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.
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
- Las Vegas, NV, USA
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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?
This is my second complaint considering this issue. Loss of power steering, radio goes black, gauge cluster goes black. Since my last complaint this has occurred no less than 15 times with two very close accidents. This is becoming a very dangerous vehicle. And I plead with you to open a recall thank you. It has now occurred on both city roads and highway speeds. It seems to get worse when the turn signal is used.
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
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. While attempting to start the vehicle, the key was placed in the ignition, but failed to turn over. The contact stated that the key was stuck in the ignition and the anti-theft system locked up. As a result, the battery was drained and the contact became locked in the vehicle. The contact had to exit through the trunk. The anti-theft light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the anti-theft failed to allow the vehicle to start. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unavailable.
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. While driving in inclement weather, the defroster and air conditioning unit ceased to function. The vehicle was taken to phillips Chevrolet (1730 torrence ave, lansing, il), but was not diagnosed due to limited staffing. The contact stated that the battery was replaced and the fuses were checked, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 49,519.
Car is causing the battery to go bad. When the battery goes bad the whole car starts acting up; lose power steering, steering wheel locks up, dash lights flicker until turned off, in dash screen turns off before car dies. After I bought the car three months later my battery went bad (car started acting funny and gradually declined in quality over a week's time) I replaced the battery and now 2 years later the battery is bad again. This is a dangerous car to be in as the whole car dies while driving and the steering wheel locks up on the highway. This happens while driving. It has happened on the highway, interstate, parking lot and city street. Two different batteries should not go bad before there life time. I believe this has something to do with the car itself and also the car should not be designed for the steering wheel to lock up and remain solely on the normal battery.
The radio shuts off. The climate control goes haywire. And the steering locks up. This has only happened whle the car is stopped. But reading all the hundreds of complaints it seems to happen at any time. This has happened multiple times. Something needs to happen immediately before there are fatalities.
While driving my Chevrolet 2013 Malibu ltz my stabiltrack light and service power steering pump light came on my dash immediately afterwards when driving at low speeds any where from zero to thirty miles per hour the car will randomly lose engine power and will stall but the electrical system will stay on but the head lights go out and the power steering will go out making the vehicle hard to turn. The car dies just about every time I am either accelerating from 0 mph to any low speed unless I slam on the gas pedal. In bumper to bumper traffic im restarting my Malibu every 3 seconds after it dies. It's is so dangerous if I have to turn and their is oncoming traffic cause the car could just die in the middle of the turn and be smashed by oncoming traffic. This happens on the street on the highway anywhere im driving. Car was taken to dealership where they held it for 2 weeks and said it was a oil pump solenoid valve being stuck. As soon as I drove off the lot I didnt even get around the corner and the car died at a low speed and the stability light came on along with the power steeri my pump and check engine light. Vehicle has to been taken in several times for cam shaft position sensor failure also. Car failures have been common since the date I purchased this vehicle
Car radio turns to black along with dashboard cluster display, steering may or may not work depending on the severity of the computer restart. In severe restarts the radio is neither on nor are any climate control options. The problem seems to occur during low acceleration or at idle.
7/31/17 my car wouldnt start dashboard said service battery charging system-attempted to charge battery (which was at 83%) my father jumped my car the steering wheel became hard to turn but it started and within 5 miles the whole electrical system shut down had the car towed to the dealership (8/1/17-at this time I also opened a case with GM due to an open recall that my VIN didnt fit but issue was very similar) after 4 days of waiting (8/4/17) they said it was just my battery-they replaced my battery and 8/5/17 2 days after picking my car up my check engine light is on and today is the soonest they could do a second diagnostic on my car so I will be dropping it off..fyi I called GM 08/03/17 to ask that they tow my car to another dealership since the one I paid to have it towed to was taking so long to get to it and was told by a senior advisor, aleetha, that they received an email from the customer relations manager on 08/01/17 stating that the lower control arm was the issue and they werent going to cover it I advised that I had just spoken with the dealership and was advised that they hadnt even taken a look at my car needs to say aleetha told me I wasnt car savvy enough to know whether the lower control arm was affecting my electrical system (I had my lower control arm replaced 11/2016) and there was nothing she could do I asked that we do a conference call with the customer relations manager and she stated she would call me right back with her on the phone and I never heard back from her. I called the dealership right back and was told that they never contacted GM with that information because my car still hadnt been looked at.
The radio/navigation in my vehicle randomly turns off. I began a search on the web to see if this is a serious issue only to find that this is a frequent occurrence and it could lead to more dangerous problems, yet Chevy won't recall it and the NHTSA doesn't seem to want to get involved. Here is the link from others with the same or similar situations regarding electrical (radio/navigation) among other things that occur after the radio/navigation appear to begin failing: Https://www.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Malibu/2013/electrical/electrical_system-2.shtml the problem started 3 days ago. I thought it was only a navigation system issue. Then the touch screen (radio and navigation) go blank and only some of the items reappear. The radio has turned off on its own at least three times. The clock wasn't appearing on the screen. The clock then read 23:32 but it was actually 7:45 P.M. is it going to take death or serious injury for attention? the vehicle has done this when I start it and while I'm driving. Not all of the menu items reappear on the touch screen after the problem starts. So far, I have not had any other electrical issues, but this is scary, and I will file additional information if things get worse.
While getting on the expressway the car cut off on the ramp while going 24mph. I was unable to turn on hazard lights, nothing at all would work. I could not immediately restart the car. I could not remove the key either. I had to wait approximately 3 mins for the car to light up and then I could restart the car. On the way home on the ramp on the expressway the car lost power steering and jerked to the left. The enigine did not stop this time. In this case fortunately there were no injuries.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Chicago, IL, USA