2009 CHEVROLET IMPALA Power Train Problems

I WAS DRIVING ON CITY STREETS AND MY CHECK ENGINE AND TRACTION CONTROL LIGHT CAME ON. THE DASH ALTERNATED BETWEEN "SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL" AND "REDUCED ENGINE POWER." YES THE ENGINE POWER WAS REDUCED BUT I WAS STILL ABLE TO DRIVE IN THE CITY. *TR

TODAY MUST OF BEEN A RECORD FOR HOW MANY TIMES MY IMPALA SHUT ITSELF OFF! I LOST COUNT AT ABOUT 20 TIMES! IM OVER A HUNDRED MILES AWAY FROM HOME AT MY PARENTS HOUSE AND ON MY ATTEMPT TO GET HOME THE IMPALA WOULDN'T LET ME DRIVE MORE THAN 10 MINUTES. BECAUSE OF THIS I HAVE NOW HAD TO CALL OFF WORK AND AM OUT OF A DAYS WAGE BECAUSE I MADE THE MISTAKE OF BUYING THIS CAR. I HAVE NO MONEY AND CANT GET THIS FIXED FOR AWHILE BUT IT SEEMS THAT I MAY HAVE TO CHOSE BETWEEN EATING THIS MONTH OR FIXING THIS SO I GUESS ILL JUST GO HUNGRY. I'VE BEEN SEARCHING THIS SITE FOR OTHER YEAR IMPALAS AND IT SEEMS THAT EVERY SINGLE YEAR IS HAVING THIS ISSUE, EVEN THE 2014 MODELS! THIS HAS MADE ME REACH THE CONCLUSION THAT THE NHTSA DOESN'T REALLY CARE ABOUT...

ON MY COMMUTE TO WORK ON THE INTERSTATE MY IMPALA SHUT ITSELF OFF. I WAS IN THE LEFT LANE WHEN THE CAR SHOWED THE REDUCED ENGINE POWER ON THE INFORMATION PANEL, IT THEN FULLY DISENGAGED ALL ENGINE POWER AND POWERSTEERING. BEING IN THE OUTSIDE LANE I HAD TO MANEUVER MY IMPALA THROUGH THE HEAVY TRAFFIC AND ALMOST CAUSED NUMEROUS ACCIDENTS TRYING TO SQUEEZE TO THE SHOULDER. I THEN COASTED OFF INTO THE GRASS ALMOST INTO A LARGE DITCH BUT I SLAMMED ON THE BRAKES HARD AND WENT INTO A SKID COMING TO A FULL STOP. I SCANNED THE CAR WITH MY OBD2 SCANNER, IT READ P0601. *JS

WHILE SITTING AT A STOP LIGHT THE INFORMATION PANEL SAID REDUCED ENGINE POWER AS THE LIGHT TURNED GREEN. I HELD UP NUMEROUS CARS AS I SCANNED THE OBD2 PORT TO CLEAR THE CODE, ONCE AGAIN THE CODE READ P0601. CLEARED IT AND IT STARTED RIGHT UP. *JS

AFTER JUST CLEARING THE ONBOARD COMPUTER WITH MY OBD2 SCANNER JUST A FEW MINUTES BEFORE IT HAPPENED AGAIN. AFTER SITTING AT ANOTHER STOPLIGHT I PROCEEDED INTO MY LEFT TURN AND AS I'M COMING INTO THE LANE MY IMPALA DIED MIDWAY THROUGH THE INTERSECTION AS IT CHANGED FROM YELLOW TO RED LEAVING ME IN THE INTERSECTION AS THE CROSS TRAFFIC BEGAN TO GO ALMOST CREATING A HEAD ON COLLISION AND A MULTIPLE VEHICLE COLLISION. CAN A RECALL PLEASE BE IN EFFECT FOR THIS! ITS TO THE POINT TO WHERE I'M AFRAID TO DRIVE MY CAR TO WORK! I'D RATHER WALK THE 20 MILES TO WORK THEN BE IN THIS UNSAFE GM CAR! *JS

I WAS DRIVING DOWN A VERY BUSY STREET LOOKING FOR A RESTAURANT AND MY CAR MADE THREE DINGING SOUNDS INDICATING A ISSUE. BEFORE I EVEN COULD READ WHAT WAS DISPLAYING ON MY INFORMATION PANEL THE CAR LOST ALL POWER STEERING AND ENGINE POWER. BECAUSE I WAS TRAVELING AT ABOUT 55MPH I COULD VERY LUCKILY COAST TO A PARKING LOT NEAR BY. AFTER COASTING TO A PARKING SPOT I PUT THE CAR IN PARK AND READ THE INFORMATION PANEL, IT READ REDUCED ENGINE POWER, SERVICE STABILITRAK, AND SERVICE THROTTLE BODY. BECAUSE I KNOW MOST AMERICAN MADE CARS ARE PURE GARBAGE I WONT DRIVE ONE WITHOUT A EBDII SCANNER. AFTER READING THE EBDII SCANNER IT SHOWED A P0601 CODE, WHICH INDICATES A PCM MEMORY ISSUE. AFTER CLEARING THE CODE IT STARTED RIGHT BACK UP AND DROVE FOR ABOUT 10 MORE MINUTES UNTIL I WAS AT A PARKING LOT ON A STEEP GRADE....

I WAS DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY WHEN TRACTION CONTROL AND CHECK ENGINE LIGHTS CAME ON. CAR WENT INTO REDUCED POWER MODE AND FINALLY DIED WHILE STILL MOVING. LOST POWER STEERING. THEN MY CAR SHUT DOWN, HAD A VERY DIFFICULT TIME GETTING IT OFF THE ROAD. THERE SEEMS TO BE MANY COMPLAINTS ABOUT THIS. WITH THIS HAPPENING ON A VERY BUSY HIGHWAY, MYSELF OR MY DAUGHTER COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ONCOMING TRAFFIC, DUE TO CAR SHUTTING DOWN. COST OF TOW AND SERVICE 350.00 I ALSO HAVE HAD THE CAR PUT IN FOR THE SEATBELT AND AIRBAG LIGHTS GOING OFF, SINCE BEING IN THE CHEVROLET DEALER, THE LIGHTS NEVER GO OFF. *TR

THIS THE SECOND TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED. WIFE WAS DRIVING DOWN THE FREEWAY WHEN TRACTION CONTROL AND CHECK ENGINE LIGHTS CAME ON. CAR WENT INTO REDUCED POWER MODE AND FINALLY DIED WHILE STILL MOVING. LOST POWER STEERING AND FINALLY BROUGHT CAR TO A STOP ON LEFT INSIDE OF EXPRESSWAY. AFTER A SHORT TIME SHE WAS ABLE TO RESTART THE CAR AND LIMP HOME. NOTE THAT THE CRUISE CONTROL WAS ON, BUT I DO NOT KNOW IF IT WAS SET. HAD THE CODES READ THAT INDICATED A THROTTLE POSITION SENSOR CAUSED THE FAULT. THERE ARE TWO SENSORS WHICH HAVE TO AGREE AND IF THEY DON'T CAR WILL GO INTO REDUCED POWER MODE. WHEN SHE GOT HOME I FOUND ONLY THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON. I HAVE IN THE PAST MOVED THE WIRES ON THE BRAKE FLUID SENSOR TO GET THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT TO GO OFF. NOT KNOWING EXACTLY HOW ALL...

ALARM CAME ON THAT READ SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL - ENGINE POWER REDUCED. I WAS TRYING TO PASS A SEMI-TRAILER WITH ANOTHER CAR DIRECTLY BEHIND ME. THE ENGINE SUDDENLY WENT DEAD AND ANOTHER ALARM READ STARTING DISABLED. THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO. IF THE CAR BEHIND ME HAD NOT NOTICED MY CAR ROLLING TO A STOP I WOULD HAVE BEEN REAR ENDED AND SENT INTO THE TRUCK. THIS IS A SERIOUS LIFE-THREATENING SITUATION AND IT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED IMMEDIATELY. *TR

THE VEHICLE SUDDENLY DECELERATED AND DISPLAYED MESSAGES: "REDUCED ENGINE POWER" AND "SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL". THIS WAS THE SECOND INCIDENT. THE FIRST INCIDENT RESULTED IN THE ENGINE SHUTTING OFF COMPLETELY AFTER THE SAME INITIAL SYMPTOMS DESCRIBED; LOCKING UP THE STEERING DURING RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC (ESTIMATED 65 MPH, NO INJURES, APPROX. 4 MONTH AGO). OUR MECHANIC CLEANED OUT THE THROTTLE BODY SENSOR AFTER THE FIRST INCIDENT, AND PHONED THE DEALERSHIP WITH THE TROUBLE CODES. THE DEALERSHIP REFUSED WARRANTY SERVICE AS THE TROUBLE CODES HAD GONE BY THE TIME THE CAR HAD ARRIVED AT THEIR SHOP, AND WOULD NOT TAKE OUR MECHANIC'S PHONE CONVERSATION AS EVIDENCE. WE WERE INFORMED THAT THE THREE SERVICES COMMONLY PERFORMED TO FIX THE PROBLEM WERE TO REPLACE THE THROTTLE BODY, THROTTLE BODY SENSOR, AND ACCELERATOR PEDAL; THE LATTER NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY. *TR

VEHICLE GIVES A SERVICE THROTTLE STARTING DISABLED MESSAGE AND PROMPTLY SHUTS OFF THE ENGINE. IF YOU WAIT 5 MINUTES THE CAR WILL RESTART AND PERFORM AS USUAL.....UNTIL THE NEXT TIME. SHUTTING OFF THE ENGINE AT INTERSTATE SPEEDS IS INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS AND IS GOING TO RESULT IN SOMEONE BEING KILLED. BASED UPON INTERNET SEARCHES THIS APPEARS TO BE A KNOWN ISSUE, BUT GM WILL NOT PROACTIVELY FIX THE PROBLEM. *TR

PURCHASED VEHICLE ON 9/6/2012 USED WITH 27,479 MILES. ON 9/19/2012 WITH 27,960 MILES, I WAS ACCELERATING ON AN ONRAMP GETTING ON A HIGHWAY AND TWO MESSAGES APPEARED ON MY DASH: "REDUCED ENGINE POWER" AND "SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL AS WELL AS THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. EXPERIENCE ROUGH AND HESITANT SHIFTING BETWEEN GEARS AND COULD NOT GO FASTER THAN 35MPH. WAS ABLE TO SAFELY NAVIGATE HOME ON SIDE ROADS. I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER I PURCHASED IT FROM FOR SERVICE AND WAS TOLD IT WAS READING CODE P2138 AND THE THROTTLE PEDAL ASSEMBLY NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE SERVICE WAS COVERED UNDER THE DEALER'S WARRANTY AND I WAS SET TO GO. FLASH FORWARD TO 10/24/2012 WITH 29,355 MILES, I WAS DRIVING ON A SIDE ROAD AND THE SAME MESSAGES CAME UP. I CALLED ON STAR AND THEY PERFORMED A DIAGNOSTIC WHICH RESULTED IN THE COMPUTER READING CODES P2138 AND C0242. EXPERIENCED...

I WAS TURNING LEFT INTO A DRIVEWAY GOING NO MORE THAN 7 MILES AN HOUR, BECAUSE I WAS FOLLOWING A CAR, WHEN I HEARD A LARGE GRIND THEN POP. I PARKED MY CAR AND KNEW IMMEDIATELY THE TRANSMISSION FAILED BY THE FLUID TRAIL AND PART LEFT BEHIND. I TOOK IT TO A DEALER AND LUCKILY IT WAS COVERED UNDER THE POWER TRAIN WARRANTY. A WEEK AFTER RECEIVING MY VEHICLE BACK THE ALIGNMENT WAS OFF, DRIVER-SIDE HEADLIGHT SOCKET CAUGHT FIRE, I HAVE LABORED START UP, HAVE STALLED ON THE FREEWAY! AND HAVE STABILITRAK, AIRBAG, AND REDUCED ENGINE POWER ERROR CODES THAT RANDOMLY APPEAR. *TR

CAR STALLED ON THE INTERSTATE. MERGED CAR TO BREAK DOWN LANE WITHOUT BEING HIT. TRACTION CONTROL LIGHT ILLUMINATED. CAR WOULD NOT RESTART FOR ABOUT 20 MINUTES. CAR THEN RESTARTED AND WARNING LIGHT WAS OFF. PREVIOUS ELECTRICAL ISSUES WITH THIS VEHICLE INCLUDING REAR WINDOWS THAT WILL NOT ROLL DOWN AND DEFECTIVE AIR BAG SENSOR. *TR

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2009 CHEVROLET IMPALA. THE CONTACT STATED HE HAD EXPERIENCED BRAKE FAILURE SINCE THE DATE OF PURCHASE. WHEN THE BRAKES WERE APPLIED, THE PEDAL WOULD PULSATE ABNORMALLY. THE BRAKES WOULD ALSO MAKE AN ABNORMAL NOISE SIMILAR TO SCRAPING METAL WHEN APPLIED. THE DEALER REPLACED THE REAR ROTORS AND BRAKE PADS THREE TIMES BUT TO NO AVAIL. IN ADDITION, THE CONTACT ALSO STATED WHEN THE GEAR SHIFTER WAS PLACED IN PARK; THE VEHICLE WAS ABLE TO DRIFT FORWARD AND BACKWARDS. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED FOR THE FAILURE AND THERE WERE NO FURTHER REPAIRS MADE TO THE VEHICLE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 8,143 AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 17,009.