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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
38,290 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 electrical problems

electrical problem

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2016 Chevrolet Malibu Owner Comments (Page 3 of 10)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #146

Aug 062021

Malibu

  • miles

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

The car stalls if i stop or in traffic..the car is still running I can have the gas pedal to the floor it will not go then it takes off really quick when when it powers back on it feel like it loses power when I-€™m trying to go but the car is running the whole time it-€™s Hybrid propulsion system General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2016 Malibu Hybrid vehicles manufactured October 27, 2015, to June 3, 2016. The affected vehicles have a shut-off switch for the high voltage battery for use when servicing the vehicle. This manual service disconnect switch (MSD) may not be properly installed and thus may not lock into position, unexpectedly disconnecting the high-voltage power while driving, effectively stalling the vehicle.

- Fort Worth, TX, USA

problem #145

Jun 152021

Malibu

  • miles
I have taken my vehicle multiple time and still the problem not fixed. Had a reduced engine problem at first and now there's a message that comes Battery charging system. replaced battery twice and replaced the alternator twice. I spent at least $2,000 trying to get my car fixed. The Charging system battery, the battery drains until it goes dead. The car stopped on a busy interstate with me in it. I had to wait on a tow truck, (while working) on the interstate while watching the trucks and cars pass by hoping that they wont hit me. After charging the battery and putting it back into the car the battery light comes on. and while the car is crank and sitting still the battery charging light comes on. the battery quickly looses power. GM realyl need to do a recall on these vehicles. Please help.

- Walls, MS, USA

problem #144

Jun 072021

Malibu

  • miles
When I go to shut the engine off it sometime still runs and after pressing the off button I have to go thru this off cycle many times before everything shuts down. The screen behind the steering wheel says to put it in "park" but it is already in "park". This could be a real safety problem because someone could drive the car into the garage, shut the door and not even know the engine is running!

- Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

problem #143

Jul 012020

Malibu

  • miles

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

When I go into park and turn off my car I get a -€œShift to park-€ message. This happens numerous times a day. Sometimes the light turns off after a few minutes by itself. Most of the time I have to wiggle the shifter or turn the car back on and go from another gear such as drive to park. I have read that this is a common issue amongst this make and model.

- Indianapolis, IN, USA

problem #142

Jun 022021

Malibu

  • miles
My vehicle, a 2016 Chevy Malibu, has started receiving the *known* GM "Shift to Park" error message. This error message occurs when the vehicle is in park, but the driver information center (in the dashboard) alerts to "Shift to Park" before you can shut off the vehicle. If you try to exit the vehicle with the error message, all electronic systems (screen, lights, dash, etc) will stay on, draining down the car battery, putting me at risk of being stranded due to a known issue in my car and/or me having to leave my car running, putting my car at risk of being broken into, stolen, or worse. I have wasted countless hours already, in the very short time the error has occurred, having to shift out of park, reverse, drive, back into park, and keep trying over and over and over and over and over and over and over, until it finally might register. One evening, it took over two hours for this to work. This is a HUGE risk to me, especially in the city I live in, as a single woman. Furthermore, the fact that GM and NHTSA have a service bulletin on this, and it is a *known* issue in my year, make, and model, on top of the thousands and thousands of online forums reporting this same issue, tells me that this is much, much larger than anyone (especially GM) would like to admit, and that my car needs to be included in the recall for this.

- Washington, DC, USA

problem #141

Aug 202020

Malibu

  • 54,000 miles
While stationary, and ready to shut off car, get a message to shift the car to park but it already is in park. Car will not shut off. Have to keep messing with shifter several times before can finally turn car off. This happened constantly. Took car to dealer, problem diagnosed as transmission shifter control problem and I had to pay $445.08 to fix. Supposedly Chevrolet recognized the problem in July 2019 before this started happening to me and issued a technical service bulletin (I think no. 18-na-297) but there was no recall done. My point is, in case of an accident and possibility of fire, it is a safety problem if the car cannot be turned off quickly. So why didn't this problem deserve to merit a recall and free repairs?

- North Kingstown, RI, USA

problem #140

Apr 102021

Malibu

  • 77,500 miles

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

Was driving in 45mph street when I got a 'engine power reduced' message and dropped speed to 10mph. This is clearly a safety issue and can very well cause an accident if I'm driving on highway or uphill for the matter.

- Los Banos, CA, USA

problem #139

Oct 102020

Malibu

  • miles
The headlights constant comes on and blinks on and off and when this happens it unlocks the drivers side door I have been sitting in the car with the engine off and can hear the flickering of the lock just the other day I locked the door manually it unlocked by itself this happened several times before it actually lock.I have had to lock the doors manually for some time now. Back in October 2020 it was killing my battery causing me to have to get a boost constantly took it to the dealership they said it was the onstar system and I payed to have it removed and still the problem still is there. Battery was still dying due to the lights coming on at any given time and draining the battery. I decided to buy another battery no longer need a boost but the light problem still remains an issue

- College Park, GA, USA

problem #138

Mar 182021

Malibu

  • 52,000 miles
When I was driving home from work tonight. I was taking the ramp to get on to the highway and my car gave me a warning that the engine power was reduced and my check engine light came on and my car was immediately reserved to only going 20 mph. This is very unsafe as I was trying to merge onto the highway.

- St Clairsville, OH, USA

problem #137

Feb 222021

Malibu

  • 42,000 miles
While riding on the highway at 70mph I experienced a total loss of power. The car warned me and the engine light came on. I could not accelerate beyond 30 mph. When I had it checked with a code sensor it told me there was an issue with the throttle position sensor. The code was P2138. This created a very dangerous situation on a quick moving highway.

- Caldwell, NJ, USA

problem #136

Feb 272021

Malibu

  • 81,286 miles

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

Power steering is locking up when make a turnaround or for a turn wheel in motion. The car will be on and when the power steering is about to lose the power, my stereo screen will black out along with the steering wheel locking. It feels as though my power steering is out while making a turn. This does not happen, only happens randomly.

- Salinas, CA, USA

problem #135

Mar 012021

Malibu

  • 125,000 miles
The vehicle runs fine other than when the problems start acting up. It is a BCM issue involving the stabilitrak and ABS. Every few weeks or so, I'll get 3 service light ups in my dash stating 'service vehicle soon, service stabilitrak, service brake assist, reduced power steering drive with care' after coming to a stop. When I go to take off the car will rev up and down then those messages pop up as I cannot speed up or drive. Once the vehicle comes to a stop it shuts off and won't turn back on until about 10 minutes later. I've put $700 in it replacing speed sensors, vacuum pump and vacuum sensor and the problem still occurs. If it were to happen on the highway this could be very dangerous as it already occurred at an intersection stoplight in columbus Ohio

- London, OH, USA

problem #134

Mar 082021

Malibu

  • 45,224 miles
Vehicle is placed into the park position while foot is on the brake. Once dash shows that it is in park, foot is released from the brake and engine is shutoff. At this time a message displays on the dash console "action required: Shift to park". this occurs the most often on an incline upon which the message "switch to park" leads to concern of the rolling back of the vehicle. While the message is displayed you are unable to turn the car off which will eventually lead to the battery being drained. The only resolution that I am aware of other than going to the dealer is to start the car back up (engine wear, additional C02 emissions) and attempt to place it in park again with the hope the message will display. In performing research this issue is due to a poorly manufactured microswitch within the shifter assembly, the permanent fix is to have the dealer replace the entire shift assembly.

- Jackson, MO, USA

problem #133

Jun 032019

Malibu

  • 93,863 miles
The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated he was parking the vehicle and the warning light illuminated with a message to shift to park. The contact then shifted the vehicle back into drive and back into park yet the error message stated shift to park. The contact stated he tried to turn the vehicle off and the engine shut-off however, the headlights, interior lights, and the radio remained on. The contact stated the failure was intermittent. The vehicle was taken to midway Chevrolet (2323 w bell rd, phoenix, AZ 85023) where the diagnosis was the park failure mechanism. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 93,863.

- Glendale, AZ, USA

problem #132

Feb 262021

Malibu

  • 46,000 miles
When vehicle is placed in park, get "place in park" message on dash. If not cleared, dash lights stay on and drain battery leaving driver stranded. This could lead to a very unsafe condition, depending on where this occurs. Doing a search of the first 70 claims on your site; 30% of them addressed this issue. Why has nothing been done to rectify this unsafe condition? claim #'s looked at: 11385598, 113384695, 11377868, 11377077,11373245, 11372867, 11367012, 11365172, 11363789. 11363275, 11361450, 11360384, 11360062, 11355051, 11353844, 11352179, 11351612, 11351422, 11350951, 11349692, 11348857. There is a service bulletin # 19-na-206 by GM (see attachment) on this issue, but it does not cover the repair under warranty, even though it effects several years and makes. This would seem to be a manufacturer defect or qc problem, not something induced by the operator. Though no deaths or injuries have been reported by this problem, one could speculate there may have been some or could be. Usually the question of your battery being dead is not asked at the death or injury site. This issue can not always be duplicated at the dealership, so is often turned away. This particular vehicle will do this multiple times and than stop for awhile, than act up again. Each time it has been taken in to be looked at, there are no codes, and the symptom can not be duplicated. Drive it home and it will happen again, or not. Last time it took twenty minutes of turning car on and off, shifting in and out of park, etc to get car to sense it was indeed in park. I am submitting this report for a friend but would like all follow-up information to pass onto him.

- Twentynine Palms, CA, USA

problem #131

Mar 012021

Malibu

  • miles
While driving at a high rate of speed, my engine reduced light came on and would not allow me to drive over 32 mph. This could have caused an accident with severe injury considering where I was driving. I have seen many others complain about this, why hasn't it been recalled, when will it be recalled?

- Aurora, IN, USA

problem #130

Feb 192021

Malibu

  • 45,000 miles
Car showed a "reduced engine power" notification and could not accelerate over 15 mph.

- Southern Pines, CA, USA

problem #129

Jan 312021

Malibu

  • 470,000 miles
Driving 65mph on highway check engine light and stabilatrack lights flash and loss of power starts happening and car wont go over 20mph... Chevy claims its normal and dont find a.reason why it happened. Ive had the car at Chevy 6 times for issue after issue and now this loss of power on a highway nearly killed me as I could barely get car to a.safe location...

- Jamestown, NY, USA

problem #128

Jan 232021

Malibu

  • 77,000 miles
Driving on the expressway when my car got a message on the dash saying 'reduced engine speed'. I went from 60mph to 10mps within seconds, this is a serious life threatening problem when driving. Once it slows completely down it stops and I have to turn off my car and restart it just for it keep happening. When I took my car to a Chevy dealership they told me 'everyone with a Malibu is having these problem last and they can no fix it cause the can't figure out the problem. They also informed me with all the Malibu's having the same exact problem is should be a recall. I went to a another Chevy dealership and was told the exact same thing. Chevy want us to enjoy the car but will not go the extra mile to do recalls on them when they know it's a big problem. My car also be stuck in 'shift to park' when it's already in park, I have to constantly restart my car and turn it off for the message to go always and my car is off, which is ridiculous because if you leave your car in shift to park that will completely kill your battery. Also, when I start my car it sound like a bunch of water just moving around but it's nothing leaking but you can hear the water once you start the car. The brakes on the car do not last long enough! I went to get some brand new brakes in October and was told from two different car shops that I need new brakes. These problems is ridiculous and dangerous and could be fixed by recalling the cars and fixing the problems.

- Gary, IN, USA

problem #127

Dec 012020

Malibu

  • 80,000 miles
When auto-stopped the entire car shuts down. It turns completely off and starts moving backwards before turning back on. A diagnostic revealed a problem with the power supply transformer and battery current sensor circuit. They are eroded I believe. This problem occurs anytime the brakes are applied - at stop signs and lights.

- Gadsden, AL, USA

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