No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Impala
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Chevrolet Impala report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 95,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 75,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 135,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 59,656 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75,333 miles | 75,333 miles | 97,000 miles | 103,000 miles | 134,989 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 2006 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.
2006 chevy ss impala started having issues with the dash board readings, the car would not start because it would show the car was in drive when it was not, there was no readings for the speed, all electrical readings were out of control, finally the ABS would not work and then the car would not start at all and had to be towed in. The ABS module at only 75,000 miles had to be replaced. This is a serious safety issue that needs to be addressed by chevy, the repair needed put me in a serious driving safety concern and chevy should not say sorry this is no longer under warranty and we can't do anything for you. *tr
2006 chevy ss impala started having issues with the dash board readings, the car would not start because it would show the car was in drive when it was not, there was no readings for the speed, all electrical readings were out of control, finally the ABS would not work and then the car would not start at all and had to be towed in. The ABS module at only 75,000 miles had to be replaced. This is a serious safety issue that needs to be addressed by chevy, the repair needed put me in a serious driving safety concern and chevy should not say sorry this is no longer under warranty and we can't do anything for you. *tr
My car is giving a reduced engine light, traction control and now starting disabled. The car will not start or dies in process of driving car. This is dangerous and I have rea this is not the first time. *tr
Also reported on the 2006 Chevrolet Impala
Other steering problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Water pump failure
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 no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2006 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 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 2006 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