Other visibility problem on the 2006 GMC Envoy
2 fires 1 injury 3 of the 21 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 visibility problem gets reported
Owners of the 2006 GMC Envoy report other visibility problem at a median of 80,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 16 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 60,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 88,549 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.
6% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58,274 miles | 70,000 miles | 82,300 miles | 97,307 miles | 146,823 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, 2 a fire and 1 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 $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 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2002, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 35; the 2006 has 21. 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.
Beginning on 08-20-2011 my 2006 envoy began turning on and off its wipers and spraying windshield washing fluid everywhere. It now does this regularly everyday it is driven. Makes it hard to see at times. I have not taken it to a garage yet, was looking to see if there was a recall as I'm sure this will not be cheap to fix :( *tr
Front windshield washer nozzle failure, both (left and right). 1st event noted in 2009 when vehicle had 32000 miles, this is the 2nd event. Nozzles stop spraying washing fluid effectively, preventing driver from cleaning the front windshield in high debris conditions, reducing visibility and posing a driving hazard specially in high debris / insect areas in non-optimal lighting conditions such as nighttime driving or when the vehicle is aligned towards the sun or other light source. Previous event required replacement of the nozzles, it is not caused by obstruction as plenty of fluid still flows out of the nozzle (just not in the necessary pattern). *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 gmc envoy. While driving approximately 35 MPH with the air conditioner activated, a strong burning odor emitted through the air vents. Suddenly the heater blower failed to operate. The contact continued to drive the vehicle but later discovered that the heater blower wiring connector was melted and had damaged the relay resistor module. The manufacturer was notified of the defect. There was a voluntary recall issued by the manufacturer for the 2006 sierra 1500 vehicle pertaining to the faulty relay resistor module and wire connector but not for the envoy. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000.
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 lighting problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 21 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 2006 GMC Envoy?
Across 16 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 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 other visibility problem on the 2006 GMC Envoy?
21 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.9 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