2001 CHEVROLET IMPALA — Complaint #654346
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY:PRESSURE RELIEF DEVICES filed January 20, 2008
NHTSA complaint #654346 (ODI reference 10215474) concerns a 2001 CHEVROLET IMPALA and was filed on January 20, 2008. The owner reports the failure occurred on December 27, 2007. The report was geocoded to Texas based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as fuel system, other:storage:tank assembly:pressure relief devices, 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 fuel system, other:storage:tank assembly:pressure relief devices 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 2001 CHEVROLET IMPALA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
2001 CHEVY IMPALA I WENT OUTSIDE TO START THE VEHICLE AND THE BATTERY WAS DEAD, IT HAD ENOUGH POWER TO POWER UP THE LIGHTS ETC. HOWEVER, IT DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH POWER TO START THE ENGINE. I THAN MOVED ANOTHER VEHICLE UP NEXT TO IT AND CONNECTED JUMPER CABLES. I WAITED FOR IT TO CHARGE AND TURNED THE KEY. WHEN I TURNED THE KEY OVER, THE PLASTIC INTAKE MANIFOLD VIOLENTLY EXPLODED. I HAD A HUGE FIRE UNDER MY HOOD. THE EXPLOSION SHOT PARTS ACROSS MY YARD. I HAD TO USE THE WATER HOSE TO PUT THE FIRE OUT, THE CAR WAS LESS THAN 10 FEET FROM MY HOME. I LEFT IT ALONE AND CONTACTED A DEALERSHIP MECHANIC THE VERY NEXT DAY. I WAS TOLD THAT THEY HAD RECENTLY HAD 2 OF THE SAME VEHICLES COME IN WITH THE SAME PROBLEM, AND THAT IT WAS DUE TO A FAULTY FUEL PRESSURE REGULATOR AND THE FACT THAT THE MANIFOLD IS MADE OF PLASTIC. THIS EXPLOSION COULD HAVE VERY WELL KILLED SOMEONE. I HAVE RESEARCHED THIS ISSUE, AND FOUND THAT THERE WAS A RECALL DONE ON OVER 900,000 OF THESE VEHICLES, HOWEVER, WHEN I CONTACTED
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 654346 |
| ODI Number | 10215474 |
| Date Filed | January 20, 2008 |
| Failure Date | December 27, 2007 |
| VIN | 2G1WH55K519 |
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.