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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
6 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
50,938 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.

2013 Chevrolet Malibu steering problems

steering problem

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2013 Chevrolet Malibu Owner Comments (Page 1 of 9)

problem #174

Aug 012022

Malibu

  • miles

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

Car randomly goes into engine reduced power mode and won't go over 50mph. Power steering either won't turn the wheels and will start working again without warning while driving and jerks wheel to the right. Service stabilitrac warning would come on intermittently and disable traction control. Service stabilitrac warning is on now everytime I crank the vehicle and traction control is never working. I have pictures where it has went in limp mode and videos of the gauges doing crazy things after this warning has come up. Very dangerous. Car will jerk the wheel without warning when power steering warning comes on.

- Cleveland, TX, USA

problem #173

Mar 132023

Malibu

  • miles
The Dash board instrument cluster is turning on and off randomly. loosing steering control due to electronic steering. Mechanics cant find a problem and seems to be common with this year Malibu. wont replicate at Mechanics completely random. Just had a new battery installed also and Mechanics say everything is within specs. No warning on this it just happens. 83000 miles on car and it happened about a year ago once and last two weeks several times. The front passenger seat got some water on it and the presence sensor must have deactivated the air bag system. Much to sensitive to be reliable.

- South Elgin, IL, USA

problem #172

May 052022

Malibu

  • miles
I was driving down a busy street one day after work during the early night, and as I went to engage the brakes my whole electrical system started to shut off and on. Once I came to a complete stop it shut off my a/c then proceeded with my radio and lights. I took my foot of the brake in pure shock and back on come my a/c and radio. I proceed to drive with caution and again it starts to try and shut off my vehicles electrical systems. I pull over turn the car off check the battery and fine. Trusting it to make it less than the mile trip left home I drive again no issues, as I am approaching a busy intersection then car begins to go haywire with the electrical systems without the ac on and locks the all eletric steering systems and almost causes me to collide with surrounding traffic. Took to have diagnostic run for codes and none. Purchased another brand new battery which I thought maybe it was defective. Well wasn't NY of the issues because tonight with my family's safety put at serious risk along with any of the many tourist pedestrians and other motorist I experience the same exact thing but within a higher speed limit zone. When I pulled over to park the car it refused to cooperate. It was if my car was being controlled by a hacker and I was fighting for control over the wheel.

- Savannah, GA, USA

problem #171

May 262020

Malibu

  • miles

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

Car cuts off and stalls and lights flickering

- Gary, IN, USA

problem #170

Aug 112021

Malibu

  • miles
When driving this vehicle with ~111,000 miles on it. The infotainment center continually rebooted, causing drops of Bluetooth connection and pauses in the AC. The instrument panel stayed working, but lights turned off. This happened about 6 times in a 20 minute drive on the highway. After exiting the highway and executing a turn the reboot happened again, however the power steering locked up making the car unmanageable. Thankfully nothing was hit by the car! After this incident, driver was rightfully freaked out and won't touch the car again until this is resolved. One week prior the car rebooted once and the engine idled oddly, turned car off and on and worked fine for about a week, then the above incident happened.

- Green Bay, WI, USA

problem #169

Apr 012021

Malibu

  • miles
The vehicle has major electrical issues from the day I bought it. Just last week I started the car it made a noise as I was driving I had no speedometer, no blinkers. No radio on gas gauge and no temp gauge. I have had this car stall in motion on a highway and no recall? it's basically a death 🪤

- Peckville, PA, USA

problem #168

Mar 182021

Malibu

  • 59,097 miles

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

The steering wheel sticks/locks up on left and right turns, usually while driving on street roads. The steering wheel also locked while switching lanes on the highway. This is a major safety concern. The radio also blanks in/out often while driving the vehicle, sometimes in conjunction with steering issues. I've only had this vehicle for a short time and been to the dealership on repeated occasions without any luck with duplication or resolution. Also, the pending product safety recall regarding the rear suspension toe link hasn't been addressed by the dealership due to no availability of parts from manufacturer. I've paid for this used vehicle but inherited these issues which are major safety concerns and very bad business. (supporting docs available upon request)

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

problem #167

Feb 102021

Malibu

  • 103,000 miles
When driving, the car will suddenly stop and lose power. It will restart again but will not have power steering. This happens on city streets, because of the problem we have kept it off highways. Unknown the cause, there was a recall about this happening but per the VIN it was completed. We have owned the car 7 months.

- Blue Springs, MO, USA

problem #166

Feb 032021

Malibu

  • 140,963 miles
While driving my vehicle turned off and back on. The vehicle was stalling all the way home turning on and off. Highest speed I was driving was no more than 35 mph.

- Kingman, AZ, USA

problem #165

Dec 232020

Malibu

  • 126,000 miles
Driving slow and when making turns the car starts to shut off if not given gas. The car has no shutoff multiple times when trying to make a slow turn. This last time I had to restart the car then the power sterring was out completly making it near impossible to turn.

- Clarkston, MI, USA

problem #164

Dec 102020

Malibu

  • 117,000 miles

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

The dash screen goes black and cuts power, disconnecting calls and blue tooth connection, and power steering. When this happens I am unable to turn the wheel. The wheel jerks back in place. This happens while the car is in motion. This has happened to me while on the freeway. It only cuts power for a few seconds and it comes back on but I am unable to control the car when this happens. I am also unable to move the steering wheel at all when this happens. This happened a few months back a few times and I contacted the dealership and they didnt know what to do with it because it wasnt happening at the time. It most recently happened yesterday on 12/10/2020.

- Roseville, MI, USA

problem #163

Dec 082020

Malibu

  • 96,000 miles
I made a left hand turn and steering went out of the car and had to manuever car to keep from wrecking vehicle. Took to dealer and they stated it would be 2200 to fix the problem. Module and motor needed to be replaced.

- Hickory, NC, USA

problem #162

Aug 012020

Malibu

  • 95,000 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving 30 mph, the steering wheel seized with the battery not charging message displayed on the instrument panel. The contact stated she was unable to remove the key from ignition. Additionally, the windows failed to operate as designed. The vehicle was not drivable. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where the gear-box was repaired and an unknown fuse was replaced. Three days later, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the independent mechanic and was repaired for the same electrical failure. Despite the second repair, the failure recurred with the battery warning light illuminated on the instrument panel while her husband was driving at 30 mph. The contact's husband had the vehicle towed back to the same independent mechanic and was informed that there was another electrical short in the fuse box. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 95,000.

- Belcamp, MD, USA

problem #161

Jan 012020

Malibu

  • 135,000 miles
When you are driving the electrical system cuts off, making it hard to steer and affecting other electrical controls such as: Touch screen, lights, and control panel. The system usually shuts off for a brief moment when utilizing power locks, turn signals, and power windows. Recently, the engine won't start but after waiting for a few moments, it starts up again. This has been going on for the past 8 months

- El Paso, TX, USA

problem #160

Sep 102020

Malibu

  • miles
While driving the whole car turned off. Steering wheel locked up, engine cut off, and light went out. This has been happening for a couple of months now. While I'm driving the car will shut off. It has done this while I have been on the highway and also in the city. This is very dangerous. Can not figure out the issue.

- Bakersfield, CA, USA

problem #159

Mar 012020

Malibu 4-cyl

  • 35,000 miles
I got a error message power steering issue, & then the key stuck in the steering wheel & won't come out. The vehicle was parked in my garage. I was getting ready to drive it. Now my car won't start & I still get the error message.

- Council Bluffs, IA, USA

problem #158

Jun 052020

Malibu

  • 64,000 miles
At various times while driving-whether parked, actively driving, at a stop sign, turning, backing up- my cars power will flicker and the engine shuts off causing the steering to lock. This has done this to me quite a few times, almost causing an accident on more then one occasion. Sometimes it will do it as often as 14 times in a 25 minute ride. No lights such as the cel or anything come on beforehand to indicate that theres a problem when it happens. I've taken it to a mechanic twice to have it checked out and he sees no obvious reasons why it would do this, and there are no codes to pull to explain it. Enough people are having this same issue it should be made a recall and looked into! it's not safe to drive a vehicle like this that can shut off and the steering locks at any given moment. The 1st time this happened was June 5, 2020 and almost every day since.

- Marcus Hook, PA, USA

problem #157

May 302020

Malibu 4-cyl

  • 60,917 miles
While in the middle of traffic at a stop light the car shut completely off where my steering went out, the key was locked in the ignition and I had to get someone to help push the car into a parking lot for safety. The car has been jerking, will not pick up speed and if sitting at a stoplight too long, the car will shut off. When I put the car in reverse, the car either jerks or shuts off but then starts back up.

- Louisville, KY, USA

problem #156

Apr 202019

Malibu 4-cyl

  • 132,000 miles
The car shuts completely off when driving. The steering wheel starts to lock in different places as you turn. All electronics shut off and sometimes cannot be restarted for days. You can be sitting in park and turn the steering wheel and it will still lock up. Not at the stopping point of the steering. Even if you try. A little. I also have a video of it happening it will not let you turn it at all. Unlock losing power steering makes it harder to turn but still possible. With this it stops completely like the car is shut off. When you switch your turn signal on and then turn all electronics and car shuts off until you turn the signal off or let go out the steering wheel. I have almost wrecked 4 times with kids in the car. I have personally read other people. Not just a few but at least 200 other people with this same problem. Currently looking into legal action against this before someone dies in a wreck because nobody wants to issue a recall.

- Granite Falls Nc, NC, USA

problem #155

May 182020

Malibu 4-cyl

  • 1 miles
Vehicle occasionally loses power when in traffic or reduced speed, stabilitrak malfunctions consistently, initiating "limp mode", power steering went out this morning as my speed reduced.

- Hutto, TX, USA

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