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.
81K miles on vehicle. Driving at residential speeds (~ 30 mph), vehicle started suddenly downshifting, engine revving, then refusing to get out of 1st gear. I would hate to think what would have happened on a highway or crowded city street!
I recently obtained my 2011 Malibu lt from superior auto in bedford, in. It is a truly outstanding machine. I was pleased with the entire ecotec 2.4 engine and fuel economy. The drivetrain is a little different topic. I was looking forward to trying the new push button shift setup. It was smooth for the first 3 weeks or so. Oh by the way it barely turned 105,000 on the odometer. It started with 3rd shifting late and hard. Then it was reverse not catching once shifter was engaged, making me use my brake to stop the vehicle. All of a sudden it completely stopped pulling forward or reverse. Initially I assumed transmission just burned out. Waited until the next morning, trying again and it engaged gear. It was ultimately short lived, once transmission warms it starts to fail completely. I'm very disgruntled and disappointed in the car company I was raised on. As well as my family for generations. Not to mention, this my very first Chevy buying on my own. Please return my concerns please. I purchased the Malibu from a local buy here pay here. This leaves me on a most aggravated note, due to me being absolutely hustled into paying for a operationaless motor vehicle from what I once thought was 2nd to none, Chevrolet and GM in general. I am very disappointed and will most definitely never buy this brand again, as well as my family of 80+ years of business. GM, has lowered itself to an all time low! please return my submission asap. I need transportation for my union career I drive a very large amount for as well. Minds blown by the utter laziness of this massive auto titan. Disgusted!!
Only 115K miles and transmission is out, this car gets all scheduled maintenance, reverse won't engage and transmission makes noises in forward. Help please
Takata recall*** at 80000 miles I was driving and then my car would not move tried reverse with no luck ended up having to call tow company to get me out of traffic with almost being hit several times. With research found out this is common and GM refuses to fix problem witch is not right should be held responsible for making and putting faulty transmission in 2010 and 2011 Malibu's
Takata recall we were in motion going down a highway when the car just stop, we put it in reverse it moved when we put it back in drive would not move.the car is nine yrs old I was scare to death.
- Tacoma, WA, USA
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The vehicle started to have problems in 2016 and the check engine light would come on and off randomly and would not completely stay on to diagnose the vehicle correctly and when it would come on it kept saying it was different sensors. After replacing several sensors that were diagnosed to be incorrect and changing spark plugs and all filters and flushing several parts out the vehicle was still not running correctly. The vehicle did not have as much power as it did in the past and seemed to be shifting differently. The car progressively kept getting worse and loosing power and not shifting correctly. I had taken it to 3 mechanics in the nashville area and each of them could not figure out the problem also but all had experience with the issue and had relayed that they believed it was the timing chain from previous clients with similar issues. I then took it to the Chevy dealer because it had gotten to the point that the vehicle seemed unsafe. The vehicle would not shift correctly and I would be sitting at a red light and when I went to take off the vehicle would idle until catching and it would sit there idling and almost stall out and then after 60-160 seconds the vehicle would finally catch and take off. This also happened while on the interstate when trying to get up to speed with the rest of the traffic. Anytime the vehicle really needed to shift it tended to just sit and idle until the chain caught exactly where it needed to which is what caused the safety issue. The chain was missing in certain spots so once it finally caught the correct spot it would take off but made it dangerous to drive as you never knew how long it would take to catch on and take off or if it was going to completely break at some point and just not move at all. The vehicle also did not want to start kept rolling over multiple times by the time I was able to get into Chevy to fix it.
Broken part in transmission that clogged the filter. Car only has about 85,000 miles and has been taken care of since the day purchased new on 10/23/2010. Car was in motion when it quit moving. Was still running but I was stuck on the side of the road
I have a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu with 91963 that hasnt moved since April 26 2018. There is a known defect in the 3-5-R wave plate in Chevy Malibu from 2009-10 that they fix in 2012 but did nothing for 2011. Mulitple repair shops have told me they have seen alot of 2011 Malibu with the same problem. GM will not aknowledge this defect. I need help.
I bought my car last October with 88505 miles and month after my speaker went out and in November and December my car died on me three times and my grandmother had to force the dealership that the warranty allowed me to get a new battery and in March my car would jump when I shift to reverse. Then I told it to a auto shop they check the transmission fluid. Finally on April 26 'my car would not accelerate or go in reverse. I had it towed to my dealership where they charged me $108 to diagnose it and told me my 3-5-R wave plate was done and I need to replace the transmission. My grandmother did her research md could that between 2009-2010 Chevrolet Malibu transmission had a defect in the transmission with the 35R wave plate and they had made the change the 2012 models but never did anything with the 2010 models and I did research to an saw that some cars could have parts from older models and be in newer cars. I went to a transmission place and they told me to go to the consumer protection Agency with the states attorney. Depending on my VIN I could find out if my 2011 car was made with 2010 parts
Driving down city street, engine speed increased and vehicle slowed to stop. Would not go forward or reverse. As traffic backed up behind me, shut vehicle off for about a minute and restarted. Vehicle then moved enough to get off roadway then stopped moving again. Towed to Chevrolet dealership, they diagnosed with major internal transmission failure, transmission needs replaced. Vehicle has just over 90,000 miles, cost to repair, about $4200
The contact owns a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the gears were grinding and made an abnormal noise. In addition, the gears failed to shift and the vehicle had to be towed to the dealer (gordon Chevrolet, 1506, 31850 Ford rd, garden city, mi 48135, (734) 427-6200). The dealer diagnosed that the transmission assembly needed to be replaced. The dealer also indicated that the vehicle was 190 days out of warranty. The manufacturer indicated that they would cover 50% of the cost to replace the part, but refused to completely cover the repair from the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 38,000.
The contact owns a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact shifted the gear into reverse, but the vehicle did not move. While driving approximately 35 mph, the gear shifter failed to shift into third gear. The contact was able to continue driving the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to casper Toyota (904 strub rd, sandusky, oh 44870, (888) 864-2057) where it was diagnosed that the transmission failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired due to the cost. The contact later took the vehicle to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that a wave plate was detached and a three five piston failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer informed the contact that the vehicle was not included in a recall. The manufacturer opened case number: 8-3962773200 and referred the contact to NHTSA. The approximate failure mileage was 97,000.
While driving in the city and highway, transmission started slipping, as though it was in neutral. This continued to happen with no breaks in between. Vehicle would not shift out of second gear. Tried turning car on and off. Checked all fluid levels. Tried driving in manual mode, no change. After driving for 10 minutes, conditions worsened. Was almost involved in multiple accidents due to car reducing power while stuck in "neutral" mode as well as jerking forward out of no where when gas pedal was not even being pushed.
I am reporting this incident although it is a little over 3 years old, I was not aware of this website when this happened, because I feel it is related to the complaint I recently submitted, complaint number: 11045010, plus Chevrolet needs to be held accountable. On October 6th, 2014 at about 2pm I am getting on the expressway as I am about to merge with traffic and start to acceleration I feel a surge and than the check engine light comes on. When I am able to I pull over to the shoulder and contact the shop where I take my car to be serviced and set up an appointment to bring my car in the next morning. Brach's auto runs a engine diagnostics test and the codes are P0700 and P2714. The manager asks if my car is still under any warranty and it was still under the powertrain warranty so he suggests I contact Chevrolet. I first contact webb Chevy oak lawn who was not able to give me an appointment until 2 weeks away so I contacted the Chevrolet customer care and spoke with a rep who helped me to set up an appointment with kingdom Chevrolet and to receive a GM rental. I was not allowed to use the licensed shop where I have my car serviced and they refused to pay the engine diagnostics fee I had already had completed. Kingdom Chevrolet came up with the same diagnostic codes as brach's auto and suggested a throttle body service and fuel injection service for running issues. After the work was completed I took it back to brach's auto to have them check it out and it was suggested that I do the throttle body service which I had completed.
On November 1, 2017, while driving home on the expressway I hear this loud revving noise, I turn my radio off and realize it is my car making the noise and than the check engine light comes on. When I was able to I pulled over to the shoulder and turned my car off in hopes of the error clearing out. After a few minutes I turned the car back on only to find that the check engine light was still on, when it was save to do so, I pulled back into traffic with my hazard lights as I could not go over 20 to 30 mph without the RPM going up. I made it home, tried to back into my garage only to find that my car will not go in reverse. I put the car back in drive, pulled around to the front of the house and parked the car. Since it was after midnight, I called Chevrolet the next day and the only thing they could help me with was to get in touch with a dealership to schedule an appointment to take the car in for diagnostics as my car was no longer under warranty and there is no recall on this model year although there is a recall for models 2007 thru 2009 for the same issues. My service adviser called me later that day to tell me it was due to transmission failure, they found metal in the transmission and his advice was to replace the transmission. My diagnostic code was P0776( pressure solenoid 2 stuck off), my bill $3946 for car that has 84000 miles on it. A car that I am still paying a car note on. When I purchased it 4 years ago it had just under 30000 miles on it. I have done everything to maintain my car because my biggest fear is being stuck on the side of the road, especially since I am a woman working 2nd shift. I do not have my repair invoice yet as I have not picked my car up yet, its not so easy to come up with nearly $4000.
Ever since purchasing my 2011 Chevy Malibu, it has always had a problem shifting. I took it back to the dealership and they tested it saying nothing was wrong. I told them it seemed like it had a hard time shifting gears especially going from 2nd to 3rd. I could be at a stop light and it acted like it didn't want to go. I was driving to work and it started to over heat and stopped shifting gears. It wouldn't shift until I got the speedometer up to 95. Imagine being in the middle of the highway and your car just stops shifting gears. I went to three different places to be told nothing was wrong just to have this happen. After taking it to my mechanic, I was told that it needed a wave plate repair which would mean rebuilding the transmission. I took my car to 3 different places all quoting me the same amount of $3000. While at two of the auto shops I ran into 3 other people with Malibu that are having the exact same problems and my car and theirs has less than 100K miles
The contact owns a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu. While driving various speeds, the vehicle hesitated to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to wymer Chevrolet in cumberland, md where it was diagnosed that the transmission was faulty and needed to be replaced. The transmission was replaced and the failure was remedied. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 30,654.
Driving down the highway when check engine light flashed, car "squealed", car started shaking, and transmission gave out. I could not accelerate past first gear. In the middle of rush hour traffic, had to coast off the highway to safety. No prior notification (lights, warnings, noises) that there was a transmission issue. Car just recently exceeded the 100000 mile power train warranty. Was notified it was the wake plate that failed. Considering all of the other Chevy owners having this same issue, I think Chevy should at the very least acknowledge this issue.
The contact owns a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to go into drive position. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the master overhaul kit, pistons, control solenoid, and the torque converter needed to be placed. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 33,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Syracuse, NY, USA