10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 2 / 2
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 2 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 32,992 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.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
When driving the vehicle, a warning will randomly appear saying 'reduced engine power' and will reduce speed to about 20mph and will not accelerate any faster.
- Center Conway, NH, USA
When driving down a highway to drop off kid at school, the car sometimes slows down on its own and a message comes on stating engine power reduced. At 6:30 am in the morning when it's still dark, this is going to cause a car crash sooner or later. But dealer says there is no recall.
- Coral Gables, FL, USA
I bought my 2017 Malibu in July of 2019 from a Chevy dealership. Since I've bought it my car has rapidly slowed down with now warning and my dashboard reading engine power reduced. It's happened 5 times since I got the car one being I was on the highway and almost got hit by a semi on my way to work in morning traffic. I looked up this issue to see what could be causing it and turns out other 2016-2018 Malibu's have the same issues. I took it to autozone for a diagnosis and it's the throttle pedal position being farther apart than allowed. The dealership is charging me $200 to fix the issue and I have only had this car for 6 months.
- Shelbyville, KY, USA
I was traveling in my vehicle on the highway going at least 65 to 75 mph and all of a sudden my vehicle beats two or three times and across the screen came the words 'reduce engine speed'. at that moment I was traveling in the middle lane and I had to safely get over to the far right median in the middle of traffic safely turn off and wait at least 10 minutes to start it back up. When I started my vehicle back up again I still received the same message. I then waited even longer and everything was ok but eventually the same issue continued to happen several times. I took my vehicle to get coded and the codes that were given to me were 2122, 2123, 2101. It's unsafe for this to happen especially I have a child this is no safe for me.
- Blue Island, IL, USA
The car will not start sometimes. Yesterday the lights and radio came on randomly while sitting in the garage with the fob in the house. Randomly shuts down while driving. The last time it was half way through an busy intersection. Had to push the car off the road.
- Edmond, OK, USA
While driving on freeway going 70 mph, my traction control, check engine light, and a warning flash across my dashboard saying engine speed reduced. My car went from going 70 mph to 40 mph and wouldn't go any higher. I immediately got off the freeway took pictures of the lights. Luckily I have a anti left device that reads off codes for my check engine like code P2138 is what came up. This is extremely dangerous, I had my [xxx] child in the car with me and was almost rear ended due to loss of power from such a high speed. Parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
- Everett, WA, USA
Driving at about 55mph then without warning message on instrument cluster showed low power engine mode with emission warning icon illuminated. Speed dropped almost instantly from 55mph to about 35mph!!!!! setting stage for possible rear end collision but was lucky this time.
- Fall River, MA, USA
Vehicle abruptly slowed in heavy traffic for no apparent reason. Vehicle was diagnosed as having a faulty accelerator pedal. Part was replaced at owners expense 14 months into the life of the car. 8 months later the vehicle started to do the same thing for the next 5 months, sometimes 3 to 4 times in one day or not al all for several weeks. Car was again presented to dealer for diagnostic and it showed that the same fault occurred. This is a severe safety issue that needs to be addressed by General Motors. Fault codes P2138 for accelerator pedal, C0242 and U0401 for traction control system. Neither of these faults were addressed by the dealer during the repair.
- Howard City, MI, USA
The car randomly will reduce engine power, lowering speeds to 20mph or less. This happens unexpectedly. This has occured over 20 times over the past 7 days, including on the highway. I was driving on the highway at 70mph and the immediately dropped to 20mph, causing me to swerve to the shoulder and almost was hit by three on coming vehicles at high rates of speed.
- Arlington, TX, USA
I was driving my vehicle in heavy traffic and I came to a traffic light and my vehicle shut down and would not start back. It was frightening because someone could have hit me from behind. After the officer jump my car off it crank back up but I took it to the shop and place on the machine and the battery and alternator is fine. The car since then have shut down 4 more times and after sitting for a while it started back up. Once again this happened in heavy traffic. Please check if others having the same problem. Also a few times the doors came unlock at a stop light or stopping of the vehicle. Please help. 2017 Malibu
- Birmingham, AL, USA
On November 27, my wife was driving the Malibu at 55 mph on the highway when she experienced loss of engine power, down to 20 mph.. traffic backed up and came to screeching slow down. She ferried for her safety and pulled over in heavy traffic. She shut engine off and restarted vehicle to continue drive home at no more than 30 mph. Contacted dealer and they could not get to it till following week. She did not drive it anymore. Diagnosis at dealer was bad accelerator switch. They did not have any and said it maybe months because of this big problem. My car was down 15 days for this problem befor it was fixed.
- Whitehouse, OH, USA
Engine power reduced warning came on with engine light and traction light car speed dropped
- Rainsville, AL, USA
While driving my 2017 Chevrolet Malibu on the highway with my son in the car, the driver screen dash flashed a message 'engine power reduced', the check engine light turned on, and the car immediately lost power making it difficult to drive safely. After this happened, my car would not exceed 45 mph and would not shift. After pulling my car to the side of the busy highway and letting it set, I was able to get my car towed to my home. This has since happened five additional times and is happening at a more rapid rate. I took my car the oreilleys and autozone to have them run a general diagnostic check and the error code being returned was 'P2138' - 'throttle/pedal position sensor/switch D / E voltage correlation'. I then set up an appointment with the Chevrolet dealership, where technicians also ran a more thorough diagnostic test and found my car needed a new accelerator pedal position sensor. This part is not functioning as it is supposed to and at the very least is an extreme safety hazard.
- Carl Junction, MO, USA
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the check engine and engine reduced indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to steve rayman Chevrolet (678-269-7886, located at 2155 cobb pkwy SE, smyrna, ga 30080) where the technician performed a diagnostic test and replaced the throttle control cables; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.
- Marietta, GA, USA
Car will indicate 'engine power reduced' and will abruptly reduce speed. This is a major safety concern not only to myself but other drivers on the road as well. Why is there no recall for this problem? I see it is a major problem with these models of Chevy Malibu. Happens everyday, most of the time more than once. My commute to work is about 25min and it did it 3 times today.
- Newark, DE, USA
While driving my car says "steering assist reduced. Drive with care". it has started out of no where
- Cincinnati, OH, USA
Engine light on continually and never went off; I drove to dealer who said the gas cap area of fuel line was leaking; needs to be replaced they said and tried to order it from GM but they do not have the part; they ordered the part and cannot tell me when it is coming. They could not advise me on the safety of this condition. I know someone who had a similar problem with their model car. Can I drive this or should the dealer give me a loaner? I am still under the 3 year bumper to bumper warranty. We have always had problems filling the car and it is never completely full. We have brought it to dealer several times about this with no advise. They did recalibrate one time. They said it was an issue with the dash board reporting less gas than is in the tank. Please let me know about this as we continue to drive the car.
- Highland Heights, OH, USA
The vehicle displays/flashes quickly, stabili track system error (maybe not the exact words) and after a while the engine speed decreases. This has happened to me 3 times and two happened to be when I was driving on the highway going 70mph and the vehicle speed suddenly decreases to 30mph due with any warning.
- Bedford, TX, USA
For three weeks I have been getting a "shift to park" error when I place car in park. It prevents me from fully turning car off and will not allow doors to lock. I have to play with the shifter to get the warning to come off. Last week it was in the shop at basil Chevrolet in depew, NY and they replaced the shift relay and it is still doing it. Today while driving down the highway my car suddenly showed the check engine light, the traction control light, slowed down to approximately 10-15 miles per hour and showed "reduced engine power" warning on the dashboard. I was in the middle of rush hour traffic. I was able to get into a parking lot but the car would not shut off and the "shift to park" warning showed. Finally got that error to go off and shut off car. Car was able to restart with only the engine light on. Stayed on for the next 35 miles. Just went back out at lunch time and now no lights and it was driving fine until I tried shutting off and the "shift to park" wouldn't go off no matter how much I tried to wiggle the handle. Car going back to dealer at 5pm.
- Arcade, NY, USA
- Arlington, TX, USA