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.
My power steering wheel has been replaced once then not less than a year my power steering wheel goes out again. My brake lights are also on and never turn off. It's scary because no one knows when I'm actually braking.
Loss of power steering while driving but if you turn the car off and turn it back on it corrects the problem. This seems to be happening more frequently in cold wheather. ESC service light and ABS light comes on when this happens. This is very dangerous since it only happens while the car is in drive. Power steering seems to lock on when the wheel is turning. This has been an ongoing problem for us since we bought the vehicle in September of 2020.
While making a right turn, the power steering went out, the traction control light came on, and service ESC message was displayed. Luckily no one was in the lane beside my wife because it happened without warning and the car was nearly impossible to steer. She managed to pull into a shopping center parking lot, turned the car off and called for a tow. When the tow driver arrived and turned on the vehicle, warning lights had disappeared, and power steering was ok. I still had the vehicle towed and am awaiting diagnostics. I bought the vehicle used, and have only had it for 2 weeks. When researching the issue, it appears to be a common issue in the 2009 Malibu. Wondering why the issue has not been addressed before now as it is just a matter of time before an accident occurs.
Service ESC light on, loss of power steering, cruise control, and traction control...turnoff vehicle and turn back on and problem is rectified.vehicle was in motion at highway speed 60-65 making turning extremely difficult.
Sudden loss of power steering while driving back around Nov 2019. Steering wheel shaking when the problem first began almost as if it was switching between having power steering to no power steering. Service ESC power steering message. A few months later the problem suddenly went away. Now it's Feb 2021 and it started doing it all over again a couple months ago (Nov 2020). My VIN is not included in the recall even though other 2009 models were recalled for the same issue. GM needs to step up and fix this on their own dime.
- Villa Rica, GA, USA
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Son driving home from college, loses power steering and traction control light comes on. Readout bar service power steering and ESC. There are several recalls on this exact problem and exact year of vehicle but his vehicle VIN is not included. So irritating when manufacturers will not stand behind and fix a known issue... clearly they know the ramifications, they have a recall already!
Service ESC light comes on and loses power steering while at highway speeds at least 3 times per week, especially in colder conditions.! due to this issue, this car is off limits to my wife. I would not want power steering to go out on her while she's going down the rod with our [xxx] in the car. Numerous complaints on forums regarding this particular year make and model. Please help! parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
ESC light came on, wife could not steer car, looses steering when turn at intersections, very dangerous situation, she couldn't steer car and went into ditch, luckily was going slow and didn't tear anything up, but if another vehicle was there it could have been deadly
Intermittently loses power steering and service ESC, power steering lights come on in the dash. This has happened during normal in town driving. When we turn it off the system will rest, but comes on now at random intervals. Several times today
When driving my 2009 Malibu ltz 2.4L either street or highway the electric power steering will go out with no notice. Quite dangerous in any situation of driving. Mil light goes on and off when turning the steering wheel at same time power steering shuts down. Turning vehicle off and back on sometimes fixes the problem but only for a few minutes. This problem just started to occur at 164,007 miles.
Power of steering keeps going out I have to turn my car off and back on just to get it to steer again. Usually happens when I'm backing out of parking spots or driving slow or turning. My headlights wiring harness has a short in it and one of my lights cuts off and on this happens randomly while I'm driving.
It is January 4, 2021. My car has 172,000 miles on it and this winter I have been experiencing a problem with the power steering and traction control. I will be driving and next thing you know my traction control light comes on with the power steering warning. I have red Chevy Malibu forms and it seems like I'm not the first one to experience this problem. It sounds like this is something that should have been recalled but obviously it wasn't. the only way I'm able to clear it while driving is putting my car in park in the middle of the road with my hazard lights on turning my car off and back on then they go away. And then it doesn't appear for a couple days the next thing you know it pops back up multiple times. I just want to know if there can be a solution for me for the situation. It happens both while driving and even sitting at a light.
Power steering fails while driving, had to shut my car off while I tried to make a turn on the higway. The 1st time it happened at home on May 2020, car locked up and wouldn't move at all. Dashboard will say traction off, ESC off and it won't let me move my steering wheel. I have to shut off the car and wait a few minutes for it to come back. Car is at roughly 133K miles and had no issues prior to this. Also, when I drive my front side of the car shakes as if it is going over stuff. I replaced both cv joints, gotten the car aligned, and balanced my tires and they still can't find the issue with it. Only recall that pops up is the electronic, but I believe it has the steering recall as well.
The power steering light comes on and my steering wheel gets stiff. This happened to me leaving home and while I was turning on the highway. It is not the first time this has happened, and I have read that there is a recall on this.
When driving and at a stop/light, the car shuts off, or it shakes as if it gonna die out. The ESC service light appears on dashboard. Sometimes when just driving at any speed, it jerks and both ESC service light and traction control both come on the dashboard.
I was on my way home, pulled off of the interstate and halfway down the exit ramp, my traction light and a warning message began scrolling. The message said power steering service ESC. I turn my car on and the steering wheel starts to shake. After a minute (or less) my power steering service ESC turns on as a warning and the steering wheel locks up. I can hardly turn the wheel on my own. I can no longer drive it safely.
The ESC electronic steering control faulted while actively driving the vehicle twice in the last day I was driving it. If I was not a strong male I would have crashed due to the complete loss of steering assist. The fault message went away after stopping the enging and restarting the vehicle. This seems to be a common problem with 2009 Malibu but my vehicle, by VIN is unaffected.
I have a 2009 Chevy Malibu 2.4 that I purchased. My vehicle has under 150 mile and runs exceptional. Driving down the road the other day and power steering light came on and I lost all power steering in a turn thankfully I was able to recover the vehicle turning direction quickly barely missing a pedestrian on side walk. I got the vehicle to turn in to a near by gas station parking lot and parked. I turned off the vehicle and let it sit for a min. Not sure what to do? I turned the vehicle on and there was no power steering light that came on everything was back to normal. Like it didnt even happen. I was able to get the car home. I had codes read on the malibue to see what needed to be fixed no codes even showed up on the screen. I chalked it up to a scary fluke. I've drivin the car with out any issue until today I started the car and before I even got off the gravel road I live on the same thing happened again. Once I turn the car off and back on as before the power steering issue goes away. This isn't safe at all.
My door locks were automaticly going up and down. Now doors lock out of blue. Kinda discouraging now my power steering and service has acted up 2 times on Dec 06 2020. Both times the power steering warning came on I have been sitting still. Heard there has been recall on previous Malibu.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Chicago, IL, USA