10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
12 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
102,147 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #601

Dec 212020

Malibu

  • 164,007 miles
When driving my 2009 Malibu ltz 2.4L either street or highway the electric power steering will go out with no notice. Quite dangerous in any situation of driving. Mil light goes on and off when turning the steering wheel at same time power steering shuts down. Turning vehicle off and back on sometimes fixes the problem but only for a few minutes. This problem just started to occur at 164,007 miles.

- Mobile, AL, USA

problem #600

Jul 262019

Malibu

  • 130,000 miles
Power of steering keeps going out I have to turn my car off and back on just to get it to steer again. Usually happens when I'm backing out of parking spots or driving slow or turning. My headlights wiring harness has a short in it and one of my lights cuts off and on this happens randomly while I'm driving.

- Flint, MI, USA

problem #599

Jan 022021

Malibu

  • 172,498 miles
It is January 4, 2021. My car has 172,000 miles on it and this winter I have been experiencing a problem with the power steering and traction control. I will be driving and next thing you know my traction control light comes on with the power steering warning. I have red Chevy Malibu forms and it seems like I'm not the first one to experience this problem. It sounds like this is something that should have been recalled but obviously it wasn't. the only way I'm able to clear it while driving is putting my car in park in the middle of the road with my hazard lights on turning my car off and back on then they go away. And then it doesn't appear for a couple days the next thing you know it pops back up multiple times. I just want to know if there can be a solution for me for the situation. It happens both while driving and even sitting at a light.

- Lansing, MI, USA

problem #598

Jan 042021

Malibu

  • 133,000 miles
Power steering fails while driving, had to shut my car off while I tried to make a turn on the higway. The 1st time it happened at home on May 2020, car locked up and wouldn't move at all. Dashboard will say traction off, ESC off and it won't let me move my steering wheel. I have to shut off the car and wait a few minutes for it to come back. Car is at roughly 133K miles and had no issues prior to this. Also, when I drive my front side of the car shakes as if it is going over stuff. I replaced both cv joints, gotten the car aligned, and balanced my tires and they still can't find the issue with it. Only recall that pops up is the electronic, but I believe it has the steering recall as well.

- Union Springs, AL, USA

problem #597

Jan 042021

Malibu

  • 133,000 miles
The power steering light comes on and my steering wheel gets stiff. This happened to me leaving home and while I was turning on the highway. It is not the first time this has happened, and I have read that there is a recall on this.

- Union Springs, AL, USA

problem #596

Dec 192019

Malibu

  • 80,000 miles
When driving and at a stop/light, the car shuts off, or it shakes as if it gonna die out. The ESC service light appears on dashboard. Sometimes when just driving at any speed, it jerks and both ESC service light and traction control both come on the dashboard.

- Sherman, TX, USA

problem #595

Dec 262020

Malibu

  • 142,430 miles
I was on my way home, pulled off of the interstate and halfway down the exit ramp, my traction light and a warning message began scrolling. The message said power steering service ESC. I turn my car on and the steering wheel starts to shake. After a minute (or less) my power steering service ESC turns on as a warning and the steering wheel locks up. I can hardly turn the wheel on my own. I can no longer drive it safely.

- Coldwater, MS, USA

problem #594

Dec 262020

Malibu

  • 249,000 miles
The ESC electronic steering control faulted while actively driving the vehicle twice in the last day I was driving it. If I was not a strong male I would have crashed due to the complete loss of steering assist. The fault message went away after stopping the enging and restarting the vehicle. This seems to be a common problem with 2009 Malibu but my vehicle, by VIN is unaffected.

- Saline, MI, USA

problem #593

Dec 112020

Malibu

  • 147,000 miles
I have a 2009 Chevy Malibu 2.4 that I purchased. My vehicle has under 150 mile and runs exceptional. Driving down the road the other day and power steering light came on and I lost all power steering in a turn thankfully I was able to recover the vehicle turning direction quickly barely missing a pedestrian on side walk. I got the vehicle to turn in to a near by gas station parking lot and parked. I turned off the vehicle and let it sit for a min. Not sure what to do? I turned the vehicle on and there was no power steering light that came on everything was back to normal. Like it didnt even happen. I was able to get the car home. I had codes read on the malibue to see what needed to be fixed no codes even showed up on the screen. I chalked it up to a scary fluke. I've drivin the car with out any issue until today I started the car and before I even got off the gravel road I live on the same thing happened again. Once I turn the car off and back on as before the power steering issue goes away. This isn't safe at all.

- Kennewick, WA, USA

problem #592

Dec 072020

Malibu

  • 200,000 miles
The power steering stops working getting a warning, and the traction control warning light comes on. After shutting off it restarted power steering.

- Milton, WI, USA

problem #591

Dec 062020

Malibu

  • 143,672 miles
My door locks were automaticly going up and down. Now doors lock out of blue. Kinda discouraging now my power steering and service has acted up 2 times on Dec 06 2020. Both times the power steering warning came on I have been sitting still. Heard there has been recall on previous Malibu.

- Kendallville, IN, USA

problem #590

Nov 302020

Malibu

  • 203,000 miles
Upon starting my car one day, my service ESC light came on and my power steering disabled. This happened out of absolutely nowhere. My vehicle has had no steering problems until that day. I shut the car off and restarted it. No lights came on and everything worked just fine. Later that day it did the same thing. So I restarted my car and it was okay. The next day I started it and the light came on and the power steering was disabled, only this time it would not go away. So I drove without the power steering. Later, the eps worked fine and all the sudden went out while I was driving down the highway. Since then, the eps has stayed disabled and the ESC light has stayed on. In the event that I start the car and everything is in working order, it's not long (5-10 minutes) before the eps stops working again. There were over a million cars the exact same year and model recalled for this issue.

- California, MO, USA

problem #589

Nov 292020

Malibu

  • 174,915 miles
Power steering failure with eps service warning. Sudden loss of power steering and a warning that states service ESC. When I turn off the vehicle and turn back on systems may return but eventually fail with sudden loss of power steering and ESC. This occurs while driving or stationary intermittently at stop lights while driving and parked.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

problem #588

Nov 092020

Malibu 4-cyl

  • 150,000 miles
The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the ESC power steering warning light illuminated and the vehicle became difficult to steer. The vehicle was driven to sisbarro Buick-GMC, Inc (425 w. boutz rd, las cruces, nm 88005, (575) 524-7707) to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the power steering assist failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure recurred. The contact mentioned NHTSA campaign number: 14E044000 (steering) as a possible solution to the failure however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not under recall. The contact was referred back to the dealer for the repair. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000. Consumer has contacted the manufacturer. Vehicle has been repaired.

- Vado, NM, USA

problem #587

Nov 112020

Malibu

  • 2 miles
The power steering just goes in and out and tge steering wheel starts acti G funny and pulls back har to the oposit side

- College Station, TX, USA

problem #586

Nov 012020

Malibu

  • 130,000 miles
I've been having an issue with my vehicle registering which gear it is in. The gears shift hard, and when placing the vehicle in reverse, the vehicle vigorously jerks back and forth. While driving the vehicle on the road, it slowed down to a complete stop in the middle of traffic. The vehicle would not accelerate, and when it finally did, it just takes off with no warning. When placing the vehicle on park, at times it would still roll.. there is also the power steering and traction control sensors that are both illuminated on the dashboard. The steering stiffening in the vehicle is an issue only sometimes. However, it still worries me while driving on the road with my toddler in the vehicle as well. I did research recalls associated with the make, model, and year of my vehicle and found that there is a recall in each area I'm having trouble in. However, when I spoke with a Chevrolet associate, I was told that there was nothing they could do for me. I won't drive the vehicle because I don't feel it's safe and I'm afraid of an accident taking place.

- Shelby Township, MI, USA

problem #585

Oct 202020

Malibu 4-cyl

  • 80,000 miles
Power steering fails while driving. Dashboard will say "traction off, ESC off" and I won't be able to move steering wheel. This has happened in busy intersections. I have to stop the vehicle and restart in order to gain power steering again. Mechanic has diagnosed it as torque sensor/steering column. This was recalled on many other Malibu, but not mine. A lot of people are having this same problem but weren't included in the recall. This has been happening since I purchased vehicle seven years ago at 80,000 miles (about once per year) and has gotten worse recently at 170,000 miles (multiple times per month). This is dangerous and very expensive.

- Lexington, KY, USA

problem #584

Sep 052020

Malibu

  • 188,000 miles
When going over any bump or turning the front end shakes and makes a clacking noise. ESC is off. Traction control is always off. Error codes read P0010 P0449 P0013 P0722 P0011

- Millington, TN, USA

problem #583

Aug 012020

Malibu

  • 90,000 miles
The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the vehicle power steering failed. The contact stated that the steering failure occurred while the vehicle was starting up and while driving. The contact stated that the electronic steering control light illuminated on the instrument panel when the failure occurred. The vehicle was taken not taken to a dealer to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer informed the contact the that the vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 14V153000 (steering). The failure mileage was 90,000.

- Auburn, MI, USA

problem #582

Oct 152020

Malibu

  • 175,000 miles
Driving at about 60 mph on a straight away, car lost power steering and sensor light service ESC/power steering started flashing. The steering felt no different prior to losing, no noises. Drove it this way until I reached my destination about 4 miles away. Car sat for 4 hours, turned it back on and had regained all steering and no warning lights came back on. I have noticed that for about the past 4 years, during the colder months, the service ESC/service traction notification will randomly pop on for no other reason then the cold and I lose tire traction. Pretty positive this is what caused me to slide off the road 2 years ago. Whenever I have taken it to dealership for analysis, they claim they can't find anything wrong, because the light pops off as quick as it comes on. I have also specifically asked about and looked up a recall for this, and when my VIN is entered it shows that it is not needed. I found the recall from 2014 for the power steering issue, so either the prior owner had it fixed and it didn't last, or it was never done to begin with because something is definitely wrong here. This is obviously a major issue and the first time I have lost my steering. I have owned this vehicle for 7 years, staying on top of all required maintenance and then some. GM needs to get a fix for this!!!

- Galion, OH, USA

Read the next 20 complaints »