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2008 CHEVROLET IMPALA — Complaint #1091882

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NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:WINDSHIELD:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT filed July 29, 2014

NHTSA complaint #1091882 (ODI reference 10617265) concerns a 2008 CHEVROLET IMPALA and was filed on July 29, 2014. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 6, 2014. The vehicle had 61,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:windshield:electrical heating element, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: yes, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same CHEVROLET IMPALA cohort independently describe similar visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:windshield:electrical heating element failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2008 CHEVROLET IMPALA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2008 CHEVROLET IMPALA
Component
VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:WINDSHIELD:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT
Fire
Yes
State
Michigan
Mileage
61,000 mi

Complaint Description

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2008 CHEVROLET IMPALA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 35 MPH, THE DEFROSTER SYSTEM WAS NOT PROPERLY DEFROSTING THE REAR WINDOW AND WAS AFFECTING HIS VISIBILITY. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC FOR DIAGNOSTIC TESTING AND THE MECHANIC INFORMED THE CONTACT THAT THE WIRING HARNESS HAD OVERHEATED AND WAS NOT CARRYING ENOUGH VOLTAGE FOR THE VEHICLE. THE MECHANIC ALSO STATED THAT WHERE THE CONNECTOR WAS LOCATED, THE WIRING HARNESS WAS SMOLDERED AND COULD HAVE CAUSED A FIRE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 61,000.

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 1091882
ODI Number 10617265
Date Filed July 29, 2014
Failure Date February 6, 2014
VIN 2G1WT58K189

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.