Other powertrain problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Impala
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Chevrolet Impala report other powertrain problem at a median of 80,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 19 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 14th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 125,825 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.
26% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,520 miles | 43,095 miles | 78,000 miles | 98,000 miles | 131,345 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 $400–$4,500 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 2012, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 75; the 2004 has 23. 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.
I have rented several gm vehicles over the last year and found that in most every one of them it is possible to shift the car from park without applying the brake while the key is in the acc position. *ak
The transmission has suffered a failure of the solenoid and valve body. Apparently through speaking with some other owners of the same car, it is a known issue by gm as they have issued service bulletins in relation. This has occurred in cars as early as 30,000 miles. It causes the vehicle to shift hard and the transmission to fail as an end result. *jb
I seriously thought I was the only one having these problems. I bought a 2004 chevrolet impala in aug 07. The problems started only a month after I bought the car. First the temp gauge would register all the way up to 260. After checking to make sure the car was not running hot, I started calling dealers to try to figure out what the problem was. I was informed by a several dealerships they have seen several problems with the instrument panel and they continued telling how much it would cost to replace it. Well only a couple weeks later the speedometer started the same thing. It would stick and not register right. The problem is still continuing cause I can't afford to fix it. I continued my regular maintenance on the car and during and oil change I was informed the transmission fluid needed to changed, so I made the appointment to have it changed on saturday. Only a couple of hours after having it changed we went to back up and the transmission slipped. This had never happened before so we thought it just might be low on fluid. After checking the fluid level was fine but the problems continued. Now it slips when I put it in drive…
Also reported on the 2004 Chevrolet Impala
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Other electrical problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other engine problem
Other lighting problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 23 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 powertrain problem happen on the 2004 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 19 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 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 powertrain problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Impala?
23 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