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.
I was driving to town and everything stop working. It scard the crap out of me. I took it to smith Chevy in turlock ca they said they didnt know what was wrong with it and charaged me $489. Lucky it didnt kill me. GM motors need to do a recall on it before someone gets hurt or lose there life.
ESC warning on dash coming on will driving and turning forward or backward. HVAC controller not responding to commands, HVAC resistor and blower motor wires getting very hot and not blowing fuses when driving with ac or heater running. HVAC resistor blowing out. High motor oil consumption, every 1000 miles its low a quart.
Steering wheel sticks on occasion and is hard to move. Sometimes it will jerk side to side in a shaking motion before sticking. My car goes out of lane.
For a long time now, a year, I've been getting the ESC warning every time I turn the steering wheel. It just a nuisance alarm. It shuts off the ESC. Now however every time I start the car lately and I'm getting the power steering warning, I move the wheel a little and it goes away. I'm afraid it's going to get worse and I'll start losing my power steering. GM won't do anything about it because they say the VIN number isn't part of the recall. I have a 2012 with the 2.4L. It has 73,000 miles on it. The recall if that's what it is (# 15356: Special coverage adjustment - loss of electric power steering assist - (Aug 28, 2015).
"power steering" message comes on randomly and the power steering goes dead while I'm driving. This seems to be a known issue with this Malibu and should be a recall. There are many complaints online about this issue. This has occurred multiple times. This is dangerous and should be a recall purchased vehicle in 2013 since than has happen close to 10 times.
- Sun Valley, CA, USA
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"power steering" message comes on randomly and the power steering goes dead while I'm driving. This seems to be a known issue with this Malibu and should be a recall. There are many complaints online about this issue. This has occurred in April 2020 and multiple times in May 2020. This is dangerous and should be a recall.
At random I will be driving down any road and the power steering, traction control, ecs lights will come on and I will lose power steering. I have to pull over and completely stop and turn off ignition and wait a few minutes and turn back on and the problem is reset. This happens at random with no pattern.
2012 Malibu loses power steering and ESC light comes on. Very dangerous. Don't think 2012 Malibu is covered under recall 15356, but it should be. People will die... probably already have.
When idling in park my steering wheel will shake back and forth. And then I keep losing my power steering function. And then I have to restart the car and it will come back on. This has been happening for 2 days. With the ESC light in the power steering lights coming on on intermittent.
ESC light comes on either right as I start the car or once I start driving and I lose power steering having to stop several times to restart my car. I fear driving my kids in my car because if this ongoing issue.
For about the last two weeks when I turn my car on a ESC power steering message has illuminated the dash. I have to turn my car off and back on several times to get the message to disappear. Tonight while driving the same message came on. I ended up having to pull over several times during my drive each time losing power steering! very scary and very unsafe. When I search my VIN number there are no recalls on it, I feel there needs to be before someone is hurt or killed in a accident.
2012 Chevy Malibu recently turned 98,000 miles. I was trying to make a turn after stopping for a stop sign and the power steering service, ESC light comes on. The steering wheel became stiff and very hard to turn. Was able to get car to the side of the road, turned engine off and on and I was able to drive. Very scary, I have read that this happens a lot with these cars. How can there not be a recall"?"
I was driving my car a few days ago on a city street and after I made a turn, the power steering service ESC light came on as well as the traction control picture. My steering wheel got super stiff and it was extremely hard to turn it. After I pulled over and turned my car off, I turned it back on and everything went back to normal. There is a recall for this but I checked on the GM recall website and put in my VIN but my car is not included in the recall which doesn't seem to make much sense if other 2012 Chevrolet Malibu's have been recalled because of this.
On 2/5/2020 while driving to work my steering wheel started to twitch while driving. After I arrived to work and put it in park the steering wheel was shaking back and fourth. Now after work I come out it had no power steering ESC light on and a message power steering problem. Took VIN to dealer no recall for my car. This is a common problem with these GM electric power steering systoms. There are recalls out there for this problem. 2012 Malibu included just not mine. Very dangerous
The electronic power steering failed while driving. Service ESC light came on and car was nearly impossible to steer. After turning off the engine and restarting the car, the power steering came back on. Now it is going in and out. Sometimes I can steer and sometimes it is almost impossible.
Same power steering problem. The electric power steering goes out sometimes midturn. Im an adult male and ive hit the curb a couple times if this happened to a female or child it could cause a serious accident. Im scarred to drive it. G.M. needs to stop selling these electric power steering units. Mine is 2012 Malibu just turned 100000. The ESC light comes on and says power steering on dash.
The electronic power steering failed while driving. Service ESC light came on and car was nearly impossible to steer. After turning off the engine and restarting the car, the power steering came back on. Now it is going in and out. Sometimes I can steer and sometimes it is almost impossible. I have looked it up and there is a recall for this problem but my car does not seem to be part of this recall.
The intermediate steering shaft and motor failed. I was almost killed. They said it is not covered under any recall or extended warranty. The part number is 20821325. I will never buy another Malibu. Nothing but problems on the 2012
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Stevinson, CA, USA