Factory specifications, fluid capacities, torque values, EPA fuel economy and the federal safety record for the 1979 Impala.
The 1979 Chevrolet Impala, with only three owner complaints and three recalls, stands as a notably trouble-free entry in the model’s long history, particularly when measured against the 1,071 complaints recorded for the 2004 model year. Its primary issue, suspension, is a common concern for vehicles of this era, but the overall low complaint count places it among the most reliable years documented from 1991 to 2020.
0–60 mph, quarter-mile, horsepower and torque from independent road tests.
Independent road tests for the Impala of this era, listed by trim and engine — this page spans more than one engine, so no single horsepower figure is shown.
| Year | Trim / engine | 0–60 | ¼ mile | HP | Drivetrain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Custom Hardtop Coupe 6.6L V8 | 11.20 sec | 20.50 sec | 170 hp | RWD |
Owner-reported issues, recalls, investigations and service bulletins on record with NHTSA — an unfiltered look at what owners actually experience.
The year-by-year federal record provided covers 1991 through 2020, meaning the 1979 model year falls well before the earliest documented data and outside the generational arc entirely. That arc begins with negligible activity—zero to two complaints annually through 1993—then climbs steeply to a high-volume peak in the 2000–2004 window, when annual complaints reached 856 to 1,071 and recalls multiplied, before tapering and fluctuating through the late 2000s and 2010s even as technical service bulletins proliferated into the thousands. The isolated 1979 data show minimal federal filing activity: one complaint each for suspension, gasoline fuel system, and hydraulic service brakes, plus one fire complaint and zero crash complaints, a profile that mirrors the quietest years in the record but lacks any contiguous trend. Because the dataset does not specify root causes for those 1979 complaints, no inheritable defect pattern is discernible. Given the absence of 1979 from the year-by-year trend line and the extremely sparse complaint footprint in the provided target-year data, this model year carries little documented federal baggage, making it a comparatively clean-sheet candidate on paper despite the lack of surrounding context.
All 3 complaints on record, top 3 components.
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaint database.
Showing 2 of 3 campaigns on record for this vehicle.
THE HEADS MAY BREAK OFF THE FRONT OUTBOARD SEAT BELT ANCHOR BOLTS DURING NORMAL VEHICLE OPERATION EVEN UNDER NO LOAD CONDITIONS. THIS IS DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF BOLTS USED, HIGH INSTALLATION TORQUE AND ARRANGEMENT OF… Remedy: DEALER WILL REPLACE ALL ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT FRONT OUTBOARD SEAT BELT ANCHOR BOLTS ON THE AFFECTED VEHICLES AT NO COST TO OWNER.
A CHILD COULD OPEN THE REAR SIDE COMPARTMENT DOOR AND ENTER THIS COMPARTMENT. THE CHILD COULD BECOME ENTRAPPED IF THE DOOR WERE TO CLOSE, AS IT CANNOT BE UNLATCHED FROM THE INSIDE. Remedy: DEALER WILL REPLACE THE ORIGINAL COMPARTMENT DOOR LATCH, WHICH CAN BE LATCHED WITHOUT A KEY, WITH A NEW ASSEMBLY THAT REQUIRES A KEY TO LATCH AS WELL AS LOCK THE DOOR.
The most common OBD-II codes for this vehicle's emissions system. These are standardized SAE J2012 definitions, not vehicle-specific fault reports.
Decode factory build data for a specific vehicle by VIN.
Cross-vehicle references for the kinds of data on this page.
NHTSA lists 3 recall campaign(s) for this model year. Check your specific vehicle by VIN.