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.
While driving, all electronic systems shut off. The engine is still running but the gauges, power steering, traction control, everything. Anything electrical shuts off. It's happened on the freeway going 60 mph and on residential streets only going 15 mph.
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. While driving at any speed, the power steering ability seized and the vehicle shut down and then restarted. In addition, the service power steering indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to classic lawton Chevrolet (8308 nw cache rd, lawton, ok 73505, 580-280-2800) where it was diagnosed that the power steering module needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure recurred and was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 61,000.
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact attempted to start the vehicle, but it failed to start. In addition, the check engine and battery warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to viva Chevrolet (5915 Montana ave, el paso, tx 79925, (915) 247-2086) where it was diagnosed that the battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in any recalls. No further assistance was offered. The approximate failure mileage was 35,200.
Steering ECU, instrument cluster, and center stack all reset while driving intermittently. These incidence have occurred numberous times and GM does not know the root cause. When an event occurs the driver looses power steering for a brief period of time. This has happened while making left hand turns, on the highway, and while stopped. GM released a technical service bulletin to check ground points on the negative battery cable this does not solve the problem and this is a serious safety concern. I have released production level software for numberous tier one suppliers that have gone into a variety of ecus. To me it seems like all of the body control modules have lost power. When checking car complaints this same behavior has been stated in over 40 reports and all reports state GM was unable to determine the cause. If an investigation has not been launched into this behavior I highly recommend it before the loss of power steering kills someone. M.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Malibu/2013/electrical/loss_of_power_while_driving.shtml https://M.youtube.com/watch?V=26cz7qhvxck&feature=youtu.be https://youtu.be/lreeo3E9jya https://youtu.be/kv83C7anskq
When I was on my way home, my car's warning lights started to flicker, and 'power steering service' and 'charging system' warning lights appeared. My entire dash went completely black and steering wheel became completely hard. The car stayed on, but all the lights went off. After a few seconds, the car shut off. Car would not restart, even with a jump. Mileage on car was at 110,000 miles. Luckily I was on a residential street, so I just pushed the car safely in front of a random house. Upon further examination, this appears to be an on going problem. I've found hundreds of other owners with a similar problem on various forums. Some are very similar to my problem, while others are more dangerous. Below, I have quoted other owners personal stories as well 'the contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. While driving approximately 60 mph, the power steering malfunctioned and caused the steering wheel to become very difficult to turn in either direction. The vehicle was taken to the local Chevrolet dealer (phil smith Chevrolet, 1640 North state rd 7, lauderdale, fl 33313). The dealer reset the power steering module, but the failure continued. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 118,000.' 'charging system" engine light keep coming on. All lights come on dash board come on then go dim. Car shuts down on you while driving and steering wheel locks up. I almost crash into a light. - richton park, il' 'this is my second report. The vehicle loses power steering and the entire gauge cluster goes dark. Almost caused a wreck today. It happened twice today and once yesterday. This is getting out of hand. Needs to be recalled immediately. Thank you - ravenna, oh' this seems to be an on going problem and needs to be seriously looked at before an accident occurs.
- Humble, TX, USA
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Starting in October 23, 2017 got in the car started it and it started but dashboard lights did not come on. Proceeded to drive home the dashboard never came back on. I got in the car the next day the dashboard lights came on.. I took it george matick Chevrolet on October 24, 2017 and they were unable to diagnose anything, the car continued to do the same with the lights blinking on and off including the signal light while driving until one day the dashboard was completely black and the battery died completely down and I had to have the car towed to george matick Chevy on January 31, 2018. Once again they said they couldn't diagnose anything boosted the car and that's it. Still to this day the car continues doing the same and the dealership is saying nothing is wrong. I feel unsafe and believe this is electrical and wonder if the car will catch on fire. I also wonder if it will start up every day and what is going to happen when I drive it. Every single day it is doing this. I keep contacting the dealer and they basically are saying if the machine cannot do anything they cannot help me. I want to know if there is another way this issue can be checked or if I have to trade in a car that I just got over a year ago. They want me to bring it in and keep paying for diagnostic testing to tell me nothing is wrong. I am no mechanic but I do know that the dashboard instrument panel indicator light signals etc should not blink while driving and the dash should never go black while driving. Please help me because I am really afraid to drive and cannot get anyone to understand this is a safety hazard when you cannot see your speed, gas level, etc. In addition when signals are blinking and going crazy for no reason the car behind me could hit me. So this happens now in motion every single day on streets, highways. Turning or going straight.
Safety risk: The entire electrical system shuts down while the car is in motion. Radio and dashboard lights go out and the power steering fails. This malfunction occurs randomly both on highways, street driving (stop-start), while making left or right turns and reversing out of parking spaces. I have taken the car to the dealer from which I purchased the vehicle (schumacher Chevrolet in clifton, NJ) 3 times and they claim they cannot replicate the problem on test driving. On the 1st visit they said it was the radio and replaced a part. On the 2nd visit they said it was the battery, which was replaced yet the problem persists. My Malibu is currently in the shop and they called and of course, they don't know what the problem is. In addition to the electrical failure, the "service front camera" light will display and after the last event, I selected the voltage reading on the electronic dashboard panel and watched the voltage meter fluctuate from 13.6 to 14.1 as I was driving, and it remained at 14.9 while stationary. This problem is extremely dangerous and I pray that no driver gets hurt before Chevrolet takes action to figure this problem out. I had no idea that so many other 2013 vehicles were similarly affected. I am going to report this issue to General Motors and I hope others continues to do the same.
While driving the car informed me that I had an accident and onstar called. This happened several times. In order to stop the flashers I would have to pull over and restart the car. I informed the dealer and they have been testing, calling GM, and repairing for 6weeks. They keep telling me it is fixed and I drive it and the same thing happens again. This has been going on for 6 weeks now and it's still at the dealer. They can not seem to find the issue. The last time I tried to drive the car in addition to to the other problems the car would stop all together. This seems like a major saftey issue to me.
Purchased car certified pre-owned. First winter entertainment display and warning lights started to flicker randomly, and car would not reliably start. Took to dealership and they were unable to recreate the symptoms. The following winter the entire electrical system began failing upon engaging it while in motion. For example: Using the the power windows, engagement of the traction control in slippery weather, using a turn signal, were all capable of shutting down all electrical options in the vehicle including the power steering. Nearly caused a couple accidents. The service stabiltrak light would also come intermittently come on. Brought to dealership again, they cleared the dash lights and reset a sensor that was showing bad in a diagnostic scan. Car ran smoothly for a few months. Showed symptoms again over the summer(lights flickering and loss of touch screen momentarily). Dealership was unable to recreate again. Now this winter the car is completely messed up again, same exact symptoms as last time. Power steering loss, full electrical loss while in motion, sometimes randomly, other times as a direct result of engaging with the electrical system as I described before. A aaa worker noticed the burning of electrical cable housing coming from the battery, I pointed this out to the dealership but they don't seem interested in it. Based on the consistent complaints about this vehicles electrical system, this car needs to be recalled and GM seriously investigated. They've already had to settle hundreds of death law suits due to this exact issues they claimed was a faulty ignition switch in the cobalt, yet this exact problem exists heavily in other models and the issue continues to be rampant in 'fixed' ignitions in the cobalts. This is a dangerous public health issue, GM needs to be held responsible
Instrument cluster will stop working while driving, or not work at all. It goes completely dark, with no readout. Speedometer, fuel gauge, temperature, tachometer. Nothing works. Vehicle has 54,000 miles on it.
Fuse caused low voltage power steering going on and off wiyhout the steering service light coming on. The steering became loose. Hard to control when driving. I could not get part for over a week.
My 2013 Chevy Malibu has been having power and/or electrical issues. I have took it to the dealership numerous of times, but the issue is still ongoing. When I steer left or right, my car powers down and the steering wheel locks. Some times the car radio screen and dashboard lights flashes on & off. The only way to make it stop is to turn the car off and back on. I can be driving down the road and the car will shut down and power off on its own. It is extremely dangerous, but that is the only transportation I have right now. I am not sure what is going on and I have seen numerous of complaints from people with the same issues. Please investigate.
Blend door functions do not work properly. Dual climate control only allows heat to drivers side of vehicle. Passenger side blows A/C cold air no matter if A/C is on or off. Periodically drivers side only works on defrost or feet only settings. Have to have heat to foot setting and stuff blanket under passenger side dash to heat car in winter. I cannot defrost entire window.
While the vehicle is in motion the radio screen would flash off and on followed by lose of power steering the car was parked and towed to a local dealership to be inspected
My Malibu's dashboard will go out while driving the vehicle. No speed, odometer readings, fuel, temperature or digital speed display works. It will come on and work fine but will randomly go out while driving. Sometimes during start up the dash will not even start up with the car. This is a problem that customers should not be liable to fix. I have no aftermarket parts on this car and it has never been involved in a crash.
"charging system" engine light keep coming on. All lights come on dash board come on then go dim. Car shuts down on you while driving and steering wheel locks up. I almost crash into a light.
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. While the contact's son was driving various speeds, the power steering failed to turn left or right and the instrument panel lighting automatically turned off without warning. The contact's son pulled over to the side of the road and waited 8-10 seconds. Afterwards, the vehicle returned to normal. The contact's son was able to drive to work and back home. The vehicle was taken to the dealer (serpentini Chevrolet of strongsville, 15303 royalton rd, strongsville, oh 44136), but the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure recurred several other times. The vehicle was taken to another dealer (pat O'brien Chevrolet South, 3880 pearl rd, medina, oh 44256) where it was diagnosed that the alternator needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure occurred again after the repair. The manufacturer was contacted at 866-790-3600 and stated that they were unaware of the issue and the contact would have to pay for the repairs. Case number: 8-314031920 was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.
This 2013 Chevy Malibu is like a metal death trap, in my opinion. I'm noticing a lot more issues with the electrical system. The car (as I'm driving) will completely shut off; the radio will first shut off, my dashboard will go black, and my steering wheel will lock up. Usually I can tell when it's going to happen, because when I'm at a light, I can just see the lights on my dashboard flickering, so if I have time, I will turn it on and off real quick. Sometimes when I do that though, my car won't turn back on. But, when it does work, it's just a temporary fix and will start again once I start to drive. This will happen multiple times a day. I will try to turn, and my steering wheel will just lock where I cannot control my car as I'm driving. Several times this has almost caused an accident. When I'm on the highway going 65-70 mph, I can't control my car for 5-10 seconds, let's just say it's one of the scariest moments that you can have while operating a vehicle. One time it happened, I almost hit a man on his bicycle. I've called Chevy, they don't know what's wrong. Apparently there's no open recalls or bulletins for this issue. When I take it to get it checked, they can never find an issue. Does someone need to get seriously injured or killed for Chevy to address this?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Humble, TX, USA