This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Power steering fails while driving. Dashboard will say "traction off, ESC off" and I won't be able to move steering wheel. This has happened in busy intersections. I have to stop the vehicle and restart in order to gain power steering again. Mechanic has diagnosed it as torque sensor/steering column. This was recalled on many other Malibu, but not mine. A lot of people are having this same problem but weren't included in the recall. This has been happening since I purchased vehicle seven years ago at 80,000 miles (about once per year) and has gotten worse recently at 170,000 miles (multiple times per month). This is dangerous and very expensive.
I have a 2009 Chevy Malibu and it's very unsafe to drive. I have a 4 cylinder car with electric power steering and it was not apart of the recall. Yet it's having the same symptoms as the recall cars. I had to have my car pushed out of a ditch yesterday because it's so hard to turn my steering wheel I lost control of my car. My traction control light is on, and pressing the button does not work. I sometimes don't have control to unlock my door and have to call someone to physically open it from the outside. My check engine light is on, also my battery light. And they are all good and up to date. My traction and system light is on too. And my head lights, brake lights, and battery is constantly drained and going out. It's hard to find reasonable price's from auto shops, and the dealership prices are too expensive. I shouldn't have to struggle to turn and work my car because of a computer system that's out. It's very dangerous. I'm going to upload a picture of my car after it was pushed out the ditch. But my steering wheel has been hard to turn and I've been having this problem since January of 2020. And it makes a loud whining noise while trying to turn the wheel.
For years now I have had a few issues. One of which is the locks with in the vehicle. At one point one lock wouldnt be recognized by the fob or internal locking mechanism and then eventually all locks would be unresponsive. I now have to manually lock and unlock all doors. Second issue is the 3rd brake light. It appears that it wants to work when it feels like it. I typically see it working in early mornings when its cold, and then eventually it dims out and completely stops working. I have noticed this in other Malibu's that I see driving and I have read on many other forums that both of these issues exist. I really wish the manufacturer would issue a recall for both of these. Third, im roughly 200lbs soaking wet and for whatever reason the seat bracket that is used to lift and tilt has broke. My driver seat now leans to one side and I can no longer lift it up because of this.
Powersteering keeps going in and out. Headlights go in and out. Ive gotten those replaced three times! I also had some of the wiring replaced for my lights. I forgot what those are called and my lights still went out. Lock buttons not working. Radio wasnt working until I replaced a fuse. Speakers go in and out. Cruise control does not work. My battery went dead, so I replaced the battery and alternator and my car still didnt work.
When I bought it worked good for bout 2 days and I started noticing a light would be blinking like the engine light and a light with like a exclamation mark in side of like a bowl and the speed would reduce and then it would just quit even while your in traffic at a stop light, going up a hill it would do it just when it got ready
- Calhoun City, MS, USA
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1) re-occurring recall fault 13036 -brake lights on - ESC - traction control - etc, these were repaired but you cant repair a defect 2) power steering turns off and on - mentioned to dealer end last year 2019 - mentioned did not receive recall 14116 - spoke with GM rep today 8/21/20 (john) at nbr 800-222-1020 he stated this recall expired Dec last year any repairs going forward cost on me which isnt right. These repairs - recalls - should be handled no matter mileage/age. Upon attempting a right turn all power to steering wheel was lost but regained slowly - my thought was low power fluid. I parked the night and in morning searched vehicle for power steering reservoir to no avail did I find it - dealer advised it was electronic - still at that date I received no recall to power steering trbl - this should be repaired at GM expense
When trying to use the remote to unlock the doors, the doors will not unlock. It started with the passenger side rear door. The passenger side front door started having the same issue and now it has also come to the drivers side front door. You cannot use the fob from outside nor can you use the unlock button on the inside to get the doors to unlock. In order to get to the back seat, you have to climb over the seat and pull the unlock button by the window. We have check the child safely locks and they are not engaged. I have researched this on at least 3 other sites(https://www.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Malibu/2009/accessoriesinterior/power_door_locks_malfunctioning.shtml) andhttps://andhttps://www.cargurus.com/cars/discussion-T33503_ds654132. there are many instances of the same issue as well as issues of the locks unlocking while they cars are in motion. It seems that GM has been contacted and they have refused to take responsibility for these issues. What can a citizen do to get this taken care of? this is a dangerous situation if you have a child in the car and cannot get the door open to get them out in case of an emergency. I have discussed it with mechanics and they are telling me that the accuator(spelling) is an issue and has been for many years.
Since 2018 my brake lights will come on without touching the brakes. When this happens, my cruise control won't work. I can tap the brakes and they'll go off for about 3-5 seconds and then come back on. After awhile, the ESC and traction control lights will pop up on my dashboard. I've had the sensor replaced/reset 5-6 times since August of 2018, with the most recent June 2020. It worked fine that day, but the next day they all came back on. Today, it was fine, but later will probably be another story.,
The locks on this year make and model have a long history of door lock failure, sometimes they go up while driving, sometimes they wont go up or down at all with remote or car on/off, and this happens the worst and mostly in heat and hot weather. There are complaints all over the internet for years. GM refuses to take responsibility. This is a serious safety issue, especially for children in the back. Please do something, im not the only one at all that ever said anything about this.
Recently bought a Malibu 2009,4 cylinder. When I bought the car the steering wheel was shaky as I drove the car. After a 4 days of purchase I went on the freeway and the service ESC / power steering came on the dash board. I exited the freeway when making a left turn it was difficult to turn the steering wheel. I pulled over to the side and turned the car off and then back on the car was again drivable but after about 5 mins the car did the same thing again and I could not manage to steer the wheel to make left or right turns.
Power steering service ecs light loss of power shut the steering on mid road very dangerous it's a shame we don't have a recall yet and I read over 100 complaints of the same problems on these cars most on the 2009 Chevy Malibu
Power steering stops working. Power steering service ESC off on dash. Dash warnings light up periodically. Simultaneously all dials go down to 0 even when moving. Radio has no power. Manual steering all the time.
Was driving home from work on Friday and the power steering went out and I almost ended up in a field, could not turn it. Stopped and turned it off and back on again and it went back to normal, and it went out again as I was pulling into the drive. The next day I started car up and it had its warnings across my dash and the steering was out again. I just picked it up from the shop and it cost me $1562 to get it repaired. The steering assist motor, a new steering column(electric) and R&R steering column w/sgl switch and new turn signal switch. It's all connected. I have yet to find a recall for my car on my VIN number but yet there were a few recalls on many cars including my 2009 Malibu for this exact issue but yet I never received anything in the mail about it. I hope that they intend on doing something about this, I could have been killed while trying to take a curve and had to struggle just to keep it on the road in the other persons lane until I could get pulled off the road and out of the way. From reading all that I have read on here it seems that I am not the only one with the issue.
Post recall repair for breaklights, break lights stay illuminated when not pressing the break pedal. 3rd break light doesn't always turn on. Random episodes of car sputtering and then dash warnings including: Service ESC, service traction, service hill start. Head lamps requiring replacement every 3 to 6months.
The BCM (body control module) on my 2009 Chevy Malibu shorted out.. Chevy issue a recall for the same year, make on the hybrid model. I have no heat no defrosting no climate controls work at all.. all the fuses and relays are in good working condition.
My 09 Chevy Malibu lt brake lights will illuminate without the brake pedal being pressed.therefore signalling to other drivers that I am slowing, when in fact I am not. Also when the brake pedal is deliberately pressed to indicate the vehicle is slowing, the lights go out entirely, signalling to other drivers that I am not slowing down when in fact I am! this is a huge safety issue! I parked my vehicle today January 1, 2020 to test the functionality of my brake lights and the brake lights illuminated while I was outside of the vehicle, indicating I was pressing the brake pedal. Once the pedal was compressed, the rear lights went out entirely indicating the brake pedal was not compressed. Also the cruise control of the vehicle has never worked properly since purchasing the vehicle. It will not initiate or maintain set speed causing fluctuations in travel speed. So I refuse to use the feature as this too is a real safety concern.
The power steering goes out and the traction control light comes on and service ESC message comes across the message center. I cannot turn the wheel when this happens. I turn the car off and back on and the light goes out, power steering comes back for a second then the light trips again and it's out again as soon as I turn the wheel. This occurs while driving the vehicle at a slow pace.
Tcs, ABS, ESC, etc intermittently stop working. Electronic power steering occasionally stops working, usually when turning at low speeds. Brake lights sometimes do not illuminate when pedal is pressed. I also replaced the wiring harness to the passenger head light that had shorted out and melted. There is a slew of electrical issues, and they usually get worse as the weather gets wetter and colder.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Lexington, KY, USA