Other brake problem on the 2009 Chevrolet Impala
3 crashes 2 injuries 5 of the 42 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 other brake problem gets reported
Owners of the 2009 Chevrolet Impala report other brake problem at a median of 52,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 82,500 miles, from 39 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 119,800 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.
36% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9,800 miles | 19,408 miles | 53,000 miles | 81,500 miles | 129,600 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, 3 a crash and 2 an injury 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 $300–$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 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 47; the 2009 has 42. 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.
Lose control of vehicle on wet roads. Brake rotors needed replacement at 12,000, 22,000 & 33,000 miles. Tires also replaced 3 times because of excessive wear on inside of back tires. Car out of alignment causing rearend to "push" car in wet weather. Dealer can't get car aligned properly. Vehicle sits at dealer because it is unsafe for my family to drive dealer cut rotors 1st time replaced 2nd and cut 3rd time. Each time they replaced the brake pads. At 12,000 dealer replaced tires after complaints that vehicle almost killed our entire family going 35 MPH on interstate 80 in rain. Gm recalled police impalas for same issue but refuse to recall consumer impalas please help before more innocent people are killed. *tr
Bought certified impala with 38000 miles. Has 12month/12000 mile warranty. Noticed pulsating in brakes and they said it was rotors needed turning, but certification papers state car is sold as if new. So rotors should be covered. They wanted to charge me to fix the problem that the certified warranty should take care of. *tr
We were driving through the mountains in our 2009 chevy impala when we came upon a steep grade. I applied the brakes to prevent from accelerating too fast downhill. About halfway down the front end of vehicle violently shook as I applied the brakes. The longer I applied them, the worse the vibration. If I were in an emergency braking situation, I know that my stopping distance would be severely affected. Luckily, I wasn't put in that situation this time, but next time I might not be that fortunate. This problem is nothing new for chevy - I had the exact same problem with a 1995 chevy cavalier I owned some years ago. It appears chevy has done nothing to fix the problem on its vehicles. Why did my tax dollars go to this car company?!? *tr
Also reported on the 2009 Chevrolet Impala
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other speed control problem
Other driver assistance problem
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 42 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 brake problem happen on the 2009 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 39 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 52,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 82,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other brake problem on the 2009 Chevrolet Impala?
42 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 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