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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
10,643 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.

2018 Chevrolet Malibu miscellaneous problems

miscellaneous problem

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2018 Chevrolet Malibu Owner Comments (Page 4 of 7)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #68

Jul 162020

Malibu

  • miles

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

We have had this car since 2020 & frequently the "reduced engine power" warning comes on & the car will not/or very slowly accellortate. Along with the engine light on.We have hooked it up to a computer many times but nothing solves the issue. Lately it has been staying on constantly. Huge safety risk as my two children are in the car daily & we do take main roads/highways! When this comes on, the car will not remote start as well, also this is random in doing so, it has came on when I 1st start the car in the morning, while driving at 35mph, stopped at a light, or turn on any time I turn the car on. Doing some research and many others have had issues as well as their engines giving out at 60,000 milles (ours is at 57,000) & nothing resolved for them either. This is a huge safety issue and needs recalled. Us malibu owners should not have to pay to get this looked at constantly nor worry about owing on a car that could give out at any given time. We keep maintenance up on our car and this is the only constant issue we have that cannot be fixed.

- Wauseon, OH, USA

problem #67

Feb 022022

Malibu

  • miles
When the car shuts off at a red light and starts back up after u take your foot off the break, it has a stalling problem. Sitting at a light, the radio was still playing. Once it was time to drive and I took my foot off the break, the car was stuck. I had to turn the car off and turn it back on in order to drive it. That is very dangerous because I was in the middle of traffic. If the car behind me suddenly moved over the car behind them could have hit me from the back, I have a 5 year old in the backseat. This should be a recall problem. Other 2018 chevys have this problem as well but my model for some reason is not on the recall list.

- Stuart , FL, USA

problem #66

Feb 022022

Malibu

  • miles
As I was driving down the highway at 60 mph the road was clear at the time of any debris my car suddenly had two lights on the dashboard. On the left was the traction control light and the right side was the engine light. On my computer display was the words -??reduced engine speed-??. My car suddenly slowed from 60 to about 30 mph in a matter of seconds. It was like I had slammed my brakes. This all happened simultaneously I attempted to pull over safety and turn the car off and restart it. The lights remained on. My car was not able to get over 27 mph There was no warning what so ever If anyone would have been behind me I would have been rear ended At this time I took it to a mechanic who put it on the computer it was coded at the pedal position sensor. He was able to save the code, clear it so I was able to drive the car and advised to drive it locally for a while in case it would do it again as it is unsafe. The closest Chevy dealer is over an hour away from my town and at the time of day it was not safe to drive the car to the dealership for confirmation.

- Kahoka, MO, USA

problem #65

Dec 032021

Malibu

  • miles

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

Check in light is on. They told me it was something with the idle sensor the fixed it. Not even 24 hours later it-??s back on they tell me it the vacuum pump & it cost 800 buck. I do some research and noticed on not the only driver with this problem They tell me I can still drive it but nobody told me pieces of the pump could damage the engine also so what do I do now

- Milwaukee , WI, USA

problem #64

Jan 302019

Malibu

  • miles
Vehicle is constantly telling me to shift to park when the vehicle is clearly in park. Also, the battery will die if this shift to park message isn-??t resolved. I-??ve already had to replace my battery twice and the dealership keeps telling me they can-??t find anything wrong with it. After doing some research I see that this is a VERY common problem for the 2016-2018 Malibu-??s and I feel very strongly that it should be recalled.

- Spring, TX, USA

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problem #63

Nov 082020

Malibu

  • miles
I always get rattling noise during gas paddle pressed while driving. Once I start put foot on gas paddle, rattling noise starts and when foot remove then it stops. it does not matter what is the speed and whether I am accelerating/de-accelerating. I visited dealer many times to fix this sound issue but not resolved by dealer. I observed another point which is during AC (Heater ON), sound comes but during AC (Cooler ON), rattling sound is infrequent i.e. sometime happens and sometime not. I am not sure from which part this sound comes but it is from Front Hood for sure. This sound I noticed when my car crossed 47K/48K miles in 2020.

- Overland Park, KS, USA

problem #62

Nov 202021

Malibu

  • miles

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

Car displayed steering assistance reduced about 2 or 3 times whole driving and I wasn't sure what that meant because it popped up and disappeared so quickly. So a few days later it never appeared again. On this morning as I'm driving and come to a red light to make a left hand turn while waiting and taking my feet off the brake to go cause my light is now green my car turns completely off and I'm stuck at a intersection about 2 to 3 mins later it tells me to start it back up.

- Fairburn , GA, USA

problem #61

Sep 062021

Malibu

  • miles
My car is showing -?? Shift To Park -?? error on dash and i can-??t properly turn off car. Once since the error on screen the doors were locked and my son and i could not get out of the car. The Also when driving the car, , it does frequent jerking. The car also was doing it one time when we seen smoke coming from under the hood and we could not get out

- Little Rock , AR, USA

problem #60

Oct 262021

Malibu

  • miles
I do not know what component or system that failed or malfunctioned because I am not well versed on the different parts of an automobile. The problems started this past week around October 26, 2021. When the car is stopped at a red light or stop sign and I am ready to go and in the process of taking my foot off the brake pedal to move to the accelerator the car momentarily cuts off completely (no lights, inside or out, no radio). In the instant that it cuts off and I move my foot to the accelerator everything comes back on and at that point I can continue driving. I have noticed when this happens all programmed radio stations are deleted but the programmed stations return once the car has been turned off for a while and started again. I also noticed a message regarding steering assist, but I cannot get the entire message because it is only there for a second or so. In other instances which began around October 28, when trying to start the vehicle the message reads battery low start vehicle. I then try to start the vehicle a number of times before it actually starts. When it does start the message reads battery saver active. There have also been a message service stabilitrak. The engine light does come on from time to time and then goes off. I brought the vehicle in to a Chevy Dealership (Banner Chevrolet in New Orleans) and was told that a service technician would not be able to look at it and diagnose the problem for at least 3 weeks because of the backlog regarding COVID-19. I decided not to leave the vehicle at that time and will check with other dealerships.

- New Orleans, LA, USA

problem #59

Oct 242021

Malibu

  • miles
-??Engine power reduced-?? shows on dash after I-??ve taken it to the dealership. I-??ve been on the highway where the speed slow down drastically cars coming behind me! Very dangerous! Also -??shift to park-?? displays when it is already in park! Have to either wiggle the gear shift or, turn car off/on several times for the message to go away. Also when backing up, there-??s a popping noise in the rear. Dealership acknowledged I want the only customer with this issue. Claimed they didn-??t find anything wrong. I purchased this vehicle in 2019 and it was only a year old. Issues started almost simultaneously at the end of 2019-??Too new for all of these issues.

- Jesup, GA, USA

problem #58

Oct 012021

Malibu

  • miles

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

The car is in park but the car won't turn off, it's saying shift to park

- Stockton, CA, USA

problem #57

Oct 162021

Malibu

  • miles
While driving, on October 16, 2021 my car shut off and stopped working unexpectedly, while I was still in traffic. It would not start up again, and the steering wheels locked. Luckily, some pedestrians helped push the car to a safer spot. However, the car would not start even after attempting to jump it. I had the car towed to a repair shop on October 18, 2021. The repair shop claimed to not know why it suddenly stopped while driving, however, they were able to get it started again.

- Kansas City, MO, USA

problem #56

Sep 062021

Malibu

  • miles
Recently my car had been shutting off at stops. I know chevys shut down when at stops but now it shuts down my radio lights go off locks on doors unlock then lock. then when it turns back on it says driving assist is reduced drive with caution. Then another alert pops up saying doors are unlocked. Now when I-??m driving sometimes it slows down on its own and won-??t let me go faster. It-??s very scary when on freeway cause I-??m worried it-??s not going to speed back up and I-??m going to get rear ended. Another alert With the first letter S comes on but it turns off so fast I can-??t see what the word is. It been stalling when I-??m at a stop. It does turn back on after a few seconds. The engine light comes on periodically and eventually turns off. Also when I go from drive to reverse it does not change gear smoothly sometimes it will jerk the entire car and make a loud noise as I-??m putting into reverse. There has been two times my radio screen has gone completely black and won-??t turn on for several hours. I use my car everyday to commute to and from work. I have two jobs so I do spend a lot of time driving and this is scary not knowing if my car is truly safe to be on the road. I trust the Chevy name that-??s why I chose it but now I-??m not so sure it is safe.

- Delano, CA, USA

problem #55

Sep 202021

Malibu

  • miles
My shift to park came on my 2018 Malibu and was repaired by sands Chevrolet of surprise less then a year later it came on again. I called about them fixing it and was told that because my warranty expired I would be responsible for the cost of the repair. Because GM Doesn-??t cover it, I told them it was less then a year that it was repaired and they should repair it because if it was fixed right it shouldn-??t happen again less then a year after it was fixed,

- Peoria , AZ, USA

problem #54

Sep 132021

Malibu

  • miles
Shift to park appears. Helpless in car cant shut off. Car has only 33,000 miles on it. I have read many with same problems across a variety of GM products. I consider it a danger and safety problem.

- Desoto, MO, USA

problem #53

Aug 202021

Malibu

  • miles
While driving 70 mph, I get an Alert that stated reducing speed. And my check engine light came on. This is not the first time. Lucky I was able to get off the Highway without getting into an accident. Also my car sometimes will not cut off because it says my car is in shift even though I have it in park. This is dangerous to have a car reduce speed while driving 70 mph to Abruptly go 40 mph. Last time this happen a month ago no codes came up and the check engine light eventually went off. But now my check engine light is back on again.

- Florissant, MO, USA

problem #52

Aug 022021

Malibu

  • miles
Car turns off and dashboard blinks. Assisted steering control not engaged lights up.

- Manchester, CT, USA

problem #51

Aug 112021

Malibu

  • miles
I was driving along this morning at 70mph and all of a sudden I get a warning that engine power is reduced and I drop to 40mph in spite of pressing the accelerator, while the people behind me are rapidly coming up on me. I was able to get off on the side of the road before anything bad happened, but what if I hadn't? This makes me fear for my safety. I killed the vehicle and sat there for a few minutes. When I started it back, that error message was gone, but the check engine light stayed on. After researching, I see this is a common problem that GM is aware of, but hasn't issued a recall. There have been enough people with this problem that a class action lawsuit has been filed. When I called the closest Chevrolet dealership, I was told it would be days before they could even look at it.

- Riverside, TX, USA

problem #50

Aug 072021

Malibu

  • miles
I have a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu. Lately after I park my car it-??s comes up on my screen to Shift to Park. But the problem is that my vehicle is already in park mode. What I-??m trying to find out if there have been any other complaints or concern regarding this issue. I-??m 83 years old and I drive my vehicle minimally. It-??s only has 9100 in mileage and I-??ve taken it to my dealership in Parkville, Md 21234(Jerry-??s Chevrolet)since my purchase date in March of 2018. I-??ve done every service requested by schedule. I need to know if I take this in is this covered issue under my power train warranty since this controls my car movement. It-??s very disturbing to me that it would not be, again I-??m a senior citizen on a fixed income and every penny count these days. I look forward to hearing from someone please. My vehicles as in park

- Baltimore, MD, USA

problem #49

Jul 072021

Malibu

  • miles
Shifter wouldn-??t shift to park position, so car wouldn-??t turn off. Sometimes took over a half hour of trying to get this to work. Used part 84687729 control and 84733196 harness. Also have had problem with leak in rear area where antenna is attached which caused water to pour into back right rear seat. When replaced the person said the screws were not tightened down fully which caused the leak.

- Hansen, ID, USA

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