10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
36,105 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 2017 Chevrolet Malibu:

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

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #45

Jan 312020

Malibu

  • 22,000 miles
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

problem #44

Nov 262019

Malibu

  • 35,000 miles
At less than 32K miles I"ve had issue with the shift to park indicator, the radio random on and off regardless if car is running or parked and off and now multiple indicators for an emission issue car will suddenly loose power or stop. I have taken care for service on regular basis and have had service repairs done twice to supposedly fix computer board. Unfortunately, service either says they have rest it or can't find issues I describe. I will park the car and let GM have it before I get killed in traffic!!!!

- Commerce, GA, USA

problem #43

Sep 192019

Malibu

  • 100,275 miles
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

problem #42

Jan 152020

Malibu

  • 75,000 miles
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

problem #41

Jan 132020

Malibu

  • 79,336 miles
As I was driving on the interstate my check engine and traction control lights flashed on. All of a sudden the engine power down light lit up and I couldn't go above 30 mph. This has happened twice in the last week. Very scary when you are driving 60-70 mph on the interstate.

- Belleville, IL, USA

problem #40

Jan 032020

Malibu

  • 22,000 miles
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

problem #39

Nov 142019

Malibu

  • 51,000 miles
While driving on a city street approaching a roundabout the engine warning light came on, the car reduced it's engine power, and the traction control sensor came

- Haslet, TX, USA

problem #38

Nov 212019

Malibu

  • miles
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

problem #37

Dec 232019

Malibu

  • 70,000 miles
While driving going at least 70 mph I get a engine power reduced message and it start happening every 10 minutes now as soon as you turn the car on it says engine power reduced and won't go over 30 mph. Had it hooked up to a machine and was told it was my accelerator which apparently is a issue in the 2017 Malibu's

- St Louis, MO, USA

problem #36

Dec 232019

Malibu

  • 60,000 miles
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

problem #35

Dec 192019

Malibu

  • 75,000 miles
My car will randomly go into engine reduced power mode causing my car to drop from whatever speed I'm at to 30-40mph, almost causing an accident. It's happened on multiple occasions.

- Duluth, MN, USA

problem #34

Dec 142019

Malibu

  • 74,500 miles
Engine power reduced warning came on with engine light and traction light car speed dropped

- Rainsville, AL, USA

problem #33

Nov 272019

Malibu

  • 65,000 miles
My vehicle has 6X, xxx miles on it. I first encountered a "reduced engine power" message on November 27, 2019 after driving 15 miles, turning the car off for about 30 minutes, and starting the car again. I called on-star to receive a diagnostic report, which returned a P2138 code. I limped the car home on a rural route with reduced power. Once home, the car was turned off for about 5 minutes. When I turned the car on, there was a check engine light but it ran fine. The light eventually turned off. The car ran fine until the evening of Monday, December 2, 2019. This time the reduced engine power condition occurred as I was in traffic commuting home from work, moving at a low speed. Luckily the road wasn't busy and I was able to pull into a gas station. I powered the car off and back on, and it ran fine all the way home. Based on some research on the internet, I believe the accelerator pedal position sensor is failing. This appears to be a widespread issue with these vehicles. I will be replacing the part on my own. The replacement part was very hard to find, supporting my suspicion that this is a widespread and likely an issue that GM is aware of.

- Red Bud, IL, USA

problem #32

Nov 252018

Malibu

  • 20,000 miles
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

problem #31

Nov 012019

Malibu

  • 39,000 miles
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

problem #30

Oct 112019

Malibu

  • miles
Reduced engine power is a norm for these new Chevy Malibu's my engender is reducing power again. They charges me $345 last December 3018 to replace the accelerator pedal and this October 2019, it's doing the same thing. It will reduce speed on highway under 50 mph and I could have been hit by other cars if they did not notice.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

problem #29

Sep 232019

Malibu

  • miles
Car stalls while operating, car shuts down while driving and fails to reboot without warning. I experience this problem several time within the last month. Car will also shut down when the vehicle is not in motion ie stop signs, traffic lights, stop & go traffic...etc. Most recent issue vehicle prompt "steering assist is reduced drive with care" or servic stablitrak

- Vestavia Hills, AL, USA

problem #28

Oct 032019

Malibu

  • 46,000 miles
Car indicating to place in park after placing the shifter into park and shutting down the car this happens weekly at least I was coming to a stop at a light and the car just completely shut off no power dash flashed a few times I put it in park, then I pushed the button to start it didnt start. Im stuck at stoplight on busy street during morning traffic. Second time this has happened

- Ventura, CA, USA

problem #27

Dec 012017

Malibu

  • 2,500 miles
Having issues with transmission (hard shifting, not going into gear, not going into park). This started within a few thousand miles of owning the car. The power steering also goes out at random times. The car gets significantly harder to steer, or turn. Happens when lane departure is turned off as well. Also the adaptive cruise as constantly failing. Almost like the camera just stops working, and the entire system shuts down, or it says its still engaged and cant see the cars in front slowing down. Sometimes the heads up display alert doesn't even go off when it should. Not sure if this is an electrical issue, or each individual system has problems. Car has been at the dealer about 6 times now with the same issues. They currently have the car, and have had it for about 25 days now. Always the same outcome... "we don't know how to fix it". they even had a specialist come in and reprogram the transmission to try to "fix the problem". it hasn't fixed the problem yet. Transmission issues usually happen stationary, going from drive to park, sometimes you will get a loud and very hard shift into gear, sometimes it says its in drive or reverse, you take your foot off the brake, and tap on the gas and nothing happens. It acts as if its still in park. It would also say "shift to park" after you already have and wont let you turn off the car, until it registers you in "park". as for the adaptive cruise, it happens while in motion. Its gotten to the point where I cant even use it anymore. It may work for 3 miles, then completely shut down. Steering issue happens whenever it feels like it. Sometimes while parked, sometimes while driving. Doesn't seem to matter speed wise.

- Moore, OK, USA

problem #26

Jun 012018

Malibu

  • 25,000 miles
The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. While driving various speeds, the vehicle would suddenly decelerate to 10 mph or less. Also, the vehicle failed to brake and almost caused several crashes. Vandevere Chevrolet (1490 vernon odom blvd, akron, oh 44320) replaced the accelerator pedal twice in six months and referred the contact to the manufacturer. The manufacturer stated that the vehicle was not included in a recall. The contact filed a complaint with the better business bureau. The manufacturer gave the contact a case number after learning that she contacted the better business bureau. The failure mileage was 25,000.

- Garfield Heights, OH, USA

Read the next 20 complaints »