This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Security light comes on while driving after car is turned off it wont start unless I turn on the ignition switch and let it sit for 20 minutes then the car will start. Turn signals lights rarely works properly and the check engine light stays on I've made the repairs under the codes and the check engine light is still on this is dealing with the emission testing.
My husband was driving at night at approximately 55 mph, with my dim headlamps on. Without any warning the headlamps went out, he went off the right side of the road way to avoid any problems. After checking he did have high beams and fog lights yet. He proceeded home on high beams. The low beams never have come back on.
The turn signals stop working for no reason. Both right and left turn signals will just not work. I found a temporary fix on a car forum on the web. If you turn the hazard light switch on and off a few times then the turn signals will work again for awhile. At first it happened only occasionally. Now it is happening on a daily basis. And you don't find out until you are going to make a turn or switch lanes on the highway. I found so many complaints about this problem on the car forums to indicate to me that mine is not an isolated problem. This is the second electrical complaint I've had to make on this car. The other problem was with the speedometer and other gauges not functioning which required a very expensive fix.
The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Impala. The contact stated that while driving 40 mph, the headlights failed sporadically. The contact mentioned that the were replaced as a temporary remedy but it failed to repaired the problem. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance since the vehicle was no longer under warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 100,000 and current mileage was 200,000.
Roughly around 2 1/2 to 3 years ago, I was driving across a levee when my headlights went completely went out-the lights came back on the next day. Then again 2 days later went completely out, therefore, I had the dimmer switch replaced. 2 months ago my headlights went out again. This time when they came back on, they only worked on bright. I cannot dim my lights and have been pulled over twice-once by a state trooper and another time by the local police department.
- Brownsville, TN, USA
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The headlights on my 2004 Chevy Impala just suddenly went out during night time driving. The only thing that would give me any light was to hold back on the dimmer switch lever. I have since learned that this malfunction has happened to hundreds of owners of Impala. The switch is quoted as costing over $500 and installation another $200. That's alot for a commonly defective plastic part! it's also a very poor design to have all headlights go out simply because the dimmer switch is malfunctioning.
The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Impala. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 mph, the headlights suddenly failed. The contact had to utilize the high beam headlights in order to illuminate the roadway. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer and they advised him that the bright and dim switch would need to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000. Updated 5/24/11 the consumer stated the manual switch did not work. The consumer stated he had to use the highbeam lights. Updated 096/03/11
Headlights went out completely after dark at 55 mph.the problem is in the quality of the high /low beam selector I was told.I am replacing the third switch this week 3/16/11 since 09/20/09. This to me seems to be a GM safety problem which I think should be a mfg recall. Have owned many of vehicles and never totally lost headlights. The cost is also unheard of can be $500 or more
The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Impala. The headlights were illuminated and as the low beams were switched to high beams, the interior and exterior lights failed. As the low beams were engaged, the interior and exterior lights came back on the failure recurred whenever the exterior lighting was switched from low beams to high beams. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they were unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 82,000. Updated 05/04/11 updated 05/11/11
There have been numerous occurrences of this incident during the last year; the latest being last night. Last night, I was running somewhere between 55 and 60 mph on a very dark night with my bright lights on when all of a sudden my headlights went out. The instrument panel lights remained lit. After frantically activating the steering column bright/dim switch, the dim lights came back on. This is a very dangerous situation because we live down long, curvy mountain back roads that are not lit. This is a very serious safety issue that is going to get someone killed. My research reveals that there have been untold numbers of identical incidents involving the 2004 Impala. I am not going to pay a tax payer bailed out General Motors to fix a design related safety issue. Before I do, I will contact my attorney and initiate a class action law suit. Is it going to take the needless death of many people to get GM to fix this problem" hello out there. Is anyone listening"
Headlights go off while driving, then come back on automatically. Sometimes when they go off they are off for up to 5 minutes. Very dangerous to drive at night as you do not know when it will happen.
The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Impala. While driving 65 mph the headlights would shut off intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that because they shut off intermittently they can not repair them unless they fail completely. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 110,000.
In my 2004 Chevrolet Impala night driving is unsafe. I will be driving down the road when its dark and I will have a chance to turn on my bright headlights for a better vision of the road. After turning them on I can drive about 5 or so miles and the headlights will shut off. The only way to regain the headlights is by turning off the brights. You loose all lights, not just the brights. The only lights on are the parking lights. Very unsafe and you cannot see the road. Also everyones in awhile the lights will blink. It happens at least once every time if I go on at least a 20 minute drive and are turning brights on and off. No buttons are involved when the lights go out. They just automatically shut off by themselves. Very scary and very unsafe if you don't know how to get them working again. Have heard that it may be the brights switch but those are way overpriced.
Low beams are no longer operable on the car. Seems to be a running theme with the Chevy Impala cars. 2004 Chevy Impala I have already spent more in repairs than to purchase the vehicle. Transmission, front drive line and now my passlock locks me out of the car- car won't turn on for sometimes 3 days. Lights quit working about one month ago I live in Hawaii and can't get my car to pass safety inspection to get my sticker so I now have a car with 60,000 miles that can't be driven on the road, can't be sold. Impala's are money sucking dangerous lemon vehicles. I can't afford to fix it can't sell it so now what the hell am I supposed to do with this car"??????????"
2004 Chevrolet Impala 3.4L V6, 70,000 miles. Right turn signal intermittent failure started occurring at around 65,000 miles - interior dash turn signal indicator blinks rapidly but the actual turn signal does not flash at all. I checked all lamps and fuses then replaced the hazard switch as suggested by some car forums but the problem remains!
The toggle between low beam and high beam quit working, it won't stay in high beam, but that didn't affect my life very much. But suddenly, the driving lights went out on this 2004 Chevy Impala. This is dangerous, not just a minor inconvenience, and now I cannot drive at night at all, dramatically affecting my life. The part is extremely expensive to replace, between $550 and $800, and that seems to rise to the level of a manufacturer responsibility, given the similar consumer items that have switches that perform satisfactorily far longer in the life of a product.
Head lights went out completely on car. The only way to have head light is to pull the bright light switch back and hold it. So one hand for bright light and one for steering. So with on coming traffic its either the bright lights or no lights. Happened on a very dark night on a country road. Could have been a very bad accident. Lucky that my 3 small children where not with
The headlights on my 2004 Chevy Impala randomly go out at night without any warning. This seems to be caused by a defective dimmer switch. The only way to get the lights back on is by activating/flicking the dimmer switch so as to switch between high/low beams. No significant events led up to this problem. It appeared randomly and without any warning. This problem occurred roughly once every two weeks throughout several months until the dimmer switch had completely failed. Approximately halfway through the time period from onset of the problem until failure of the switch, the switch itself began to feel odd. It would allow the headlights to change beam without actually clicking into position. During the latter half of the failure period, the light failure seemed consistent with the improper operation of the switch. The switch now is completely failed with my lights stuck on low beam. I can pull back on the switch to activate the high beams, but they do not remain on when I release the switch. The lights go back to low beam. I am currently in the process of changing the switch which is proving very costly.
Total headlight failure while driving at 65 mph on U.S. highway 287 North of ft collins, co. The failure occurred when changing from low to high beams on the headlights. This has happened many times since the first time last fall but we now have the fog lamps on so when they fail we at least have some light though it is minimal. We then have to flip the hi-lo switch several times to get the low beams back on. There has been occasion that after we get the high beams to work after a few minutes they will just go out completely. I have researched this problem online and have found there are probably hundreds of people that have had similar problems with the multiswitch GM used on 2000-2005 vehicles. The cost to replace this switch is outrageous $300- $600 so I'm sure there are a lot of vehicles on the road that pose a hazard due to this faulty switch. My girlfriend who owns this car lives on a narrow winding mountain road and has had these headlight failures in the middle of curves and it is very scary for her and passengers. If you could investigate this situation I would greatly appreciate it.
I just had my second multi-function switch (headlight dimmer, turn signal, cruise, wiper/washer) fail on this car for the same reason resulting in complete loss of headlights. This is a very common issue as seen by numerous bulletin board postings. I dissected the original switch to determine if this could be fixed. It became quite obvious what was happening. The contacts on the hi/lo beam portion of the switch foul and overheat. This switch had melted plastic from the switch housing that had flowed over the contacts and prevented proper switch operation. This is an incredibly dangerous situation that manifests itself with little or no warning. This overheating is obviously due to poor engineering that has resulted in undersized contacts that foul due to relatively high load currents in the headlight circuit.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Belleville, IL, USA