Seat belt or retractor failure on the 2010 Chevrolet Impala
1 injury 1 of the 23 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 seat belt or retractor failure gets reported
Owners of the 2010 Chevrolet Impala report seat belt or retractor failure at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 18 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 82,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 25,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 90,000 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.
17% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24,000 miles | 52,903 miles | 59,500 miles | 93,000 miles | 114,000 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 $200–$900 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 2012, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2009 carries the most reports, with 36; the 2010 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet impala. The contact stated that the front passenger seat belt failed to restrain the passenger and allowed them to move forward and hit his forehead on the eye glass holder located on the sun visor. The manufacturer informed the contact that the VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number 10v480000 (seat belts). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 95,000....updated 03/07/14 *bf the consumer stated the seat belts had to be pulled, in order for them to lock in. Updated 03/13/14
I have not had an accident yet, but I continue to have an issue with the control arm. I have received numerous letters from my insurance company regarding this issue but none from gm. The only correspondence I have received is the recall regarding the seat belt. It is my understanding that a broken control arm can result in a collision/fatality. I am a mother of four and this is my only vehicle. I have called gm customer service twice and I am told that my car is not under this recall. I am not understanding why. I would like this issue to be repaired free of charge. *tr
Potential defective seat belt assemblies causing airbag lights to come on and off intermittently when the seats are moved forward and backwards. Local repair shop performed diagnostic test and the code displayed LED them to the passenger side air bag. Within a day of the repair the light came back on but went off and has not illuminated since. I have contacted gm (case # sr # 71-13111-46047) and they have refused to assist stating there are no recalls for this issue for the impala and will not reimburse me since I used a local repair shop and not a gm dealership. I believe this is a defective seat belt assembly that gm has installed in chevy impala?s and they refuse to take ownership. Their track record with faulty parts and failure to recall unsafe vehicles has been proven. I feel this is a serious safety concern and I am asking the ntsb look into this matter. *tr
Also reported on the 2010 Chevrolet Impala
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other driver assistance problem
Other powertrain problem
Other speed control problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
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 seat belt or retractor failure happen on the 2010 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 18 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is seat belt or retractor failure on the 2010 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