One evening while driving on the expressway @ aprox 55mph the wrench light came on and three chimes the steering wheel locked causing loss of control resulting in a collision with the concrete wall causing suspension damage and body damage to a tune of over $3600! steering and stopping are more important than going! GM needs to be held accountable for this safety issue before someone is killed.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

I was driving my sons 2004 Malibu when suddenly there was a few dings followed by the car symbol light with the wrench inside it on the dash light up. The wheel immediately became difficult to turn. It's as if the power steering stopped working. I drove to a safe location, turned off the car and the problem was gone. This does not seem right to me. Please have GM rectify this issue.

- Plymouth, MA, USA

2004 Malibu ls-driving down the highway today and the bell goes off, the yellow wrench appears and the radio shows power steering. The power steering just went out all at once and I almost ran into a truck. Called the Chevrolet dealership and they stated there is not a recall on this and it is also not covered under the powertrain warranty. NHTSA please issue a recall on this power steering problem before it causes someone to loose their life. I have a 1998 Malibu ls and a 2004 Malibu ls and they both have gave me problems. I will never purchase another one. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Dermott, AR, USA

I came to a stop at a red light and 3 seconds later I heard a chime and a car with a wrench through it appeared on my dash. My wheel locked up and the only way to unlock it was to turn the care off and back on. The same thing happened on two other occasions while stopped at a light.

- Glendale , CO, USA

Came home from work on 9/10/12 and pulled into the driveway. When I placed the car in park it did not go into park and the car kept on rolling almost hitting my other vehicle. I tried putting into other gears but they were off (shift to drive it might be in neutral, shift to reverse it might be in neutral too). It's like it doesn't know what gear it is in and you have to kinda play with it to get it into the right gear. Also, since it's not reading that it's in park I cannot pull the keys out of the ignition. Thank god my kids were not in front of my car when I got home....pretty dangerous as you don't know if it's in park or not and the car will just roll.

- Dubuque, IA, USA

I read you are looking into 2004 Malibu shift cables. Our cable broke a few month back resulting in an inability to start the car or shift gears. We replaced the cable. I have the old cable if you would like it.

- Gurnee, IL, USA

Upon trying to start car immediately had "wrench" sign on the left of the steering wheel with a message above the radio stating power steering needed to be looked at immediately, however, later that night indicated was working so drove the next week or so, . took into dealer on September 28 who ran diagnostics on it and found code C0545 but could not duplicate the problem. They did indicate that it was common to the 2004 model. On Saturday October 1, 2011 it repeatedly exhibited the same problem so have not driven it since. On Thursday, October 6, 2011 we did have to move it for lawn care purposes. It started fine and did not show the problem however, after reading other comments on-line where it indicated power steering had gone out while driving have not been driving it until more can be found out. It seems to me that this is something GM/Chevrolet needs to correct. Should we have corrected and they were to later come out with a recall would we be reimbursed?

- Rome, GA, USA

I own a 2004; 4 cyl; Chevy Malibu with electronic power steering. The system failed while I was on the interstate. I narrowly escaped causing a collision because of this failure. When towed to Chevy "... their computer shows no problem...". baloney, I have since found out by going on-line that lots of Chevy Malibu have this problem. Chevy will not own up to it because it is a major expensive repair.

- St. Augustine, FL, USA

The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu. While driving 35 mph, the contact lost control of the vehicle and was unable to shift gears. She was unable to stop the vehicle and shift into park. She drove to the dealer and they assisted her in placing the vehicle into park and shutting it off. There were no warnings prior to the failure. While at the dealer, a technician determined that the shift lever assembly failed. The vehicle was repaired at the cost of $206. The contact is in the process of notifying the manufacturer. The failure mileage was 22,378 and current mileage was 22,382. Updated 03-30-09 updated 03/31/09. Updated 11/22/11 the consumer stated the steering wheel was difficult to turn. The dealer stated the steering column was defective and needed to be replaced. Updated 03/05/12

- Woburn, MA, USA