Other engine problem on the 2012 Chevrolet Impala
1 crash 1 fire 2 of the 29 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 engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Chevrolet Impala report other engine problem at a median of 30,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 27 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 2,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 97,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 94,201 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.
56% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,064 miles | 14,500 miles | 29,000 miles | 80,000 miles | 96,265 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 a crash and 1 a fire 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–$4,000 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2009 carries the most reports, with 149; the 2012 has 29. 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.
Engine makes a ticking noise or knocking noise while accelerating , I'm very concerned with this being that this noise started the next day after I had the car home from the dealership . I'm hoping this isn't a safety concern but it sure is a customer dissatisfaction. The dealer has tried to isolate the noise and could not and said I would have to wait for the manufacturer gm to figure out what is wrong. I'm very depressed about this having spent good money on a new car just to have it make more noise that a 40 year old car , and then being told I have to wait till someone complains enough to see if it can be fixed. I been told that this is a new engine in the impala and now am wondering if this engine is going to become a problem for thousands of people like myself. I have read some major concerns from people about the 06 impala and hope this isn't where my car is headed. Any help that I could get would be very appreciated, thank you.
Engine makes a knocking noise while accelerating. I drove another one and the noise was even worse, that one had 15000 miles on it. This seems to be a common problem with them all. I am very unhappy with this car. I don't enjoy hearing all this noise from a new car. (now has 6000 miles on it) if I can't resolve this problem it will be the last gm car I ever buy. The dealer had me drive another new 2012 impala when I mentioned the noise, it also sounded the same. Gm definitely didn't address this problem before production. *js
Vehicle started via normal key ignition. After high idling stops for warm up, vehicle starts to have odometer needle move from 500 RPM to 1000 RPM for a steady 5 to ten minutes. In addition, event occurs frequently at long stops even after car warm. Usually, RPM may steady at about 750 or so a normal RPM setting for this vehicle. Took vehicle to dealer who kept it for a week. No correction made. Dealer state waiting to hear from manufacturer. Vehicle still have problem having needle flutter between the RPM mentioned causing undue distress to engine components. Please assist. *tr
Also reported on the 2012 Chevrolet Impala
Other electrical problem
Other driver assistance problem
Other steering problem
Other brake problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Fuel pump failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 29 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 engine problem happen on the 2012 Chevrolet Impala?
Across 27 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 30,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2012 Chevrolet Impala?
29 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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