AutoUtility currently tracks 59 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2018 Chevrolet Impala. Powertrain & Transmission issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 11 complaints (18.6% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 6 filings cite a crash, 2 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 59 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Powertrain & Transmission (11 reports • 18.6% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (11), Brakes & Traction Control (9)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 6 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 2 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
59
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
6
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
2
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2018 Chevrolet Impala

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 18.6% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

11 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 18.6% of complaints

Electrical System

11 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 15.3% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

9 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 5 crash reports 🩹 1 injury report entry
#4 Problem Area 11.9% of complaints

Steering System

7 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 10.2% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

6 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 1 injury report entry
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2018 Chevrolet Impala

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11746623
Filed: 06/26/2026

"The transmission failed, shifting is no longer smooth. It hesitates and shakes the entire car, and the car slows down to almost a crawl uphill. I understand this is an issue with Chevrolet Impalas. So now I have an $8200 bill for a problem I was never told about, and that GM knew that it existed...."

Incident Date: 05/01/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA ODI ID: #11727989
Filed: 03/30/2026

"The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Impala. The contact stated that while the A/C was activated during the summer of 2025, the A/C failed to function as intended. The contact stated that hot air was blowing through the vents. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent..."

Incident Date: 04/22/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11716610
Filed: 02/08/2026

"I was driving and parked the car at the store. After checking out I went to the car got ready to leave and started backing out and the car would not turn to the left at all. I took it to the shop and was told they do not see anything wrong with my car but a steering message is coming up."

Incident Date: 02/07/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11687573
Filed: 09/16/2025

"Passenger side front seat. When occupied, airbag sensor located inside the seat is malfunctioning. My husbands safety is at risk when he's in the car. He tries moving the seat up, back, etc. Sometimes works and the airbag sensor works. We are fearing that if there were any accident or need, that..."

Incident Date: 01/01/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS,SEATS
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11679042
Filed: 08/07/2025

"The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Impala. The contact stated that recently, the driver’s side air bag deployed while the vehicle was parked and unattended overnight. Prior to the failure, the air bag warning light had illuminated while driving. The local dealer was not contacted, and the vehicle..."

Incident Date: 08/02/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Chevrolet Impala

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2020)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Chevrolet Impala 300 10 3 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Chevrolet Impala 111 8 0 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Chevrolet Impala 116 4 0 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Chevrolet Impala Current Page 59 6 1 Current
2019 Chevrolet Impala 28 4 1 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Chevrolet Impala 15 3 0 View 2020 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2018 Chevrolet Impala

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 35 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 8 0 0 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 6 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 6 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 4 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 3 3 0 1 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 2 1 0 1 0
AIR BAGS,SEATS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2 0 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,SERVICE BRAKES 1 1 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel System NHTSA category: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Doors, Latches & Locks NHTSA category: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,AIR BAGS,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 1 1 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (59). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.