Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2006 GMC Envoy
When ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 GMC Envoy report ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure at a median of 95,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 85,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 13th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 70,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 105,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 31,635 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72,365 miles | 86,236 miles | 97,000 miles | 104,000 miles | 104,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,500 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 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 21; the 2006 has 8. 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 had this issue 3 times -8/2012, 2/2013, 3/2014 - so I am on the 4th ignition switch in this car, mileage now approx 108,000. The 4x4, stabilitrak, ABS and emergency brake lights come on then it beeps repeatedly. Sometimes concurrently, sometimes not the air blower stops working as well. This 3rd time, after the lights had been coming off/on for a few days, turning the blower on would trigger the lights to come on. For each of the 3 times, the gmc dealer has recommended replacement of the ignition switch (2x at my cost) on the most recent repair a voltage spike was acknowledged but the option to track this by installing inline fuses was not even offered until I had taken my issue to a higher authority. I declined as I don't care to put more money in a car that even one of the dealerships employees recommended I just sell and buy new. My concern is whether this car is a hazard to me and others? The service manager said when this occurs the ignition is essentially off and the car could stop but another person told me that no, it's another leg of the ignition and its okay. I don't know who to believe. ....updated 08/12/14 *bf…
I have had this issue 3 times -8/2012, 2/2013, 3/2014 - so I am on the 4th ignition switch in this car, mileage now approx 108,000. The 4x4, stabilitrak, ABS and emergency brake lights come on then it beeps repeatedly. Sometimes concurrently, sometimes not the air blower stops working as well. This 3rd time, after the lights had been coming off/on for a few days, turning the blower on would trigger the lights to come on. For each of the 3 times, the gmc dealer has recommended replacement of the ignition switch (2x at my cost) on the most recent repair a voltage spike was acknowledged but the option to track this by installing inline fuses was not even offered until I had taken my issue to a higher authority. I declined as I don't care to put more money in a car that even one of the dealerships employees recommended I just sell and buy new. My concern is whether this car is a hazard to me and others? The service manager said when this occurs the ignition is essentially off and the car could stop but another person told me that no, it's another leg of the ignition and its okay. I don't know who to believe. ....updated 08/12/14 *bf…
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 gmc envoy. The contact stated that while driving approximatley 40 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The technician diagnose that the ignition switch was defective and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 104,000 and the current mileage was 108,656.
Also reported on the 2006 GMC Envoy
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
Other electrical problem
Other fuel system problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Headlight failure or clouding
Other visibility problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 8 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 ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure happen on the 2006 GMC Envoy?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 85,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2006 GMC Envoy?
8 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