Other visibility problem on the 2009 Chevrolet Impala
1 injury 1 of the 6 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.
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When other visibility problem gets reported
There are 6 reports of other visibility problem on the 2009 Chevrolet Impala, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 33rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 49,000 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, 1 an injury is 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 $150–$1,400 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 2011, at a median of 500 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 26; the 2009 has 6. 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 2009 chevy impala lt. Right after I bought this car, I found that there is a vision distortion with the windshield. The dealer replaced it reluctantly, after I discussed with them. However, there is still vision distortion with the new one, just at different spots. It is dangerous to have vision distortion if I look far ahead. It cause dizziness and tiredness very easily and it is dangerous to the driver and other road users. I am wondering if this is a common issue. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet impala. The contact stated the passenger had her hand out the window when the window began to independently close. The window closed with the passengers ring finger caught in the window and severed the end joint of her finger. The contact was concerned that there was not a sensor that would stop the window from closing when obstructed. The manufacturer advised that there was nothing they could do to assist the contact. The failure and current mileage was 49,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet impala. Whenever the contact attempted to open the driver side door, the metal latch pinched her finger. The rear passenger rear window squealed whenever the contact attempted to move the window upward or downward. The contact also stated that the signal blinker generated false commands intermittently. The failures occurred numerous times. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 36,000.
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
This page is kept out of search results because 6 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 6 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 visibility problem happen on the 2009 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other visibility problem on the 2009 Chevrolet Impala?
6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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