Consumer Complaint Detail

CHEVROLET / IMPALA / 2004

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 007122397 Incident Date: Oct, 09 2007
Consumer's City: Consumer's State: PA
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: General Motors, LLC
Model Name: IMPALA Model Year: 2004
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:rear window
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 2G1WF52EX49 Date added to File: May, 23 2021
Date Complaint Received: Oct, 10 2007 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Dec, 14 2004
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 6 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: Since vehicle was purchased in 12/04, rear window defroster performed very poorly. in 3/07 it ceased working, however dashboard control switch and i/p control relay appeared to remain functioning correctly. troubleshooting revealed defective circuit breaker (mechanically broken armature) to be cause of complete failure. following replacement of circuit breaker, i/p control relay, and antenna module, rear window defroster is back to performing poorly. electrical grid appears to be functional - good heating pattern (when it heats) with no visually obvious defects. no obvious problems were found in i/p control relay and antenna module that were replaced. electrical diagnosis indicates excessive current draw thru defroster grid, which causes circuit breaker to trip after several seconds of operation. manually cycling the defroster control allows breaker to cool and can again be activated to provide 10-15 seconds of repeated operation. note that electrically disconnecting the grid (at the window) does not cause the breaker to trip, indicating no short in the vehicle wiring harness. with possible exception of the oem circuit breaker, diagnosis revealed to obvious heat damage to any other components/wiring in the vehicle. rear defroster grid appears to be source of the excessive electrical load in the circuit. problem does not appear to be addressed in tsbs that i can locate to date. discussions with several technicians has resulted in nothing more than guesses at this time. *tr