2004 CHEVROLET IMPALA — Complaint #652039
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS:HIGH/LOW BEAM DIMMER SWITCH filed January 3, 2008
NHTSA complaint #652039 (ODI reference 10213603) concerns a 2004 CHEVROLET IMPALA and was filed on January 3, 2008. The owner reports the failure occurred on December 28, 2007. The vehicle had 93,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to 00 based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:headlights:high/low beam dimmer switch, 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: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. 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 exterior lighting:headlights:high/low beam dimmer switch 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 2004 CHEVROLET IMPALA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
2004 CHEVROLET IMPALA. HEADLIGHTS SUDDENLY STOPPED WORKING COMPLETELY WHILE BACKING OUT OF MY DRIVEWAY ONTO MY ROAD. WHILE I WAS ABLE TO PULL BACK INTO MY DRIVEWAY QUICKLY, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ANOTHER STORY A MINUTE LATER WHEN I WOULD HAVE BEEN AT A BUSY INTERSECTION. BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ACCIDENT OR INJURIES, DOES NOT MAKE THIS ANY LESS OF A SERIOUS SAFETY RELATED FAILURE OF THIS VEHICLE. IF THE POLICE CAN TICKET YOU FOR NOT FIXING ONE HEADLIGHT WHEN IT FAILS, WHY WOULD THIS NOT BE A MORE SERIOUS SAFETY PROBLEM? I HAD THE VEHICLE IN TO THE GM DEALERSHIP WHERE THEY DETERMINED THAT THE MULTIFUNCTION SWITCH (ON THE STEERING COLUMN) HAD FAILED. IT WAS REPLACED AND IT COST ME $786.00 CANADIAN. MY WIFE TOLD ME THAT THE LIGHTS HAD GONE OUT A FEW WEEKS PRIOR TO THIS WHILE DRIVING HOME ONE NIGHT. THEY SUDDENLY WENT OUT FOR A FEW SECONDS AND THEN CAME BACK ON BY THEMSELVES. I AM ASSUMING THIS WAS CAUSED BY THE SAME MALFUNCTION.*CN
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 652039 |
| ODI Number | 10213603 |
| Date Filed | January 3, 2008 |
| Failure Date | December 28, 2007 |
| VIN | 2G1WF52E749 |
Similar EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS:HIGH/LOW BEAM DIMMER SWITCH Complaints for 2004 CHEVROLET IMPALA
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2004 CHEVROLET IMPALA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE LIGHT DIMMER SWITCH FAILED TO ACTIVATE AND WAS ABLE TO ACTIVATE ONLY ONE SETTING. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. T
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2004 CHEVROLET IMPALA. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 45 MPH IN THE EVENING, THE EXTERIOR HEADLIGHTS ON BOTH THE DRIVER AND PASSENGER SIDES FAILED. THE CONTACT STOPPED THE VEHICLE
I HAVE A 2004 CHEVY IMPALA THAT HAS HAD PROBLEMS WITH WARPED ROTORS, WHICH I HAD REPLACED. THEN A WHEEL BEARING WENT BAD. TOOK VEHICLE TO CHEVY DEALER. THEY DIAGNOSED IT AS LEFT FRONT HUB BEARING B
PROBLEM SWITCHING FROM HIGH BEAM TO LOW BEAM ETC AND SUDDEN HEADLIGHT FAILURE AT NIGHT WHILE DRIVING DOWN ROAD. BELIEVE PROBLEM IS MULTI FUNCTION SWITCH WHICH HAS BEEN REPORTED BY NUMEROUS PEOPLE F
MULTIFUNCTION SWITCH ON STEERING COLUM FAILED , AS A RESULT I HAVE NO HIGHBEAMS , IF I ATTEMPT TO PUT THEM ON ALL LIGHTS GO OUT , THIS IS A VERY EXPENSIVE PROBLEM THAT I THINK GENERAL MOTORS SHOULD CO
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.