Do parking brake repair problems track days with snowfall across states?
Across U.S. states, NHTSA owner complaints about parking brake repair run higher where days with snowfall are higher, after adjusting for the makes sold in each state. This is an association across states, not proof that days with snowfall causes this repair.
State reports of this repair against days with snowfall, one dot per stateEach dot is a state: how much more (or less) than expected this repair is reported there, adjusted for the makes sold in the state, against its days with snowfall
How to read it: Each dot is a state. Further right means more days with snowfall; higher up means more complaints for this repair than expected (1.0 is average). If the dots climb to the right, reports of this repair rise with days with snowfall.
What it shows: States with more days with snowfall tend to sit higher on the chart across 42 states: a pattern in the data, not proof of cause.
Data: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, joined to NHTSA owner complaints, downloaded 2026-10-06 · 42 states. Chart: CalcScrape · calcscrape.com
The 10 states with the most days with snowfall (New York, Michigan, Maine, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota, Idaho, Utah, Massachusetts): reports of this repair run 13% above what the makes sold there would predict, and 10 of 10 are above expected. The 10 with the least (Hawaii, California, Louisiana, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina): 2% below, and 2 of 10 are above expected.
Exceptions: Hawaii (90% above expected) is among the lowest but above expected.
Split the states into thirds: the third with the least days with snowfall runs 2% below what the makes sold there would predict, the middle third 1% below, and the third with the most 12% above. Most of the days with snowfall effect sits in the third with the most.
For days with snowfall, after allowing for the 1562 comparisons we ran, luck alone would produce a pattern this strong about 1 time in 38. Take out any single state and the days with snowfall pattern still holds.
Weak spot: compare only states with similar very hot days and the pattern keeps about 31% of its strength, so part of it may come from very hot days instead of days with snowfall.
For days with snowfall, of the 5 exception states, 1 read the same way for the other parts of the system (so that is the system there, not this repair) and 4 are specific to this repair.
Road salt and slush corrode exposed metal and seize moving parts, and freezing weather stiffens rubber, so repairs to exposed parts can follow harsh winters.