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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
38,499 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2016 Chevrolet Malibu engine problems

engine problem

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2016 Chevrolet Malibu Owner Comments (Page 3 of 14)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #231

Aug 082022

Malibu

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The engine light has illuminated due to a cylinder 1 misfire and ECM lost connection with the fuel pump which also caused problem with the pistons on the vehicle. All of these issue are related to the engine and it-??s only 94,343 miles on the car

- Naperville , IL, USA

problem #230

Sep 062022

Malibu

  • 166,132 miles
The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving approximately 55 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that the engine power reduced warning message was displayed. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 166,132.

- Aliceville, AL, USA

problem #229

Sep 022022

Malibu

  • miles
I was sitting at a stop light and all the sudden my car just died in the middle of the road. I to tried to restart and my brake pedal was very hard to push down and on the dashboard it said Engine Power is Reduced. I was not able to start my car at all and had to be towed. Lights and radio were still working.

- Lafayette , IN, USA

problem #228

Aug 222022

Malibu

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I was sitting at a stop light and all the sudden my car just died in the middle of the road. I turned my car off and tried to turn it back on and my brake pedal was very hard to push down and on the dashboard it said Engine Power is Reduced. I was not able to start my car at all and had to be towed.

- Kokomo, IN, USA

problem #227

Jul 302022

Malibu

  • miles
When the vehicle is in drive, the display will say "reduced engine power" and will drop the car to 25mph even on the highway. I've almost wrecked from this issue. I've seen where GM has had class actions on this prior but it was never recalled.

- Tahlequah, OK, USA

problem #226

Jul 142022

Malibu

  • miles
When I accelerate, it hesitates to pick up speed. Once I made it to 75mph, a warning message came on that said engine power reduced and the check engine light came on. I looked up the issue and saw that several people with the same car were having the same issues. I added a gas treatment like they suggested but the light is still on. I have not been to a dealership or mechanic shop yet due to not having the money. But if this is a common problem then Chevrolet needs to pay for repairs. If my car fails while I-??m driving, I could cause an accident.I have had the throttle body cleaned before and the wheel sensors but I am still having issues.

- Kinder, LA, USA

problem #225

Jul 072022

Malibu

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I was driving on the freeway at about 65mph, and the car shut down on me. It was extremely dangerous to get over on the freeway with no power. 2 warning lights came on. The Stabilatrak, & the check engine light. I pulled over & called for help. I had the car taken to the service department at the dealership. They contacted me & informed me that a piston was cracked, & the ECM had to have a software update. They are charging me $5,389 to repair it. The car only has 8,000 miles on it. There are recalls for this exact problem, but do not apply to my specific VIN#. My car is a 2016, so I am out of warranty, but this should not happen with a vehicle with this low of mileage.

- Henderson, NV, USA

problem #224

Jun 202022

Malibu

  • miles
Car began to lose power while driving down the road, then began sputtering gas and creating black smoke. Engine pistons appear to be shot. Car has a little over 100k miles.

- Owingsville, KY, USA

problem #223

Jun 022020

Malibu

  • miles
This is not a safety issue but potentially it could be & I want GM to take action. I drive a 2016 Chevy Malibu. Beginning 2017, I started getting this message after ignition -??SHIFT TO PARK-??. This is purely GM-??s mistakes in designing the part. Solution is to replace the shifter asm completely irrespective of the warranty coverage. This is a common issue on multiple cars between 2016 to 2019, I suppose. I took the car to Ed Rinke dealer in MI back in 2018 timeframe & they said the shifter cable needs to be replaced. I did pay around $200 for the service & issue was gone for a while. It was back again in 2019-2020 timeframe intermittently. Its pretty bad now, I cannot shut the engine off & have to wait for quite sometime to get rid of the message & seriously do not know what to do. If I close the door & leave, message is still ON & battery drains out. I want GM to cover for expenses because dealership would want to diagnose when we all know what the issue is.

- Macomb, MI, USA

problem #222

Apr 202022

Malibu

  • miles
All of a sudden my Pistons just went in my car the whole engine block actually. There was never any warning or anything I got an oil change and after the oil change the check engine light came on plus it said service stabilitrak. Without the stability track you can get into an accident because the car is not in control the way it's supposed to be. The Pistons being worn in the engine block going. Without any notice of anything being wrong. Causes bad emissions leaks etc. The dealership knows about it. They can't give me a reason why the Pistons and the engine block went. Or why this service to stabilitrak came on. They're trying to say it's a pipe that has a dent in it. But the entire system is rotted out it only has 34,418 mi on it.

- Dover, NH, USA

problem #221

Apr 272022

Malibu

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Bought car 4/27/22 with 94,602 miles. Within a week vehicle shown problems in the engine leaking oil most likely from the oil cooler causing a bad smell of burnt tire, the shocks most likely cause the car to shake once you hit 50 mph or let go off the break pedal they need to be replaced and the tail light is retaining or holding water on the inside also the hose connected to the coolant reservoir has a small leak I don-??t think the clamp was placed properly by the last person who worked on it, plus how long should it take my car to cool up so far minutes and has to be on max and 2 tires are different brand

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #220

Apr 292022

Malibu 4-cyl

  • miles
I purchased this car new and continue to own it. During the past 6 years I have had this engine issue several times. I purchased this car from a Chevy dealership, [XXX] u now [XXX] in Flint, who denied there was a problem several times. In the past week, I was driving North on I75 from Edgewood KY and, once again, my engine power cut out. I had a semi behind me, a semi ahead of me and a semi at left side of me, all driving at 70 miles an hour. I was near the Middleton exit. My car would not go faster than 35 mph. I immediately put on my flashers and exited the expressway in about 3 miles. I and my dog could have been killed. This engine issues has occurred more than a dozen times, with no assistance from NHTSA. I ashamed that your organization has Never addressed this issue with a recall. [XXX] -??INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Grand Blanc, MI, USA

problem #219

Apr 012022

Malibu

  • miles
being unable to shift the vehicle into park. And when it is in drive and my car turns off because of the auto stop feature and turns back on it stated to act crazy and glitch -??this really scares me because when I am on the road and my kids are in my car the car shuts off. Very dangerous situation and I can-??t believe that there is no recall in place for this. This is such a liability on GM knowing about this issue and not paying for the repairs and leaving it up to the owners expense knowing that this is a malfunction in the Chevy Malibu-??s

- Cypress, TX, USA

problem #218

Mar 282022

Malibu

  • miles
I was driving to the clinic I go to everyday in the mornings I was in the freeway going about 70mph when suddenly I get a msg saying -??engine power reduced-?? also engine light came on and the car starts slowing down and it-??s not letting me go more than 20mph on the FREEWAY! I could have caused an accident, (this is very unsafe specially since my 2 and 4 year old were in the car with me) I got off on the next exit and pulled in to a gas station and turned the car off and waited about 10 mins I turned the car back on and the msg was gone but the engine light was still on about a minute or 2 later the msg comes back on so I have to pull over again, it did it about 5x before I can make it to my destination not to mention the way back home I had to stop about 3x more. This is very unsafe and something has to be done as it is not only my car with this problem.

- Sacramento , CA, USA

problem #217

Jan 132022

Malibu

  • miles
I was driving my car home from work and all of a sudden my car starting showing in the dash engine power reduced. My car literally couldn't go anywhere. So I pulled over and shut the car off for a minute started it back up and it was running great and then I happen again a few minutes later. So I took it to the dealership were i purchsed it and they replaced the gas pedal they said a sensor was bad and that was causing the problem.So picked up the car a couple days later and it happen again about two weeks later...

- Lawrence, KS, USA

problem #216

Feb 032022

Malibu

  • miles
May car loses power when acceleration I don't why but there is something going

- Lawrence, KS, USA

problem #215

Oct 142021

Malibu

  • miles
My problem started with the engine first sending me a code -??reduced engine power-?? and this code would appear one week and gone the next. I have taken it to mechanics and had parts replaced and temporary fixes. After getting it back from the mechanic and them telling me that the cylinder one isn-??t holding the correct pressure and the exhaust value is burnt due to the consistent auto engine shutoff. The day I got it back on the road the engine went full shutdown at a stop light and would not turn on immediately. I was lucky enough to get it running long enough to crawl into a gas station and get a tow truck to come pick it up and tow it back to the mechanic shop and that-??s where it-??s been sitting there till I find a new engine to replace it.

- Desloge, MO, USA

problem #214

Mar 082022

Malibu

  • miles
Driving on highway at speed of 70mph during rush hour very very busy when my car shows a warning engine power reduced and slows all the way down to 20mph lucky I was able to get over the 3 lanes of traffic without causing an accident but this is very unsafe I looked to see if there was a recall on the vehicle but there-??s not so I had a mechanic look at the car and they said nothing is wrong with it "?" Well today on my way home it did it again!! I-??m sorry but how is nothing wrong with it if my car is slowing to a dangerous speed this issue could cost someone their life

- Anderson, IN, USA

problem #213

Mar 012022

Malibu

  • miles
When driving the car it will cut off on it's own, shutting down after the reduce engine power light comes on and it fails to re-start. It happens when you are decreasing speed befor e the auto stop can be engage and come to a complete stop. There are approximately 62,000 miles on the vehicle. This caused a safety issue because it just came to a dead stop in the middle of the street. No warning what so ever. No notice to be able to move to side of the road. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone. The reduced engine power light comes on when starting up the car however no other symptoms were present prior to this incident happening. There was no warning messages or any symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. This happened March 1, 2022. I contacted Bosak Chevrolet in Hammond, Indiana this morning and they advised it is a known problem however no formal recall has been issued for this serious problem.

- Gary , IN, USA

problem #212

Feb 012022

Malibu

  • miles
While driving several times I had the problem where the car out of nowhere slows down and the message comes on engine reduce power, I have been on the highway with my family and out had to pull over turn my car on and off several times for it to come off and be able to drive my care pass 20 miles per hr. This is very dangerous because it happens suddenly and cars are going by fast I almost got into an accident and was rear-ended on the highway. There needs to be a recall on his engine this is ridiculous that GMC/Chevrolet keeps getting away with this until someone is seriously injured or killed because of this failure!

- Winter Park, FL, USA

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