Headlight failure or clouding on the 2005 Chevrolet Impala
When headlight failure or clouding gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Chevrolet Impala report headlight failure or clouding at a median of 95,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 20 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 50,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 72,800 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.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52,000 miles | 60,000 miles | 97,118 miles | 118,627 miles | 124,800 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 $150–$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 16 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 53; the 2005 has 22. 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 a 2005 chevy impala it has around 44000 miles. I have had it about one year,about a month ago my wife was driving home after dropping me off it was about 2 in the morning she was about 10 miles from the house and the head light went out on her. She got the car stopped and after about 15 mins they came back on, so she started to go again got about 5 more miles and they went out again. After about 10 mins they came back on. There has been no problems for about 3 weeks. Then again the other night they did the same thing but this time she was going around a curve in the road (thank god she knew the road) now she only drives the car after dark if she has to. *tr
While driving my 2005 chevy impala after dark the headlights just went out. Was driving 55mph down the highway with my whole family was in the car. Pulled the headlight switch in and out a few times and they came back on. About one mile later the both went out again. *tr
I own an 05 impala we have had the headlight fail on us about 6-12 times we will be driving down the road and the headlights will go out I have tried running with the switch on and they still go out its has even happened to me on a curve I just about put the car in the ditch ive asked my dad witch is a gm certified mechanic about it and there's not a known problem that he knows of I would like this fixed before I do go in the ditch and my family is with or I get a call from the cops that my wife has smashed the car there is a problem and gm should have to fix the problem before some one is killed from it. *jb
Also reported on the 2005 Chevrolet Impala
Other electrical problem
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Other powertrain problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other engine problem
Other fuel system problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 22 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 headlight failure or clouding happen on the 2005 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 20 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is headlight failure or clouding on the 2005 Chevrolet Impala?
22 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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