Airbag failed to deploy in a crash on the 2008 Chevrolet Impala
11 crashes 11 injuries 1 death 23 of the 11 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 airbag failed to deploy in a crash gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Chevrolet Impala report airbag failed to deploy in a crash at a median of 80,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 72,000 miles. It is the 23rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 70,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 75,600 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.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70,800 miles | 75,000 miles | 77,785 miles | 107,500 miles | 146,400 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, 11 a crash, 11 an injury and 1 a fatality 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 $1,000–$5,000 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2011, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2009 carries the most reports, with 18; the 2008 has 11. 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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet impala. The vehicle hydroplaned while driving 80 MPH and this caused the vehicle to spin and crash into an embankment. When the vehicle hit the embankment, it rolled over four times. The windshield shattered and the rollover bar popped and the drivers side window popped out as well. The contact was injured. None of the air bags deployed during the crash. The vehicle was destroyed. The vehicle was towed and inspected by the manufacturer who stated that none of the sensors were hit and that was why the air bags did not deploy. The contact stated that the air bags should have deployed, because the vehicle was crushed. The VIN was unknown. The failure and current mileages were 60000.
Tl-the contact owns a 2008 chevrolet impala. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 15 MPH, another vehicle crashed into the contact's vehicle causing the contact to loose control and crash into a telephone pole. The air bags did not deploy. The contact sustained injuries to the neck and leg that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000. Djr
I was struck by a truck that went though a blinking red. He stated he was just pulling out. I saw his vehicle entering the intersection on my right, slowed down and pulled over as far as possible to my left, to the edge of the road and the snow bank. He impacted my passenger side door and front fender,head light and bumper. The air bags did not deploy nor did the onstar auto call for help. I have already been in contact and onstar told me I should have pushed the button. Gm said I should have pushed the button but has opened an investigation as to what happened. They have already contacted my auto insurance, who then contacted me for permission to inspect and collect information from my vehicle. Both insurance companies agreed that my car was totaled, over $9,500 in damages without being taken apart or put on a lift. I was taken away by ambulance with injuries to my neck, shoulder and back which I am still recovering from. The other driver was found at fault an received a citation. I called the police from my personal cell phone. I ended up in the er with injuries to my left shoulder, neck and lower back which I am still…
Also reported on the 2008 Chevrolet Impala
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other suspension problem
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 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 airbag failed to deploy in a crash happen on the 2008 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 75,000 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 airbag failed to deploy in a crash on the 2008 Chevrolet Impala?
11 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