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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
88,089 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2008 Chevrolet Impala engine problems

engine problem

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2008 Chevrolet Impala Owner Comments (Page 1 of 5)

problem #88

Dec 302020

Impala

  • 186,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

In motion on a city street turning left, pedal stuck brakes not working and hit by on coming car, flipped in air about a block, rolling over again and again, no air bags depleated, broken ribs, concussion, skin lacerations, bruises, glass logged in parts of body, face and feet

- Milwaukie, OR, USA

problem #87

Jun 102020

Impala 6-cyl

  • 156,466 miles
When first purchased I had to change accelerator pedal. When I took it to the shop I was told they get a lot of people w Impala same as my year 2008 that needed to have the accelerator pedal changed every so often because they would go out and it would cause the check engine light to go on and off because the vehicle was sending the wrong signals.I would drive on the highway and street it would cause reduced engine to come on and slow my car down almost leading into accidents because I did not know it was about to happen. It would come and go on as it wanted. The electrical part of the car is something in the car continues to drain my battery. I've gotten a new battery and it still drains causing me to have to get it recharged. The suspension I was also told for the year of my car is bad. When purchased I found out that again people that purchased these years of vehicles had problems with the control arms and that I now have to take it to get fixed because one hit to a pot hole can cause the under part of the car to break and cause a bad accident. I did not know Impala had this many problems. I seen the police Impala for 2008 were recalled for suspension, but they all seem to share this common problem as well as the actuator continuously clicking. It seems to be an easy fix, but I shouldn't have to fix something that is a common problem for the Impala.

- Chicago, IL, USA

problem #86

Mar 092020

Impala

  • 169,000 miles
The stabilitrak is making the car shake and act crazy. I'm barely in control of the car. There are thousands of more people having the same problem. The car reduces speed because of this issue. Many groups and blogs online about this. Why hasn't anything been done about this? no recalls or anything.

- Clinton, MD, USA

problem #85

Jan 102020

Impala

  • 220,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The car is not driving smooth. The car is having multiple problems

- Gastonia, NC, USA

problem #84

Oct 162019

Impala

  • 104,000 miles
On interstate driving approx. 60 mph suddenly check engine light came on, and reduce engine speed light on and car dropped drastically down to literally no power. Barely had time to get on shoulder without causing accident. Went to local mechanic and he said that the issue was the throttle peddle.

- Ava, MO, USA

problem #83

Oct 012019

Impala

  • 177,000 miles
While driving on highway my car will reduce engine speed it will drop from 65mph to 20mph sometimes it shuts clear down. I have so far almost been in two collisions because of this.

- Winfield, KS, USA

problem #82

May 042019

Impala

  • 110 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Driving on highway @ 60 mph when engine dies with no warning. Dash shows following messages: "engine power reduced" "serivce traction control" "service stabilitrax" power steering and power brakes stop working. When car key is turned off and check engine codes are cleared, the car starts up fine and continues to run smoothly. Luckily I was able to safely stop the car (albeit on the middle of a major highway), turn it off, clear the codes, and start it back up to get out of the way. Same problem happened in January 2018. After this I took it to a Chevy dealer. They said car was covered under "warranty" for this problem and they replaced the throttle body. One month later same problem keeps occurring. Car runs fine but these messages appear about once a month. Typically the engine stays on and is only limited in power. However, occasionally the car will die completely without warning, even on the highway. Had car brought to Chevy dealer. They said they can not fix the problem unless it is currently occurring with the car. They recommended I take the car and bring it back to them when the problem happens again. However, I do not feel safe driving this car knowing the engine could just shut down at any moment and the Chevy specialist themselves do not seem to even have a clue about what could be causing this.

- Malden, MA, USA

problem #81

Nov 122017

Impala

  • miles
Vehicle hesitates throttle body causes car to jerk cut off not pick up speed always idled up speed sensor reads 107 mph when only going 30mph stalls. Almost was rear ended because car shut off in the middle of driving.I have my car regularly serviced and all of a sudden this started happening. My blendoor aculater cause my heat not to sometimes come on and it makes this loud clicking noise. Most if no all Impala have this problem and GM knows about all the things I told you about yet they dont wanna recall the vehicle

- Concord, NC, USA

problem #80

Jan 242019

Impala

  • 97,000 miles
While I was driving, the car gave a notice of reduced engine power, then a few miles later, another notice came on service throttle disabling service. And the car shut off! with no warning, and no way to get to safety. If I wasn't in an area that had a shoulder I could get to quickly or if there was any traffic near me, I would be dead! this is incredibly unsafe and is going to get someone killed, if it hasnt already! that has to be some sort of flaw in the programing. If I would have been on the highway, which is where I normally am at that time of day, I would have had no time to react and get to a safe area before the car shut down on me. It also locked up the steering wheel and braking system so I had next to no power. It was incredibly scary. I am just glad that I was driving the car, instead of my elderly mother. She very well may have had a heart attack from the fear. In no way should a car just shut down mid-drive like that! I cant even begin to explain the amount of ways how badly that could go wrong, and this seems to be a common issue with Chevy vehicles and the throttle body. Even if the throttle body is going bad, in no way should your car be programed to just shut off mid-drive, ever. I really hope that is a programing flaw and not intentional, because if that is intentional, you are truly trying to kill people. What is it going to take for Chevy/GM to get the issue fixed" how many people getting killed in unnecessary accidents is it going to take" I pray that myself or my family isn't one of them! please Chevy/GM, get this issue fixed already.

- Hunlock Creek, PA, USA

problem #79

May 152018

Impala

  • 80,000 miles
The contact called on behalf of the owner of a 2008 Chevrolet Impala. On several occasions, the vehicle failed to start and the reduced power warning indicator illuminated. Additionally, while driving 55 mph, the vehicle stalled. The contact was unable to restart the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The vehicle was diagnosed by an independent mechanic and fault code: P-2135 was retrieved. The mechanic replaced the ECM, throttle body, accelerator pedal mechanism, and the wiring harness between the ECM and throttle body; however, the failure recurred. The dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.

- Oolitic, IN, USA

problem #78

Apr 162016

Impala

  • 62,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Traction control and the stability trac reduces the engine speed under normal weather conditions drastically without any warnings. Been acting up for some time. Dealers don't know what the problem is and doesn't give a code. Very dangerous and frustrating.

- Marshfield, MO, USA

problem #77

Jan 122018

Impala

  • 135,000 miles
I was driving on icy and snowy roads and my engine power reduced warning light came on. I drove several miles to my destination. My car sat for 6 hours. I got in to leave and the engine light was on but not the warning. After driving about ten miles my engine power reduced light came on again. This happened multiple times four years ago and it's very frustrating to have it happening again. It seems to occur more frequently when the roadway is wet. After reading online, it seems this is happening to many other Chevrolet cars also.

- Pendleton, IN, USA

problem #76

Jul 192017

Impala

  • miles
First, the key will not come out of the ignition without pressing the release key switch located under the steering wheel. Then the car won't accelerate over 20 mph in D while driving anywhere, it won't go over 40 in D3. Not sure why but this is what is happening with the Impala.

- Hewitt, TX, USA

problem #75

May 032017

Impala

  • 34,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Impala. While driving 40 mph, the engine reduced power indicator illuminated and the vehicle began to reduce in speed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the throttle positioning sensor failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was called and informed the contact that if a diagnostic fee was paid, the vehicle could be covered under a technical service bulletin. The contact stated that he did not have money for a diagnostic fee. The failure mileage was approximately 34,000.

- Daytona Beach, FL, USA

problem #74

Feb 242017

Impala

  • 102,841 miles
Started the car and immediately upon pulling out of parking lot the service traction control error message and reduced engine power messages appeared. This is the 3rd time this has happened on this car. Have entered problem reports for the 1st 2 occurrences on this site. Replaced accelerator pedal position pedal sensor. None of these 3 occurrences were covered under warranty. It was 14 months since the last occurrence and warranty was for 12 months.

- Troy, NY, USA

problem #73

Nov 152016

Impala

  • 161,000 miles
I was driving in traffic around 5:30pm cst on us 59 N and rankin rd Tuesday 11/15/16 when my vehicle lost engine power. I was unable to accelerate or steer and the only light that came on in the car was the service tire monitor system. I managed, somehow, to steer the vehicle to the left shoulder of the freeway and put it in park. I turned off the vehicle and when I went start it again, after releasing the key, it made a stuttering to start sound over and over again even though I was no longer touching the key. When I tried to start it again it turn on and then back off and continued to do this at least 3 more times. I eventually had it towed to my home and after reading online today at forums.edmonds.com many people have been having this issue with Impala's and Suburban's from GM for at least 4 years now, first post is back in 2012. GM needs to put a recall on these vehicles and fix the issue before it more fatalities, as proven in their earlier 2014-2015 recall. They just did a recall about a year ago for Impala's having an issue where the ignition switch would then switch into the off position while driving if you hit a bump too hard and had too much weight on your keys. I got my vehicle serviced for that recall issue but it seems like their fix for that was incorrect and not the issue seeing as my vehicle, and several others, still shuts down while driving and the ignition is still in the on (not off) position, you lose acceleration and steering. This is extremely dangerous and will cause more deaths, injuries, and accidents. Please get this to GM and have them correct this issue in all their models with sensor throttle body's instead of wired ones. They also need to fix the issue of door and A/C accuators in their models, as its been described to me as a common issue in GM models. This is a very unsafe issue for all drivers GM or not. More accidents will follow.

- New Caney, TX, USA

problem #72

Jun 062016

Impala

  • 76,000 miles
Communication between gas petal and throttle body breaks down causing vehicle to display reduced engine power causing vehicle to slow to 20 to 30 mph instantly. Happen on highway almost causing accident due to slowdown. Should be safety recall before someone or myself gets killed.

- Taunton, MA, USA

problem #71

May 212016

Impala

  • 13,200 miles
Takata recall. It happen to me twice I got two kids the car lost power from 45 to ten. Engine light is on. The code thst comes up is P2138 this is not ok needs to get fixed. First time it happen I was on a highway the car behind me almost hit me due to the engine power loss.

- Los Alamos, NM, USA

problem #70

May 012016

Impala

  • 2 miles
While driving my car for only two minutes, the reduced power sensor came on and traction control came on also. My car would not go above 20 mph. Went back to normal after an hour. Very concerning if I was on the interstate when this happened.was on a back country highway when this happened.

- Heathsville, VA, USA

problem #69

Mar 222016

Impala

  • 276,138 miles
I was left sitting on the side of the road. I was going 70 mph on I-94 when the "service traction control" light came on, followed by the "engine power reduced" light, then something about "disabling throttle" sensor... my car shut completely down, leaving me to coast across 4 lanes of traffic on interstate 94. I've owned this 2008 Impala for just about a year... I don't know what to do I received the letter about an extended recall back in December and I called GM because there's a stipulation of the amount of miles you can have on your car to have this problem repaired... because my car has 276000 miles GM told me there is nothing they can do, at that time I asked why this item wasn't recalled. I was told if I felt the problem called for a recall I should reach out to the national highway and safety commission. I don't even feel comfortable driving my car anymore... this is a death trap!

- Southfield, MI, USA

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