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.
The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu lt. The contact stated that the power door locks failed to secure both front doors and the passenger side rear door. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The dealer confirmed that the locking mechanisms failed but the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The VIN was unknown. The failure mileage was 20,000 and the current mileage was 60,000.
2008 Chevrolet Malibu 4 door sedan. I purchased the car and approx. One month after purchase the front passenger door lock failed to operate, I took it to the dealer the car was purchased from and they fixed it under the warranty. Approx. One year after the passenger door lock incident, both driver side door locks failed. Took the car back to the dealer and they wouldn't fix it because I was 200 miles over my warranty. Approx. 3 months later the rear passenger door lock failed as well. I cannot unlock the back doors, and have to use the key to unlock the front door. I have two small nephews in car seats and my concern is that if they are in the vehicle during an incident that I will not be able to get the children free from the back seat because of the door locks. They cannot reach the lock itself so they would be trapped. For myself to fix the door locks would cost more than three monthly payments on the vehicle and in the economy that is very high. I would prefer to have a safe vehicle with no concerns about the safety of my vehicle to have to worry about when traveling with my nephews. After doing some research I have discovered this is a wide spread issue with this make and model. Considering this I believe it is a problem that GM needs to address.
After returning grocery shopping I could not get groceries into back seat, door would not unlock. This could have been going on for months as I always put groceries in front passenger seat and floor and never used rear doors. Approximately 1-2 weeks later other rear passenger door would not lock or unlock. I contacted dealer who stated GM might work with me to help a little but doubt it as my mileage was at 42000 miles. After checking online I found numerous complaints from Malibu owners that this has happened to them at 40,000 - 50,000 miles after the warranty is over. This problem should be covered by GM as it shows a defect in the actuater in doors go bad, as well as a negligent safety hazard knowing many cars having this problem. Is it going toi take someone to die in rear seats due to this defect when an accident or fire occurs. This is a huge safety hazard as children in the back seat cannot open door if there was an accident or fire, as well as a policeman/fireman/rescuerer, cannot open either rear doors from the outside. You have to crawl over and sqeeze in between front seats and have entire body in back seats before you can reach the door locks to manually open them. This is going to cost me approx $400-$500 for rear doors and reading other customers this could eventually apply to all doors including front doors (another $400-$500). This is my first Chevy I purchased brand new and will probably my last.
- Farmington Hills, MI, USA
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The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the doors would not unlock when using the remote control or with manual the lock and unlock buttons. The contact stated that the only way to open the doors was to pull the knob to unlock it manually. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who diagnosed that the door lock actuator was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance since the vehicle was no longer under warranty. The vehicle was repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 50,000 and the current mileage was 64,000.
Back in April I started having problems with my driver side lock. It would get stuck. Sometimes the door wouldn't even open. I would press the button to unlock the door, and that wouldn't work. I would have to use my key, ans sometimes that didn't work either. I am still having problems with the lock, and pretty much everyday I have to use my key to open the driver side door. I was told to use wd-40 and that sill didn't help. The most recent event with my car is this loud vibrating noise that has been occuring off and on for the past two months. I'V had several people check it out and they say they can't find anything wrong. My car makes the noise while sitting in park, sometimes while I'm driving, or sitting still at a light. About a 1-1 1/2 months ago my wheel wou;D move back and forth. I went to have it checked out and was told that there wasn't anything wrong. My wheel moves more and more. It moves sometimes when I first start my car, while sitting a light, and at various speeds while I am driving. When I turn my steering wheel back in a neutral position sometimes it would turn the other way. Today my wheel was moving while I was drivng and my car started moving in the same direction. It was hard to control and it was very scary because I was on the highway. I'm so fed up with this car, and I totally regret buying it. I am probably never going to buy a Chevrolet again, even if Chevrolet's are all that I have ever owned.
Nothing occurred prior to my passenger door lock not working, electronically. It does not lock/unlock when the car is placed in park, or using the key control or door panel control. We are having the dealer hopefully fix the problem tomorrow.
Power door locks do not work properly... the passenger side rear power door lock was repaired under warranty. The other three remaining power door locks do not function correctly and have to be locked manually. This is an inconvenience when exiting the vehicle and also a hazard in the event of an emergency...
The was nothing leading up to the event, the car was working fine. One day in may I put the car in park, and noticed that the front passenger door did not unlock as the rest of the doors did. I put the care back in drive, then back in park, still the door did not unlock, I tried the lock button, and the remote for the car and nothing happened. I went to the dealership, and since my warranty is up, I was told its $52 to diagnose the problem. Unfortunately my bumper-to-bumper warranty ended in Dec 2010. I see that this is a known issue with one or more doors not working after approximately 37K miles.
Rear driver door will not unlock with power locks. It is very difficult to reach the manual door lock without crawling into the back seat and there is no keyhole on the exterior of the rear door. It would be extremely difficult to get my children out of the car if there were an emergency.
2008 Malibu - drivers door latch does not work. Often driver gets stuck in vehicle. In addition, there is a loud knock in the steering and it has had a ring gear replaced already, same problem 12,000 miles later.
The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the rear driver side automatic door lock would not activate upon the engagement of the key fob or the interior door lock device. The vehicle had not been diagnosed. The failure mileage was 24,638.
The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu ltz. The contact stated that the rear driver and passengers doors were unable to opened from the outside. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer and they advised him that they needed to replace the door lock actuators on the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 47,000.
The door lock motors have gone out on both the driver side door and the driver side passenger door. The back door went out first followed by the front door. The problem occurs all the time, the automatic door locks do not work at all. We have not repaired this issues simply because we cannot afford the extra expense.
I own a 2008 Chevy Malibu that was bought new off the lot. The door locks on both back doors and the passenger door started malfunctioning a few months ago, and now even the driver door lock is inoperable. I have changed the batteries in the fobs, to no avail. I had onstar also do the auto unlock, but this too in unsuccessful. I purchased all extended warranties the company had to offer, but unfortunately they only cover up to 36,000 miles. I am currently at 36,000 miles and unfortunately out of luck. The service center wants $90 just to diagnose the issue before they even tell me what the costs may be.
I own a 2008 Malibu LT2. Shortly after the 36,000 mile warrant ran out the passenger front door lock would not unlock with the remote or by the unlock button. It has to be manually unlocked. About one month later the rear drivers door began doing the same thing. I took it to the dealership and they charged me $80 dollars to tell me it would cost $400 to replace both actuators on the locks. I see there have been many similar complaints on the door locks on 2008 Malibu's. when it becomes a normal occurrence that parts on a car are going bad it should be the responsibility of the manufacturer to fix them. In reading the other complaints on the Malibu I see a lot on the steering shaking and jerking. This is really scary as I drive over 400 miles to see my son at college. To think this might happen when I would be driving in the mountains of Virginia is really scary. Chevy needs to step up and put out recalls on this problem before someone is killed in an accident.
Both rear door lock actuators are inoperable. The doors will not lock automatically or unlock automatically. Both doors will not lock or unlock when the power door lock button is actuated. Both doors will not lock when the car is placed into drive. The rear doors can be opened when the car is moving. Both doors will not lock or unlock using the remote keyless entry. Because the vehicle is out of warranty, GM will not cover the repairs.
My 2008 Chevy Malibu 1lt has several problems, let me explain. First the problem was a slight clicking, popping in the steering column when turning the wheel, then it starting doing it every time I slightly turn the wheel you can feel it through the steering column, nothing bad but its annoying, then suddenly within a couple months of that my power locks suddenly started going up and down by themselves periodically whether it's parked or being driven, locked me out two times, I was late for work because I had to call door unlocking service, also the manual locks on the door used to lock and unlock won't work at all, you have to manually use your hand, then to beat it all my seatbelt wont lock I tried to click it but it wont even go down hardly at all, this is only the seatbelt in the drivers side. This is a real bad safety issue and the law in ky (click it or ticket) so far that's all I can say is going on for now. I do know this for a fact I will never buy a Chevrolet.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Greeley, CO, USA