I have a Chevy 2004 Malibu with only 67000 miles on it. The power steering will shake and then go out unexpectedly while driving. And the steering wheel is extremely difficult to steer. It has happened about 2 times to me and one time to my daughter. It is extremely dangerous as I was making a left turn into a 2 lane busy street and almost hit the car in the other lane. And the other time I almost hit a tree. My daughter almost hit a parked car. It does stop when the car is turned off however, this is unacceptable for a car to do this. The manufacturers must know this is a big problem. They will for sure when someone has an accident and sues them. I am taking my car to the dealer tomorrow and I am thinking of trading it in instead of having it repaired.....especially if they can not garantee me that this will never happen again. I also don't feel I should pay for their mistakes. And finally I will make sure my family and friends will never buy a Chevy.

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.

SMITH-ARKANSAS

This is my wife's car and she called me in a panic that the car was stuck in the middle of the street where she could not turn the steering wheel. After several attempts at restarting and moving the shifter and whatnot she finally got the steering to work. She no longer wants to drive her car and feels totally unsafe in it. This is the last straw because she also has a terrible time with a dangerous signal light problem that works only when it wants to. I don't know how many new light bulbs i have replaced on this car. I went on line to find out where you would add power steering fluid only to find out its an electric unit. This is a consistent problem that needs to be fixed by GM. RECALL,RECALL,RECALL!!!!!!!!!

I am having the same problem as half the 2004 Malibu owners. I have a 2004 Malibu My power steering just stops working. This has happened several times. I have almost had several accidents because of this. I found 176 people on one website that is also having this problem and several other website with the same complaint on. Chevy has not recalled the 2004 for it. However that did recall the 2005 for the same problem. That only because someone died in the car due to the power steering problem. Wow now I feel safe. I am a single mom I cant pay $600.00 for a maybe fix. They cant promise after replacing the steering column it will even fix the problem. I cant buy a new car. They need to take responsibility for there mess up. Guess I have to wait till someone dies in the 2004 before they fix it and who knows I might be the one that does.

The 2005, 2006 and 2008 Malibu have been recalled recently for intermittent power steering failure. The recall describes the problem just as the contributors here have described it. A chime sounds, power steering appears in the radio, turn the car off and restart it and the power steering works again, I called Transport Canada to find out why the 2004 was not included in the recall. They said they didn't have enough complaints from 2004 owners. The recall is for a SAFETY ISSUE! YOU MUST REGISTER A COMPLAINT WITH TRANSPORT CANADA IF YOU WANT TO AVOID THIS COSTLY REPAIR. EVEN IF YOU HAVE PAID TO HAVE IT REPAIRED YOU MUST COMPLAIN. YOU CAN GET A REFUND IF THE 2004 IS RECALLED. This is a good website but not the place you need to register a complaint for this problem. Contact TRANSPORT CANADA. Our US friends need to contact their agency as well. The US and Canadian Governments work closely on these issues.

My car is a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu LS V6 3.5L 3 chimes. "Power Steering" displays under clock, steering wheel quivers a bit, steering then becomes very stiff. turning radius is then halved also. Turning the steering wheel slowly sometimes causes PS to go out. Putting the car in either Park or Neutral then turning ignition off then restarting resets steering. GM Customer Satisfaction - Power Steering #04050A expired December 31, 2006. GM dealership (Edmonton Motors) refused to pay for steering column last month, had bought the car from Mills Nissan in October "as is" condition and cheap. Steering column is out of shape and causes Steering Wheel Position Sensor to have uneven wear. Steering Wheel Position Sensor then sends an erratic signal to the Electric Power Steering Assist Motor Module, because the signal varies so much the software goes into a loop then crashes. So I bought online A GM original steering column(comes with Steering Wheel Position Sensor) part#25933396 CDN$332, Electric Power Steering Assist Motor Module PART#22837369 CDN$380. Instructed GM Goodwrench Service to replace steering column, and Electric Power Steering Assist Motor Module(does not come from factory preprogrammed). Most importantly only GM has the tool and the software to put into the Electric Power Steering Assist Motor Module, the name of this tool is called a GM Dealership Code Scanner Diagnostic Tool. DO NOT LET YOUR MECHANIC FORGET TO USE THIS TOOL. If you go to NAPA Auto, Canadian Tire to install these parts prepare to pay for towing to a GM Dealership to get the software Received estimate of $240. If you have all the above symptoms do not even bother to get a diagnostic done unless the problem reoccurs. Actual labour came to CDN$331. Total CDN$1043. Does not really matter what make or model you get you are going to have problems and people are going to be upset even if everything was done right the first time.

So I start my car today, and the bells go off on the stereo and it says power steering. The car light on the dash with the wrench in it is lit up. As I go around a corner my car is extremely hard to steer and direct the car where I want it to go. I'm able to get to a local garage, where I have them look at the car, which by the way the power steering was working when they started the car again, only to find out that this is the 4th malibu in the past couple of months that they have fixed with this intermittent power steering problem. It appears to be the electrical power steering part in the steering column itself. This should be a recall since this is not the first time it has happened in malibu's and it is quite a common problem. This is dangerous, having your power steering and then all of a sudden, with no warning, you have no power steering. Driving at highway speed and turning a corner would be disastrous. The cost to repair this is $650. GM needs to step up and own this stupid problem, or does it take a major accident and possible lawsuit before they can get their nose out of the sand. I was lucky there was a garage close and it didn't happen while I was driving. COME ON GM, PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR SUPPORTERS, YOU KNOW, THE ONE'S STILL BUYING YOUR PRODUCT............

The first time this problem came up was in December 2011. I took it into a Auto service center & they could not detect any problems with the power steering. Next I took it to the Chevy dealers and they could not find anything wrong with the power steering.Then on November 11, 2012 the problem came up again. This is what happens: I'm driving along and suddenly all this happens, the yellow wrench light comes on, bells dinging, message on screen is "Power steering" & the power steering is out I have to use all my strength to turn the wheel on turns. However once I stop and turn off the engine, then restart the engine, the power steering come back on like normal. It has been on the Chevy dealers diagnostic computer, but did not show anything wrong with the PS. It must be an electrical problem within the power steering unit/system. These technicians that work on cars must not search any further than they have to for any problems.

My car is a 2004 that I purchased used in 2008. I sure hope a warrenty is still in place to help pay for this problem that could cost me over $600.

Around 23,000 miles the Power Steering warning light went off. Each time we turn the wheel the warning light goes off. It has locked up on us one time so far. Went by the dealership to get a estimate on the repair, around $1200. Contacted GM, what a joke, they could not do anything about it even though the mileage was real low. They did offer me $1500 coupon on the next new car I bought. I declined, why would I buy a new car when they would not stand by their product. Even though the car is 8 years old, the mileage is just over 32,000. I have sent a letter to the NHTSA and if you have this same problem, you should do the same.

Nothing like driving down the road and going to turn and suddenly you have NO power steering!! I cant wait o get into an accident so I can sue the company! I am not the only one! I have read hundreds of complaints about this!!!! I have to turn my car off in the middle of the road (scarey) and restart it and it like resets it or somehting, it happens at least once a week, not good for a single mother with children in her car! Oh did I mention due to the economy I have NO money and no way to have chevy's error repaired! RECALL IT ALREADY BEFORE SOMEONE DIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!