Transmission shifting hard and jerks. Car feels like transmission loose. I searched all over the internet and took to auto and transmission shops. I got outrageous price quotes to repair and they never really looked at car. DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR TO A TRANSMISSION SHOP AND NO NEED TO FLUSH YOUR TRANSMISSION. JUST CHECK YOUR FLUID IN TRANSMISSION IS FULL. ALSO DO NOT LET SOME BOZO TRANSMISSION SHOP CHANGE TRANSMISSION SHIFTING SENSORS. That would be a waste of time and money. THIS IS NOTHING MORE THAN A EASY FIX/REPAIR. The transmission shifting sensors are controlled by the computer box on car and the computer is controlled by the upper o2 sensor connected to engine block. I CHANGE OUT THE UPPER ENGINE O2 SENSOR, PROBLEM FIXED, EASY FIX transmission now shifts smooth quiet and I get better gas mileage. DO IT YOURSELF AND SAVE $$$$

I first bought this car in 2011 with about 98,000 miles. When I tested it out, it drove amazing with great power and was smooth. I first noticed the shifting problem that year when I took my first trip up from Orem, UT to Salt Lake City about a 45 min drive. Once I got off the freeway and hit stop and go traffic it gave me a hard shift from 1st gear to 2nd. I was concerned about it so I later changed the transmission fluid and filter. That didn't do anything. Now 4 years later I still have the problem and it is definitely worse. Probably happens almost every day. It is SO annoying! I can never get it to do it for a mechanic but it will do it for me whenever it wants.

I have noticed that it does get less frequent when I keep the coolant level full. (Unfortunately I still have a coolant leak still after fixing those little plastic elbows in the engine twice.)

Also it sometimes gets better if I park the car, turn it off, remove the key, open the drivers door, push whatever buttons I can. I push the lock/unlock buttons on the door and one my key-less entry. I press the brake and wait a minute or so then start up the car and continue driving. If I do all that while waiting a minute or two I have noticed an immediate reduction and sometimes no more hard shifting. Other than that I don't know how to fix it. It never shifts hard at first, shifts like butter when cold. Only when the engine is warm or hot it shift hard and is a real pain and I keep hoping I won't be dropping a transmission on the road cause it bangs my car around. It is unbelievable that mechanics don't know what this is. There has to be a reason but GM and the mechanics are just milking us for our money on possible fixes that just waste our money and don't fix the actual problem.

I love the car in general but it seems to be falling apart. Only 10 years old and I am throwing tons of month every month to fix something on it. I has the oil pan gasket fixed, but still have a oil leak. Had the coolant heater hose fitting (I think that's what their called) fixed twice but its still leaking somewhere. The clock spring in the steering wheel went out and got that fixed after 3 years of no use of buttons on the steering wheel(cruse and radio) not to mention that airbag not working. The O2 sensor just went out. The traction control went out. So many things... That would be nice if GM would build something more dependable. They just want more money out of us...

Got the car used with 71,000 miles on it and it drove beautifully. Then I noticed one day when I was in alot of stop/start traffic that once I got going it was shifting rough (especially 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd). We called a couple of Chevrolet garages and all gave us different answers, but most said that it would cost roughly $2,000 to fix. So I decided that I would deal with it and try to come up with a solution. One thing that I noticed that worked was treating the car as though it had a manual overdrive function and I mainly drive it in 3rd, using overdrive only when I'm going 55 mph and not starting and stopping a lot. So far I haven't had any trouble, it's just annoying. I would suggest trying this before replacing a transmission (especially since the GM garages we talked to said that may not even correct it).

Update from Dec 1, 2017: Car never did shift properly. Finally got rid of it after flushing a ton of money into a transmission fluid flush. The car ran worse after that. I gave up. Oh well...

I don't remember exactly when this started, it has been years and multiple mechanics cannot figure out what is wrong with it. At this point I am just going to trade it in and let a dealership deal with it.

For the problem that I am having as others have said, it happens intermittently and is almost impossible to get it to happen when you want to show a mechanic. The easiest way to describe it is the car is rough when going between gears. It happens around 20 and then again around 35 and not soo much going up in the 40-50. It does seem to happen more often when coming off of the highway and getting into some slower stop/start traffic.

Also, on random occasions when you want to take off from a stop, you hit the gas and the whole car just starts shaking and it sounds like it just cannot get into gear, I let off the gas and try again it makes a nice bang and off we go.

My 2005 Chevy Impala 3.4 has had transmission shifting problems. I have taken at least 5 separate time to get check and flushed and sensors replaced with different transmission shops. It has cost me approximately 1,200 to attempt getting it fixed since I purchased it 5 years ago. For the first couple of months it did not do this. Feels like my transmission is going to fall out. It jerks extremely bad when I take off into first and sometime even into second gears. One mechanic told me it was called positive shifting. What is that????? Still haven't found a solution. One mechanic mentioned that it was probably a good idea to sell the car because even rebuilding the transmission would eventually cause the exact same problem. GM should really fix what ever it is with all these complaints. Even My anti-theft security light comes on and it takes me anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes sitting in my car to reset it. My vehicle shut down while I was driving it on the freeway, I just seemed like it died and everything shut down could have caused a serious accident. No one seem to have a solution to this either. I think its something having to do with the ignition. I have even replaced the ignition starter motor cost 477.00 with labor. HELP!!!!

I've had this car since day one, 2005.

I have had NOTHING but problems with this piece of sh*t car. My dad bought it off the lot, and gave it to me 2 years ago for my 16th birthday.

I have spent so much money on this car for only being 18 years old I pretty much work to keep my car running. Anyway the Transmission problem is the same as everyone else's (of course).. It likes to clunk whenever it shifts into gears.. and when I take off from a stop sign, or stop light, or yield, it CLUNKS EVEN HARDER.. it could cost anywhere from 500 dollars to 2,000 dollars and I cant keep putting money into this car. PLEASE RECALL THIS GM!

I totally agree with all the complaints...but I can't find an answer!! HELP! My car shifts terribly at take off & even worse going up hill. It shudders so bad that I think the engine is about to fall to the ground. There is no getting out of the road quickly from a stop, I have to wait till all the cars have passed and there is a big long gap before daring to pull my car out, otherwise I'll get hit because my car is throwing a hissy fit to get going! I'm not even sure its the transmission because I've been driving it like this for about 4 years. I don't want to get a new transmission because other reviews say it doesn't solve the problem. I desperately want to get it fixed but no one seems to actually know the cause. Has anybody figured it out yet or must we all drop $2500 on a new transmission when the car is worth- less/ worthless.

I recently bought my 05 impala, used, with 145,000 miles, probably stupid on my part for buying an American car with such high mileage but it's all I could afford. Anyways, test drove the car, had it checked out, everything appeared to be good. Ran really strong, I knew it needed brakes but that seemed to be the only problem.

Since then, and it's only been a month and half, new water pump, catalytic converter became plugged which caused an exhaust leak and then the whole damn exhaust snapped off right behind the catalytic converter, so had the exhaust "fixed" between header pipe and just past the CAT, transmission began slipping three weeks after I bought it, and after all the other repairs the transmission light came on and it's clearly about to die. I lost all faith in Ford years ago, and after buying this car and not only having my problems but reading that EVERYBODY who has bought one of these mobile dumpsters has had nothing but problems from 50,000 miles up, it's no wonder so many people buy foreign cars. These companies get huge bailouts and still stick it to the American people. F#@% YOU GM!

The transmission will shift hard sometimes, normally when it is hot. It mostly happens when it has been on the open road and then it is in local traffic. Sometimes it hesitates when starting out from a light or stop sign and then bangs into gear. Then it will normally clunk as it shifts into a higher gear. A lot of the time, the transmission will shift smooth, but the rough shifting comes back when you least expect it. I have been driving it this way for at least 3 years and it has not gone away nor gotten any worse. Of course, some transmission shops would like to tear it apart and replace it for a couple of grand, but I talked to a mechanic who said it is most likely the PRESSURE CONTROL SOLENOID and he could replace it for around $800. This is because the engine has to be lifted to get to it. They are also recommending replacing the Monroe struts, and possibly the outer tie rods, since the car has about 180,000 miles. One more thing: the speedometer hasn't worked for awhile. I noticed other 2005 Impalas have the same problem.

I like the car except for the oil leaks that recently cost $600 to repair, in addition to the problems previously mentioned.