Door locks randomly locked and unlocked. I could be driving or the car could be parked and the door locks would go up down up down. If it locked, there was no way to open it, I was stuck in the car. I felt it was such a hazard that I just had to remove the fuse that operated the door locks.
2009 Chevrolet Malibu electrical complaints
Page 13 of 13: complaints 341 to 368 of 368, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While driving, the car will appear to think that the brakes are being applied. The brake lights will all activate, and cruise control will cease working. When the brake pedal is depressed, the brake lights turn off. The brakes still stop the car, but the lights and cruise control appear to be not calibrated to the brake sensor. Also, sometimes 3 warnings appear in the dash display: ESC off, service ESC, and service traction, though it is not necessary for the problem to occur. This happens very intermittently, but once it starts, it usually doesn't go away. I've had the problem repaired about 6 times, but it keeps coming back. I am out of options, as the repairmen seem to not know what is wrong with the car.
I was in my driveway preparing for windshield installation. Kept on hearing intermittent clicking. Realized it was the power door locks. They were not fully locking or unlocking, only attempting to. It continued for a few days then stopped for a few weeks. Yesterday we were on a 75 mile drive and 75 miles back with the locks incessantly going through their intermittent rapid cycling. I never know for certain if my doors are locked or not. Besides being extremely distracting and irritating while driving, there is the presence of a safety issue. There are a lot of scenarios that could be played out.
Brake lights come on without pressing the pedal and when u press the pedal they go off for a second and come back on this has happened numerous times.
I bought this car in june 2010 and the first thing to happen was the battery exploded in 09/2010. A few months later a my car was broken into because I did not realize that when I lock my doors that all locks but 1. The next thing that happend was the front head light shorted out, not the actual head light but the socket that the light goes into and that happend around 03/2012. Around january 2013 I was stopped beside my daughter school and a man pulled over and told me that my brake lights had been on for a few miles. I did not realize this and could not see this unless I was driving at night. I rarely drive at night but when I was driving at night I noticed when you get to a certain speed the brake lights will come on and and then go off if you tap the brake and then come back on and stay on until whenever they decide to go off. Sometimes they will be on when you crank up the car. It concerns me because what if they brake light fail all together. It seems like there is some kind of eletrical malfuntion with this car. I have researched online and find many people have the same issue with lights coming on in the care at sporadic time times as well as the brake light issue. I called gm, they took the info but offered no assistance. I really believe a recall or some type of investigation should be done on this. I know people that have gotten behind the same car I drive and they see they brake lights continously on like my car. This is very dangerous.
Recently, I experienced a failed door locking actuator in my 2009 chevy malibu while driving my 2yr old to daycare. I was turning right out of my neighborhood, when my door(driver's door) swung open. I grabbed it and tried shutting, but the locking mechanism was locked, so it wouldn't shut. I pulled over and had to manually unlock the door so my door would shut. I couldn't even imagine if this situation occurred to a door in the backseat with my daughter sitting there in her child seat. Fast forward one week, and now 3 of my 4 locking actuators are failed. I did some research on the internet and noticed that there are numerous complaints from malibu owners about these failed locking actuators. I then started to wonder if there was a recall on this. I called gm and they said there isn't a recall and that is just normal part failure. Normal part failure?!?! I've had the car for less than 4 years and have only put 45k miles on it. In my opinion, this is a major safety issue.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that the doors would sporadically become locked and unlocked independently. Additionally, the contact noticed a burning odor inside the vehicle and the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was taken to dealer for inspection and the contact was awaiting diagnosis of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 90,000. The current mileage was 100,000.
I had a problem with the brake light function. When driving, the brake lights would be on. When pressing the brake, the lights would turn off. I had to pay to have a switch replaced by the dealership to fix this issue.
Cruise control disengaged. Third brake light came on and brake lights came on. Would not go off. After a period of time ( 30 minutes or so ) the brake light went off. People have told us numerous times we had no brake lights. This has happened a lot of times since then. Dealer said they couldn't find anything wrong.
Heating element of heated seat feature burned a hole completely through the front of the driver's seat back. The hole is centered in the lower lumbar area of the seat back.
Driver side and passenger side automatic door locks have failed. Intermittently, opening any of the four doors at any given time will cause all locks to engage.
My rear driver door lock will not activate. Only manually. Very dangerous. It seems to be a very common thing with these cars. They have bad actuators. This should be a recall by general motors...
Both passenger side doors locks only stopped working electrically and only work manually, I began to notice this about two weeks ago, they were only working about half the time. I took it to the dealer and they told me the car is out of warranty, and even its a common problem they want me to pay roughly $500.00 dollars for the repair. I think this is a safety concern because in the event of a traffic collision I will not be able to get my kids out of the vehicle quickly since you cannot unlock the rear doors through the outside of the vehicle manually with a key. I contacted gm customer service and addressed my concern to no avail. I don't think it is right for a 3 year old car to be having such problems, I also own a 1996 honda civic whose doors still work properly?? Thank you.. There are a lot of unsatisfied customers on this forum....http://www.chevymalibuforum.com/foru...ead.php?t=7950.
The power locks on the car would not unlock the doors, leaving the passengers trapped inside. We were unable to open the doors manually, electrically or even with inserting the key into the door. Passengers had to crawl out of the windows. After trying the key and remote numerous times the driver side door unlocked but would not relatch when the door was closed or even after starting the engine and placing the transmission in gear. The locks sound like they engage and disengage leaving one to think every thing is okay but, it is not. This a serious safety hazard and one that could be life threatening.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that the battery melted and leaked acid onto the engine. Prior to the failure, the air bag light intermittently illuminated. An acid odor also became present and smoke emitted from under the hood. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and the contact was informed that the battery suffered a meltdown and released acid onto the engine compartment. The dealer replaced the battery, the negative cable, and cleaned the engine. The contact expressed concern that the failure may recur. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileages were 38,000.
After lowering the left-side passenger window several inches, I was unable to raise it via the driver's door control panel. I could make it descend all the way using that panel but not ascend at all. I was able to raise the window only by using the left-side passenger door switch; the driver's door control panel was useless for that particular window only.
The car door locks cycle on and off at any given time. Mostly stays unlocked, although the other day it did lock me in the car this was just as frightening as them not being locked. I can be stopped a stop light or driving 70 MPH and the locks are cycling on and off. The unlock/lock bottom in the door panel does not work. I feel very unsafe with my door locks cycling on/off. I work downtown by the county jail and I feel very unsafe driving anywhere down there with my doors unlocked. I park in a parking garage that has had some theft, I hope my car does not get robbed. I also have small children that ride in the car and feel unsafe driving around the city or highways with the doors unlocked. I hope the doors don't fly open or if in a wreck there would be nothing preventing the doors from opening. I need to take this car on a five hour road trip next weekend, with kids in the car, the sound of the locks cycling on/off will be a distraction while driving. I hope this problem can be repaired soon. I have read many chevy malibu's with this same problem and when I called gm regarding this issue they know of this problem, unsure if the are going to help me at this point. I take my car to the dealership on monday. I sure hope gm and the car dealership sees this as a safety issue. A well known gm lock malfunction and repairs this problem at their cost.
The car door locks cycle on and off at any given time. Mostly stays unlocked, although the other day it did lock me in the car this was just as frightening as them not being locked. I can be stopped a stop light or driving 70 MPH and the locks are cycling on and off. The unlock/lock bottom in the door panel does not work. I feel very unsafe with my door locks cycling on/off. I work downtown by the county jail and I feel very unsafe driving anywhere down there with my doors unlocked. I park in a parking garage that has had some theft, I hope my car does not get robbed. I also have small children that ride in the car and feel unsafe driving around the city or highways with the doors unlocked. I hope the doors don't fly open or if in a wreck there would be nothing preventing the doors from opening. I have read many chevy malibu's with this same problem and when I called gm regarding this issue they know of this problem, unsure if the are going to help me at this point. I take my car in on monday. I sure hope gm sees this as safety issue and fixes this problem at their cost.
Driving down the road the dash light will just go off and on, the power door locks stop working the power windows stop working the radio will just turn on when it wants to and the volume control will not work so when it turns on its at the peak volume. This is extremely dangerous. Chevrolet will not do anything about it. Its past its warranty.
The brake lights on my daughter's 2009 chevrolet malibu come on while she is driving & her cruise control stops working. She took her car into the dealer & 2 other people were there with the same complaint. The service dept. Said it was fixed but the same day as she picked it up, it happened again. While driving down the highway @ 70 MPH with the cruise on, the brake lights come on and stay on until she presses the brake pedal. The brake lights go out while she is applying the brakes & come back on when she releases the brake pedal. Also, she also can no longer set her cruise control. After the vehicle has been parked for a few hours, the cruise & brake lights work properly. Anyone following her, especially @ night, might assume that she is stopping while driving & driving whilst stopping. I am concerned that this could cause a fire if the problem is electrical in nature, (both taillight bulbs have recently burnt out or shorted out & been replaced). I am very concerned that this could cause a serious accident.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that while driving 45 MPH, the vehicle would down shift while accelerating. As a result, the vehicle would suddenly decelerate. In order to shift the vehicle back into its proper gear, the contact had to shift the vehicle into manual mode and use the optional pedal shifts. The contact also stated that the brake lights would illuminate when the brake pedal was not being depressed and the traction control and electronic stability control lights intermittently illuminated on the instrument panel. An authorized dealer was notified and the contact was informed that the body control module may need to be replaced. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed. The failure mileage was 59,000.
In march, 2011, I began having problems with the doors not opening from the inside. I unhooked the battery terminal to reset the computer then the windows started working again. In april my driver's window would not go up. I replaced the 30a fuse and got the window to go up. Once I tried to use one of the other windows, the fuse blew again. Now my windows will not go up or down without blowing a fuse. The switch in the driver's door was replaced and the relay was replaced with no resolution. My windows will not work at all and yesterday, july 19, my doors began acting up again and will not open from the inside. I feel like I'm going to get trapped inside this vehicle.
Car will not start, door locks lock and unlock w/out prompts, light flash on and off, radio goes on and off, & interior lights dim. These symptoms occurred twice before ... Once in the fall and once about 7 days ago. Previously (summer 20101) the power windows would not function - dealer stated it was a pinched wire. I also noticed a few weeks back the instruments could not be read during the day w/out turning on the headlights.
I have a 2009 chevy malibu the power locks has been locking and unlocking while the vehicle is in motion causing safety issues for me and my young children that are passengers in my vehicle.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet malibu. The contact was driving 60 MPH when the vehicle began to jerk abnormally followed by unintended acceleration. The dealer reloaded the transmission software. The contact stated that after repairs, the vehicle would not properly shift gears and when downshifting, the vehicle would abnormally accelerate. The contact was able to apply the brakes to stop the unintended acceleration. The dealer reloaded the transmission software a second time but to no avail. In addition, the contact stated that the power windows would intermittently fail, the fuel level gauge was inoperable and the air conditioner would not engage. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where the contact was awaiting the rebuilding of the transmission and repairs to all failed components. The failure mileage was 12,000 and the current mileage was 25,000.
I have a 2009 malibu, recently experiencing electrical problems with the windows. This problem creates a safety risk for me and my family. The windows will not go up or down, the repair shops states there was a blown fuse which they said was replaced. Windows worked for a while. Same problem occurred in same day. Car remained in shop for a week. Drove car for about a week problem occurred again, this is a safety hazard, hope real problem is discovered. Also complained about squeaky brakes but there was no problem found.
I noticed when I would use the right turn signal that after completing the turn the signal would not shut off. It would make the "click" sound but the light would still flash. This happened about 50% of the time. The dealer replaced the turn signal switch today and it seems to be ok.
My malibu 2009 has locks opening and closing often when driving. Remaining open is a big safety concern. My dealer and gm pretend not to help unless they are in car when they see and hear it happening. My son also has the same problem on his new malibu 2009. Desperate for help. We have little children often in car and the locks are open., when this happens.
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