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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
33,109 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.

2017 Chevrolet Malibu engine problems

engine problem

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2017 Chevrolet Malibu Owner Comments (Page 2 of 12)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #201

Apr 242023

Malibu

  • miles

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

I purchased a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu LT for my son Memorial Day weekend in 2019. The first night we got the vehicle home it rained overnight. We checked the trunk and found water in the trunk. After a search online we found that this was a known issue for the Malibu yet Chevrolet/GM did not issue a recall. After putting pressure on the dealership that sold the vehicle to us they agreed to send us to a Chevrolet dealership to have the issue fixed at no charge. Last Monday, April 24, 2023, my son was driving his vehicle and the StabiliTrak came on and his car would not accelerate. He took the car into the dealership and they determined his pistons were cracked and it would be $6,900 to repair the pistons/engine. After doing an internet search I found a letter on a commercial attorney's website and on the GM website that was sent to Malibu and Cruz customer's in 2017. The piston damage was a known issue. The letter from 2017 stated it was a misfiring of an ECM module that could lead to piston damage. Owners of the Malibu and the Chevy Cruz were given to March 31, 2019, to come in and have the module reprogrammed and new oil placed in the vehicle. We bought the care at the end of May 2019 so there was no way to know of this issue. There was no recall so the information was not readily found. I did not find out this was a known issue until I did the Google search last week. I have reached out to Chevrolet and filed a claim. Chevrolet at first said they could maybe pay 20% for the repairs. They should be paying 100% due to the fact they knew of the issue and should have issued a recall.

- Mint Hill, NC, USA

problem #200

Mar 272023

Malibu

  • miles
2017 Chevy Malibu has P2138 showing up.. I was on the highway loss half the power to my car, almost causing a major accident, went from 65 mph to 30mph in seconds.. This is a safety issue & needs to be address ASAP!! I have my vehicle at the dealership, the service teams seems to have no clue that there is an issue with the mailbu's !! The P2138 is defined as -??Throttle/Pedal Position Sensor/Switch -??D-??/-??E-?? Voltage Correlation.-?? It is triggered when the vehicle's Engine Control Module (ECM) detects that the signals from the two throttle position sensors or the two accelerator pedal position sensors don't correlate.

- Thornton, CO, USA

problem #199

Feb 232023

Malibu

  • miles
2017 Chevy Malibu over 15 times this happens since we owned buying it brand new it has "Reduced Engine Power" error come on and the car can't accelerate over 30 miles per hour. This is a continued problem all the time and very dangerous when we are on the tollway that has a 70-mph speed limit, and you can't get the car to over 30 mph. This same problem happens on our 2018 Chevy Malibu over 5 times since we owned it too and it's getting worse! This is extremely dangerous and takes you a long time to get home when you can only go 30 mph or less because of the "Reduced Engine Power" Limit. Same 2017 Chevy Malibu also has the "Shift to Park" Error so we can't shut off the engine because the car won't go into park, you have to back up and keep trying to get the shifter to let you put into park if you're lucky it will finally after many shifting attempts back and forth to get rid of the error so you can shut off the engine to exit your car. GM should be responsible for a recall on these two very important errors that these Chevy Malibu cars are having on both of the problems are very dangerous "Reduced Engine Speed" and "Shift to Park" can't shut off the engine is dangerous.

- Ingleside, IL, USA

problem #198

Feb 052023

Malibu

  • miles

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

-€œEngine power reduce-€ error on dash as well as check engine light. Driving on highway at fast speeds when this message displayed and my cars mph dropped to 30mph. I-€™ve had this issue fixed once already with the dealership and it turned out to be the sensor throttle or something with the pedal. Yet, 5 months later, I am having the SAME problem. This is very unsafe

- Mansfield, OH, USA

problem #197

Oct 012022

Malibu

  • miles
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The mechanic retrieved fault code: P0138 (engine control module (ECM). The vehicle had unknown repairs completed; however, the failure recurred. The contact made the independent mechanic aware of the failure; however, the vehicle was not taken back to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

- Summerville, SC, USA

problem #196

Oct 012022

Malibu

  • miles
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who used a diagnostic reader and retrieved error code P0138 engine control module (ECM). The vehicle had unknown repairs completed; however, the failure recurred. The contact made the independent mechanic aware of the failure; however, the vehicle was not yet taken back for diagnosis and repairs. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was unknown.

- Summervile, NC, USA

problem #195

Jan 312023

Malibu

  • miles

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

Engine light comes on, reduced engine power message displays. Have had numerous issues with this. Replaced gas pedal, was fine for a year. The issue is back. Why has'nt NHTSA acted on this well known issue? Car goes from 70 to 40 on the highway. GM has done nothing to fix the problem! First started around 10,000 Miles.

- North Adams, MI, USA

problem #194

Jan 242023

Malibu

  • miles
My wife has had this happen three times now in her Malibu: she's driving on the interstate and the engine suddenly loses power. A light comes on that says "engine low power mode, " and the check engine light comes on. She has to complete the journey at low speed (less than 30 mph). Once she gets home, shuts the car off, opens the door, and when she comes back and restarts it 10 minutes later, it's fine. Today, it didn't shut the check engine life off, so we brought it in for diagnostic. We researched online and found the class action suit for "accelerator pedal sensor" being faulty. We believe this is what's going on. It's currently at the garage getting diagnosed. This is a known, dangerous issue that GM should take responsibility for!

- Saint Albans City, VT, USA

problem #193

Jan 022023

Malibu

  • miles
Driving vehicle like normal and then the check engine light comes on with the stabilitrak light, and get message "reduced engine power". Car goes down to less than 50 miles per hour and is struggling to go must faster while I am on the freeway. The RPMs keep going higher and higher even though the car is not going very fast. Get home and let it rest. Keep having same issue on and off past two weeks. Sometimes it comes on and goes off, has been on past three days acting the same way. Check engine light says Pedal Sensor issue. Known recall for it listed with letter sent out in 2019, but of course this was only if you were having the issue at the time (which I didn't) and it is only covering for cars under 150K miles. My car has 192K miles, so they will no longer cover it, even though it is a known issue has been for some time now! It is very expensive and unfortunate that they will not cover this issue regardless of miles, knowing that this can happen to the 2017 Chevy Malibu's at any time. Still driving it the way it is. Did try to clean out the Throttle body and see if that helped, but issue still is there. Will try to replace sensor at some point and see what happens.

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #192

Oct 182022

Malibu

  • miles
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while pulling into a gas station the vehicle lost motive power without warning. The contact stated that she was informed to top off the fuel and the vehicle was able to restart and drive with no further issues. The contact stated that the vehicle was able to restart several hours later. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic for diagnostic test or repair. The contact stated that recently while driving approximately 20 MPH, the brakes locked up as the brake pedal was depressed and an abnormal noise was heard. The contact stated that the vehicle stopped as the brake pedal traveled to the floor. The vehicle was inspected by an independent mechanic that diagnosed the failure as a defective brake vacuum pump that needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure however, no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was unknown.

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #191

Nov 152022

Malibu

  • 88,000 miles

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

The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power with the engine power reduced message displayed and the traction control warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the air intake system was faulty. The mechanic cleaned the air intake system; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 88,000.

- Bloomfield, NM, USA

problem #190

Nov 262022

Malibu

  • miles
The check engine light came on and the stabilitrak came on. I went to nearest car mechanic and the mechanic told me it was safe that-€™s normal and it was safe so I proceeded to goto work the next day. The next day I-€™m on my way to work and 30 minutes on the highway my check engine light come on this time saying engine power reduced I went from driving 60mph to 20mph with four wheelers speeding pass me. Being far away from home I pulled over side of the highway to not panic. I turned on my hazard lights and proceeded driving and made my way home because I didn-€™t want to be stranded.

- Syracuse, NY, USA

problem #189

Dec 012022

Malibu

  • miles
Engine shuts off while driving and sometimes will not restart. This is not the regular start/stop functionality. My car shuts of when it should not and creates a crash hazard.

- West Sacramento, CA, USA

problem #188

Nov 182022

Malibu

  • miles
Engine light came on along with decreased engine power light. Felt the transmission downshifting. Speed went from 50 down to 20 while on an expressway and I had to pull off the road and shut it down. Waited awhile, turned it back on and it continued several times to downshift. Took it to the dealer, had to wait a few weeks for the part and the accelerator pedal sensor needed to be replaced. Thank god I was not in the passing lane or there would 've been a very bad accident.

- Scranton, PA, USA

problem #187

Oct 212022

Malibu

  • miles
Engine power reduced, car reduces to 40-20 mph while in traffic. Has started to shut off completely while driving.

- Ashburn, GA, USA

problem #186

Sep 282022

Malibu

  • miles
I have taking my car to Chevy 8/2021 twice and now 9/28/22 for what I believe to be throttle body control and accelerator pedal issue. The engine reduce light and check engine lite continues to come on causing my car to lose speed while driving. Chevy keeps telling me its a oil pressure issue now their saying it may be a oil gasket. At this point I feel like there is a lot of complaints of the same issue. I'm hoping someone can look into this further as it's costly and seems to be a chevy issue nation wide. I see there has even been a lawsuit : Jun 9, 2022 -€" A class action lawsuit against General Motors alleges the company hid a defect in its Chevy Malibu that can cause a sudden loss of power. https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/consumer-products/auto-news/chevy-malibu-class-action-alleges-power-defect-cover-up/ I feel like this is very dangerous and I don't want to get hurt or hurt anyone in the process.

- Brooklyn Park , MN, USA

problem #185

Sep 242022

Malibu

  • miles
Contined chevk engine light concerns despite paying for repairs multiple times at chevy dealership. Always issues with throttle body and PCM. Additionally receiving codes for reduced engine power/speed reduction while driving and frequent messages of "shift to park, " when already parked.

- Alexandria , LA, USA

problem #184

Aug 262022

Malibu

  • miles
Small trip to Georgia granddaughter-€™s birthday. Vehicle just went in limp mode. Lost power brakes. My brothers code reader showed P0 014, P0 017, P1101, P0016. I-€™m pulling up and showing on NHTSH for open recalls and one complaint. I-€™m trying to make a complaint. The car we turn off. Wouldn-€™t crank back. Sometime when you wiggle the wire by the throttle it would crank. No power breaking. No engine pole to go up hills. No speed. On Google and YouTube I have found recalls of powertrain automatic transmission six recalls on the website. CHEVY MALIBU vacuum pump recalls. I-€™m having a vacuum leak you can hear it when the car does turn off the engine fan runs for ever. I-€™m showing problems with CHEVY MALIBU vacuum Val cover gasket recalls. Problems with CHEVY MALIBU brake vacuum pump recalls. Problems with CHEVY MALIBU 2013 through 2022 booster vacuum pump recall the defect. Problem showing GM 1.5 L POO14 Dash P0017 exhaust camshaft timing. Somethings gone major wrong and I-€™m showing recalls and I am looking for GM to fix this car I have a A lot of money in it and still owe a lot of money on it.!

- Florence, SC, USA

problem #183

Aug 052022

Malibu

  • miles
While driving, car speed decreases to 20 MPH. I continue to push the pedal and then suddenly revs up to pedal speed. The vehicle jerks while this is happening. There has been a loud clinking sound under the pedal area. No warning lamps. This happens intermittently and dealership will not do any repairs without a code or replicating the issue. This is a huge safety concern and I can no longer drive this vehicle safely. What can I do to get this repaired?

- North Ridgeville, OH, USA

problem #182

Jul 222022

Malibu

  • miles
Vacuum pump has stopped working properly causing it very difficult to brake. Autostop feature has stopped working properly due to this problem. This is the second time I have had issues with the vacuum pump.

- Alvin, TX, USA

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