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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
6 / 0
Average Mileage:
67,995 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.

2011 Chevrolet Malibu brakes problems

brakes problem

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2011 Chevrolet Malibu Owner Comments (Page 5 of 9)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #91

Jan 022016

Malibu

  • miles

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

Have experienced difficulties with reduced engine speed, check ems, and other related conditions since 2014. The car would immediately slow down, not pick up speed, and alarm would begin sounding. Each occasion, I took into dealership and was told that it was something different on each occasion causing occurrence. On other occasions, dealership would say they could not replicate issue. I had one repair made. The car drove fine for a while to later start again. I was informed it was a sensor. On last occurrence, I had the throttle body replaced. The car is once again experiencing a sluggish condition when driving. The dealership once again stated they could not replciate issue.

- Monroe, LA, USA

problem #90

May 112016

Malibu

  • 106,459 miles
My 2011 Chevrolet Malibu is cranking, but not starting. I had a it towed to a repair shop, who ran a test on the fuel system, battery, alternator, but nothing was found. I researched it and found that the anti-theft system can stop your vehicle from starting. It seems that the anti-theft system locked after I was sitting in my car during lunch listening to the radio for an hour. I turned the key twice to reset the radio after it timed out. As I left work to go home it wouldn't start. I found out that if you reset the system, it will start after 10-15 mins. After sitting overnight at the repair shop, it started. Here I am a week later and its doing it again, but now I'm getting a signal with a locked car symbol on the dash. It seems that that anti-system is locked again. I cannot find out how to reset it. I was not in the vehicle playing the radio at all that day. However, this issue happened to me a year after I got the car too after washing the car and listening to the radio. I forgot about that incident until now. I am seeing over 250 complaints about this same issue. There were some cars recalled, but mine does not have one associated with it. It GM recalled it on some, they should recall it on all, it's the same issue. I would like to know if they plan to do this, because I'm seeing and hearing they are no fixes at the repair shop. They try to fix it with expensive options, but the issue comes back. I read that some people car stalled when the anti-theft system locked. I don't want this to happen to me and my family. Thank goodness mine was parked each time.

- Tomball, TX, USA

problem #89

May 112016

Malibu

  • 10 miles
May 11, 2016 day 1 while driving car began to reduce speed on it's own. May 12, 2016 day 2 upon starting car the ESC service light is on, it reads the "ESC is off" car was stationary.

- Glendale, WI, USA

problem #88

May 072016

Malibu 4-cyl

  • 72,542 miles

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

I have been experiencing issues with my 2011 Chevy Malibu. I was driving down the road when suddenly the motor started violently shaking and the dashboard information display would flash, "engine power reduced, service ESC, service traction control, air bag lights and check engine light came on". this was an intermittent issue, it can sometimes go weeks/months without issues, but then out of nowhere it will start happening again. Sometimes shutting the car off, waiting a few moments, and restarting would usually get it running correctly again. However, other times it will remain for several days. The issue has been becoming more frequent and staying longer as time goes on. When I started seeing the issue I looked up online to see if other people were seeing similar issues and found hundreds of people with the same year, make, model car having the same exact issue. I have seen issues started at 50K miles and up, but mine started doing this at approximately 72K miles. This issue has almost caused me to get in several accidents, and I believe this should be recalled as this is a major problem. Here are some of the websites at which I found people sharing their stories of the same exact issue. [xxx] I have included a couple of images of a couple of the dash messages please help the most recent incident occurred 05/07/2016 but has been happening intermittently for a year or two, it started at 72542 miles but most recent happened at approximately 92K thank you parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Somerset, WI, USA

problem #87

Apr 072016

Malibu

  • 75,000 miles
The contact owns a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 10 mph, the vehicle failed to accelerate. The engine power reduction, the traction control and the ESC warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000. The VIN was not available.

- Brookfield, MO, USA

problem #86

Feb 132016

Malibu

  • miles
I am having problems with the ESC the service ESC light keeps turning on and the car starts to jerk and they say mine isn't in recall but other Chevy Malibu are from the year 2003-2012 I thi they need to look into this further because mine is 2011 but not in the recall

- Goshen, IN, USA

problem #85

Mar 152016

Malibu

  • 41,749 miles

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

I purchased a 2011 Chevy Malibu in 2012. Since the purchase I've experienced issues with the electronic stability control system, the service air bag light has come on while my daughter was sitting in the passenger seat. I was told that the problem with that could possibly be resolved with the recall for the seat belt lap anchor tensioner cable. I have also had issues with the car stalling / losing power after coming to a complete stop and begin to accelerate again into on coming traffic. I have also lost total control due to the power steering going out while driving. When I took my vehicle into the dealership regarding the car stalling, I was told that they could not get the car to duplicate the problem and I left without anything else being don;. I still have the same problem. There should be a recall for this before someone gets seriously injured or killed. I also have a 2011 Chevy Cruze that I've had numerous issues with, not to mention all of the recalls on it. All of the above issues have been while the car is in motion, while turning, and on highway and city streets. I recently noticed that my back seat is leaking from somewhere. I contacted GM and was told to take it into the dealership. The tech at the dealership tells me that the leak is coming from the molding on the roof of the car and wanted to charge me $200 for the diagnostic after I clearly told them that the leak was not coming from the roof of the car. They took down the headliner anyway and said that they did a test and water could be seen gushing from this area, but yet my seat was not wet as I had told them where the seat gets wet at. There are so many problems with these Malibu's I just want GM to take the car back so that I can purchase a different brand of vehicle.

- Tulsa, OK, USA

problem #84

Mar 042016

Malibu

  • 64,253 miles
1/26/2016 I got my camshaft solenoid fixed due to my check engine light coming on. When it started to shake real bad with the dash lights stating that my engine power was reduced, loss of traction (something to that effect) I instantly put it in the shop. Then last week 3/4/2016 I was driving up to erie, pa from Ohio, which is about 4.5 hours away. I say a good 40 minutes from my destination it happens again right on the highway. Engine light comes on and the dash says that my engine power has been reduced and loss of traction (?). thankfully there was an exit near that I could get off at and as soon as I put my car in park it started to shake real bad. So I did what I did before and turned the car off to let it reset and then started it back up. It ran fine for the remainder of my stay until it came time for me to leave to go back home. This time I only got 20 minutes away from erie before it started acting up again, but it kept doing it. Talk about being frustrated 4.5 hours away from home in your car. Especially since I just got it fixed not too long ago. This needs to be on the recall list, because this is ridiculous.

- Englewood, OH, USA

problem #83

Mar 072016

Malibu

  • 87,800 miles
Received messages of: Service ESC, service traction, service power steering, eng pwr reduced, engine disabled this morning while driving to work. Engine lost all power, went into limp mode, had to pull to side of road to try and turn the engine off and on to try to reset. Nearly caused accident from oncoming and trailing vehicles. This make and model needs to be entered into the recall.

- Waynesville, OH, USA

problem #82

Feb 282016

Malibu

  • 113,000 miles
Car intermittently loses power. Warning light for traction control comes on. Must pull over and let car sit for a minute before restarting.

- Langley, KY, USA

problem #81

Feb 162016

Malibu

  • 119,200 miles

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

Received messages of: Service ESC, service traction, service air bag, eng pwr reduced, engine disabled this morning while driving to work. Engine lost all power, had to pull to side of road to try and turn the engine off and on, until I received the engine disabled message and after that the car would not start. Had to have the car towed to nearest dealership.

- Jackson, MN, USA

problem #80

Feb 122016

Malibu

  • 119,000 miles
Service ESC, service traction, eng pwr reduced. This message has happened to me several times lately, most notably when travelling 70 mph on the interstate. Engine loses all power no mater how far I press the accelerator.

- Jackson, MN, USA

problem #79

Feb 102016

Malibu 4-cyl

  • 123,000 miles
The contact owns a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu. While driving approximately 45 mph, the engine stalled and the vehicle shook violently. The traction and service ESC warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle did not restart. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 123,000. The VIN was unavailable. Updated 05/11/16 updated 05/24/18

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

problem #78

Feb 012016

Malibu

  • 100,000 miles
The car stumbles on dry roads in sharp turns, like clover leaf ramps getting on and off the interstate, when coasting or braking at 20-25 mph. This is an ongoing problem, but there does not appear to be a solution from the dealer. I'm concerned that this may cause an accident.

- Christiansburg, VA, USA

problem #77

Feb 062016

Malibu

  • 101,300 miles
Going 70 mph on interstate going to mpls and car flashes reduced engine power and suddenly slows down pulled over a total of 8 times to get home. Had to pull over turn car off wait a little while start again and continue. Check engine stayed on. I've been told it's the throttle body so I am replacing and hopefully able to get to work. This is a dangerous flaw on icy roads.

- Nashwauk, MN, USA

problem #76

Jan 012016

Malibu

  • 100,700 miles
Car lost power at 65 mph than reduced power and engine light came on turn car off after trying to coast to ta stop with cars and trucks flying by honking there horn and flicking me off and I was helpless the cars motor was shut off because of the power reduce and ESC than the traction control can on too all need to be serviced fine but than it did it all again after I got everything fixed and then the throttle body had to replaced again and peddle sensor and traction control sensor and still does it the car is trying to kill me and the new mechanic I took it to said he sees this a lot and its sometimes hard to fix because it comes back and than I read online the same thing I thought he was trying to get more money out of me why wont Chevrolet help GM help government needs to step in and make these car places fix this stuff befor a lot of people get killed

- Osceola, IN, USA

problem #75

Jan 222016

Malibu

  • 59,250 miles
30 minute drive to work, in rain at approximately 32 degrees, vehicle was running good until I pulled into a parking spot and an error message appeared (reduced engine power). I later left and the service engine light remained on. I then received an error message (service ESC) and later again received the (reduced engine power) while on the highway. It was snowing during this time. I was unable to fully accelerate but it felt as though the acceleration was not running well. I researched this issue and discovered many people/ Chevy Malibu owners having the same issue with no resolution; even after taking to dealer on many occasions. GM needs to recognize this issue and discover a resolution.

- Hendersonville, TN, USA

problem #74

Jan 132016

Malibu

  • miles
The violently shakes almost as if it is about to die. It doesn't go over 23-30 mph. The car accelerates while holding the brakes. A message displays saying engine power reducing, service traction, service ESC. The car stalls while driving it on the street and highway. I'm scared of hitting someone while my foot is on the brake! my car is at 103K miles on it. I'm out of a car that I'm paying a note on. Its out of warranty. I haven't even had the car for a while year yet. The check engine light is on as well. The code for the check engine light is C0242. This is a very dangerous electrical problem. This should be a recall! many Chevy Malibu owners are having or have had the same issue!

- Monroe, MI, USA

problem #73

Jan 142016

Malibu

  • miles
I was stop at a red light and my dash read service airbag. I started to drive off and the dash started flashing service airbag. When in motion and as I start ignition. Also my seatbelt sometimes lock or not lock and is very loose as I adjust seat.

- Lamar, MS, USA

problem #72

Jan 082016

Malibu

  • 0 miles
After reading the many many comments here, I can say I'm lucky. Fortunately, I was not driving my car when things went haywire. I returned home from work today and my vehicle was fine. I had to run a few errands but when returning to my vehicle, I noticed this: Vehicle wouldn't start. Fast clicking sound when attempting to turn over. Doors locked and unlocked by themselves during this time. Service ESC, service traction, and ESC off appeared. Vehicle has yet to start and now have no power whatsoever throughout the vehicle. Very odd that this is not a current recall. Help?'

- Nevada, TX, USA

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