10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
9 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
2 / 0
Average Mileage:
76,913 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 2012 Chevrolet Malibu:

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

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #160

Mar 152022

Malibu

  • miles
The electric power steering and ESC systems. It is or was under recall for this type of vehicle. The steering becomes hard and vehicle shakes the tire rotation is being read wrong by computer. It doesn't want to stay 9n the road...the stability of vehicle is compromised.

- Montrose, MN, USA

problem #159

Mar 222022

Malibu

  • 179,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the steering wheel locked without warning. The contact stated that after multiple restarts, the power steering functionality returned. Over time, the contact stated that the failure would occur while driving at various speeds without warning. The contact had spoken with the dealer and was informed that her vehicle was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 14E044000 (Steering). The manufacturer was also notified of the failure and she was referred to the NHTSA for assistance. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 179,000

- Highland Park, MI, USA

problem #158

Mar 042022

Malibu

  • miles
I'm a single parent and I can't afford to take my car to the dealership I love my car I have had my 2012 chevy malibu for over 6 years n I hate to just have it park at home knowing that, that's car was my everything. It started having problem with esc. When I would come to a stop then taking off it would break on its one I was told it could be my throttle body so I went n buy one n now the idle is too high now I can't get it to fix. Pls help me out I'm my car that I love so much.

- Hondo, TX, USA

problem #157

Nov 222021

Malibu

  • miles
My electric steering motor and torque sensor is going out. I first noticed it starting to go out about 2 months ago in November. I was turning to pull into a parking spot at the grocery store and all of a sudden my wheel locked up and check ESC flashed across my dashboard. I almost side grazed the car on side of me on my way turning in. I had to turn the wheel really hard to straighten it up..so when I got into the parking spot and turned the car off and turned it back on it was working again and didn-??t do it for a while. So fast forward 2 months later in January it started back doing it again. I was backing out of my driveway and all of a sudden the steering got really hard and again service ESC flashed on the dashboard and I almost backed up into a car that-??s parked on the street behind my driveway. I had to turn really had and in the middle of the street I had to turn the car off and back on to reset itself. The next day was driving and and when I stopped at a stop sign my steering wheel started shaking left to right uncontrollably and ever since the the steering wheel just shakes even while sitting still so I made an appointment with the dealership that I got the car for checked it out and did a diagnostic test and the mechanic told me I needed a torque sensor and steering motor. I have the papers saying that-??s what-??s wrong with it and after doing research I found that that car model had a recall with the exact same thing my car is doing but when I put in my vin number it-??s not listed as a recall and my car isn-??t drivable and I think it should be recalled.As of now it has only been looked at by the dealership. And it-??s available for inspection upon request.

- Cahokia, IL, USA

problem #156

Feb 012022

Malibu

  • miles
ESC traction control /Power Sterering light turned on my wheel was hard to steer. Lost control. If I turn off it works for a few minutes but then goes back to hard.. unable to steer

- Baytown, TX, USA

problem #155

Jan 082022

Malibu

  • miles
The electric power steering locks up due to a faulty steering angle sensor. When it locks up you can not steer the vehicle at all. This has happened several times. Which has nearly caused an accident everytime.

- Lakeway, TX, USA

problem #154

Nov 032021

Malibu

  • miles
I been having the same problem for a year now.. constantly putting it in and out the shop and no one can find out what-??s wrong with it.. the engine will loss it control and stop working in the middle of traffic which almost caused me a wreck several times. The Chevrolet dealership hasn-??t done anything to help but charge me to look at it and they didn-??t fix the problem. I have three kids and it has been a safety issue which is our only way to work and school. The car will skip constantly in the middle of traffic and several times someone almost ran into the back of my car. It will say engine power reduced, service traction and service sec I have spent ton of money trying to fix the issue and I have read several people have had the same problem.

- Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

problem #153

Feb 062019

Malibu

  • miles
Rack and pinion failure causing play in the steering, pull to one side, clunking and rapid shaking of the steering wheel when braking.

- Lumberton, NC, USA

problem #152

May 092021

Malibu

  • 183,000 miles
I have an ongoing issue in which the power steering on my 2012 Malibu locks up and it's extremely hard to rotate the steering wheel to make turns....it has happened on numerous occasions from being parked from a cold start to recently actively happening while driving on the road/highway. The computer dash display pops up saying power steering then says service ESC

- Kansas City, MO, USA

problem #151

Jun 152020

Malibu

  • 90,000 miles
Bad steering column parts. Steering wheel shakes when stationary. Sometimes powersteering does not work.

- Berthold, ND, USA

problem #150

Jul 082020

Malibu

  • 180,000 miles
Loss of steering when turning. Driver info panel saying ESC and service power steering. !

- Greenville, NC, USA

problem #149

Jan 122021

Malibu

  • 20,000 miles
The steering wheel is hard to turn and it's getting worse and worse when it is unlocked the wheel shakes like crazy and it has no grip when U turn in the car it is unlocked but as U driving it it locks it's selfnl. At a intersection as I was at a a complete stop once I took my foot off the breaker the steering wheel almost hit the the car in the next lane

- Glendale, AZ, USA

problem #148

Sep 012020

Malibu

  • 97,000 miles
While driving to school going roughly from idle to 10mph as started to get on the highway the ESC services power steering light came on and I lost all power steering. Needless to say me being 5'3" and 98 pounds didn't help me much to control the vehicle. I slowly pulled over to the side of the road and gathered myself not knowing what just happened. I turned off the car and gathered my thoughts. Luckily I was on straight away with no turns when this happened. So I preceeded to turn the car on and noticed the message was gone so I checked the steering and the problem light was gone. Well with that said, that was the first this had happened. And now it has progressed during the winter. I don't know if the cold has anything to do with it. But this is scary and GM should try to address it. I believe there was a recall for this issue but my VIN doesn't show that recall. Can you please help. The problem is starting to happen when I start my car now.

- Clifton, AZ, USA

problem #147

Jan 112021

Malibu

  • 180,000 miles
Power steering light comes on and my steering wheel is twitching and jerking.

- Bonham, TX, USA

problem #146

Jan 072021

Malibu

  • 120,000 miles
ESC light came on, lost power steering while maneuvering on extremely icy curve on freeway. Fortunately was able muscle the car to side of the road without accident. Found hundreds of complainants on NHTSA web site for this exact same issue, but couldn't find where there was any recall for this issue per my cars VIN number. Extremely dangerous problem that manufacturer needs to address.

- Rochester, MN, USA

problem #145

Jan 062021

Malibu

  • 130,000 miles
On Wednesday January 6, 2021, I was on my way home from picking my son up from school when I went to make a left turn from the center divider and my steering wheel would not turn! this caused me to make an emergency stop in the middle of the busy city street and to park up on the curb to avoid ongoing traffic. I tried to turn the wheel manually with a lot of strength but it did not move. Then a warning signal appeared saying (power steering). I turned the car off and back on to see if this helped, it did. After I got home I did not drive the car anymore. I am waiting to see if this repair is covered under Chevrolet's warranty regarding eps (electrical power steering) vehicles.

- South Bend, IN, USA

problem #144

Jan 082021

Malibu

  • 152,000 miles
As time is going on the steering is getting less controllable. I have yet to get into an accident but I can feel the car swerving a bit when I'm steering (swerving I didn't do). I looked up my VIN on iseecars.com to see if there was a recall at all with the steering and there was in 2014. I bought this car last year so I am the owner and am not sure how to go about this. I got it checked out and the mechanic said there is definitely an issue with the rack and pinion and shaft. Also my passenger seatbelt light remains on at all times and there have been minor issues with them.

- Flint, MI, USA

problem #143

Sep 212020

Malibu

  • 120,000 miles
Power steering goes out low trac light comes on service light comes on while car was in motion

- Endicott, NY, USA

problem #142

Sep 112020

Malibu

  • 90,000 miles
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.

- Stevinson, CA, USA

problem #141

Jun 302020

Malibu 6-cyl

  • 150,000 miles
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.

- Pleasant Unity, PA, USA

Read the next 20 complaints »