his own test; each time he activated the turn signal, the headlights dimmed and then illuminated. The contact spoke with the dealer, but he has not taken his vehicle there at this time. The current mileage was 29,299 and failure mileage was 29,250. Updated 4/8/08 *cn the consumer stated lights would go out completely with no warning until repaired on 02/19/08. Updated 04/08/08 *tr
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 chevrolet impala. The contact stated that the turn signals failed and would not engage. The dealer replaced the module and there had been no further occurences. In addition, the contact stated that the headlights worked intermittently. The dealer was unable to diagnose the failure. The current mileage was 75,100 and failure mileage was 75,047. Updated 05/21/08 *bf the consumer stated the dealership reapired the problem. Updated 05/20/08. *jb
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 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 tail light, brake light or signal failure happen on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is tail light, brake light or signal failure on the 2003 Chevrolet Impala?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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