We purchased a 2005 Chevrolet Impala from a dealer on March 16, 2006. On March 21, 2006, we were traveling down a 2 lane highway at 45 mph. The traffic in front of us stopped suddenly. I applied the brakes and heard a loud pop. The brake peddle then went to the floor and I hit the van in front of me twice before I was able to turn down a side street and let the car coast to a stop. Our insurance adjuster came out the next morning and took pictures. The car was sent to a body shop to be torn down. GM was notified of the problem with the brakes. The body shop was told not to touch the car until GM could send an inspector to take a look at it. The inspector finally came out and retrieved the information from the black box and took pictures of the brake linkage system. He asked if we had found any parts in the floor under the steering column after the accident. We told him no. GM then took 5 months to finish their investigation. We were not allowed to allow anyone to touch the vehicle until they were done. They came back to us and told us that they were not responsible and that the brakes had been tampered with. We were all set to go after the dealer when my husband decided to look at the brakes himself. When he did, he found the "missing" part the inspector had asked about. The part was visibly broken. GM has laughingly offered us $2,000 for this incident. My husband and I sustained more than $2,000 in medical bills. This is a complete joke. In addition to the brake failure, neither one of our air bags deployed even though we hit the other vehicle straight on twice. There has been no recall on this brake part or air bags.

- Zephyrhills, FL, USA