I am the owner of a 2010 chevy malibu 2lt fwd. I bought the car in august of 2013, since then I have had to have the transmission rebuilt due to the fact that the manufacturer used a faulty 3-5 reverse wave plate. This is the same wave plate that caused significant damage to vehicles in the recall of similar vehicles in the 2007-2009 models. The dealership tried to make it seem like I was some sort of freeloader because I didnt not feel a car with 63000 miles on it should have a bad transmission. When all was said and done the 3-5 wave plate fell apart and shredded my transmission. The car stopped accelerating in traffic, this almost caused an accident not once not twice but 3 times. As the my children were in the vehicle the 1st 2 times the car stopped working properly, the very first time the dealer stated that even though the computer showed the fault codes in the computer from the check engine light stating there was a transmission error since they were not able to make them repeat it was fine. 2 weeks later it happened again and caused me to have to pay $500 after much complaining and pleading as my car was only 5 yrs old with less than 65000 miles on it, but all warantees had just conveniently expired. I feel that this must be looked into, this is the 2nd complaint that I have filed due to the fact that my car still does not run correctly and it has been docuemented that if it happens once it will happen again. These vehicles are not any safer than the earlier models and need to be looked into as were the 2007-2009 models with the same faulty transmission issues. If not then someone is going to be seriously hurt or killed. If I had not been attentive to my car my daughter or I would not be here, or a driver of the other vehicles that could have been involved. As cars should not just stop accelerating because of chevys neglect to see this problem
2010 Chevrolet Malibu engine complaints
Page 4 of 5: complaints 71 to 100 of 126, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle was idling high and shaking violently while the service esb and the service traction warning messages displayed. The contact mentioned that the brake pedal was depressed and the vehicle was still shaking violently and moving independently. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the failure was undetermined. The vehicle was then taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the throttle body unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure continued. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 70,400.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. While driving at various speeds, the vehicle lost power. In addition, the "service ESC, engine power reduced and traction control" was displayed across the message board. The vehicle was taken to a dealer on multiple occasions where it was diagnosed that the throttle body, the throttle body sensor, spark plugs, torque sensor, and the steering wheel needed to be replaced. The dealer also stated that a carbon cleaning needed to be performed. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 45,000.
On 9/15/15 I was making a right hand turn from a red light when I heard a loud pop or bang from my front end, when I stepped on the gas the car would not accelerate. My car was out of warranty so after complaining to the dealership and gm they finally had it towed to the dealer (after 2 weeks) to have it fixed or looked at. The check engine light that was on at the time reset it self but the 2codes found in the computer were the p0716 and p0717 transmission codes but since they were historic (which the check engine light has never come on except for the break light issue) the dealership said my car was fine. I picked it up and off I went. 12 days later the vehicle bucked making a left turn, and the vehicle would not accelerate and the check engine light was back on. I was forced to drive to the dealership when the vehicle would not come out of 1st gear. The transmission was shredded. They would not tell me what codes were in the computer this time. But as I stated was an issue with vehicles from 2007 -2009 the 3-5 wave plate broke and contaminated my transmission. The car is still not 100% running right. The car still hesitates and jumps and has a hard shift with issues accelerating.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. While driving at various speeds, the vehicle decelerated and the check engine, stability control, and traction control warning lights illuminated. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician reset the computer; however, the failure recurred shortly after. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, but they were unable to diagnose the failure. The contact mentioned that the throttle body was replaced, but failed to repair the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 90,000.
I was stopped at a stop sign to turn and when I accelerated a quick flash of the service ECM message came on and then disappeared, but the car stalled out in the middle of the intersection. When I tried to restart the car, it would turnover, run for 2 seconds and then die. I had the car towed to my house, where we charged the battery and took it over to autozone to have the electronics scanned, where it showed 3 codes: u0121, p0106, p0621. They scanned the battery and alternator, and all came up with a clean bill of health (so to speak). Upon reading online it looks like this was an issue in malibu's 2004-2009 (which was recalled), and I believe they never fixed the issue and now 2010's may be affected. My worry is that this will happen again and it will be at a busier intersection or worse yet, on the highway.
I was driving in the freeway at approximately 60 to 65mph. Suddenly I got a notification that the engine power has been decreased. My engine wouldn't go past 2000 RPM and my speed decreased significantly. I pulled over and at that time I got another notification stating that my engine is being disabled. This incident occurred about 8 times. This stopped happening for a good year and a half until this past week. It happened to my pregnant wife in the middle of a busy highway and it happened to me in the middle of an intersection. I put a code scanner to read the check engine light and it didn't read anything. Which means the cpu isn't reading the error.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. While driving at various speeds, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the fuel injector and wire harness failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 67,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that while driving at 40 MPH, the engine stalled without any warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 138,437.
My check engine light randomly comes on and sometimes I would hear a noise coming from the engine. While driving on the highway I could feel the acceleration give out randomly around 60 MPH. I brought to the dealership and the light was no longer on. They stated that they can't see what is going on unless the light is one and I asked for a transmission flush, since it was around the time the book deemed it necessary to be done, and they stated they no longer perform transmission flushes for the 2010 chevy malibu and if I wanted to go somewhere and do it on my own that was up to me. I went to multiple places who does transmission flushes and they stated they could not perform the task, only the dealership could. So now here I am today I pulled into a drive thru and my car started bucking really bad and as I started driving again the check engine light came back on and now it is making a crunching sound from the engine. I cannot drive my car if it is unsafe like this. I don't know what to do because my warranty is up as well..
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated while driving at approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle stalled and the engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was restarted, but failed to restart when powered off. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the mass air flow sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000. The VIN was not available.
My car wouldn't move after shifting into reverse. I immediately called gm, because my car is till covered under the power tran warranty. Car gets towed to webb dealership( very poor customer service). They replace the transmission on thursday 040/09. Receive a call from [xxx] with webb chevy stating and I quote. "[xxx] the transmission was replaced successfully, but you have other problems the check engine light is on and the car will not get any power to accelerate. In order for us to diagnose the problem you would need to have another diagnostic test done for 119.00". Get call today from [xxx] saying oh we did the diagnostic test and it came back its the throttle body needs replacing its no good and the cost will be 513.41 plus tax. How could this be ?????? Why isn't this covered under the power tran warranty??? The throttle body is related to the engine... I am confused and very upset and disappointed with gm poor services and vehicle and webb chevy. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. While driving at 30 MPH, the engine warning light illuminated. In addition, the service ESC was displayed across the message board and the engine lost power. The vehicle was taken to a dealer. The technician diagnosed that a sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 83,535.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. The vehicle lost power and the check engine light illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic. The technician diagnosed that the accelerator pedal was not sending the proper amount of fuel to the engine. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 115,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. While driving at 60 MPH, the vehicle stalled and the engine warning light illuminated. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the throttle body needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 9,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 60 MPH, the engine stalled as the check engine warning indicator illuminated. The failure recurred two times. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or diagnosed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 975. The VIN was unavailable.
4 times in the last 4-6 weeks, check engine light came on then "service traction" then "reduced engine power" & the car loses power and starts shuddering violently. Worst situation was going 70mph on the highway & had to get to the shoulder & slowly make my way to the exit because so little power. Same situation each time but not always at high speed. Shut off the car, restarted & check light still on but could drive. Kept it to 40mph & under. Very afraid of it happening again & will not drive on a highway where my life & others would surely be in danger if I can't get to a shoulder & out of traffic.
2010 chevy malibu with the 2.4 eco tec. 47000 miles and already burning oil. Already replaced the intake and had wiring troubles.wheel bearing went out at 27000 miles what a pos.
I received a safety recall notice via mail from gm due to a defect that relates to motor vehicle safety. The notice clearly stated why the (chevrolet malibu 2010) was being recalled. The reasons for the recall indeed persisted in the vehicle that I was currently operating so I had it serviced as stated in the notice to do. Messages such as: (engine power reduced, service ESC, service traction control, as well as service airbag) appeared. After a couple of days of having the vehicle serviced, the same problems that existed before resumed. What now!?
Driving the vehicle at 70 MPH on the highway when I received the following messages in the dic: "service ESC" "service traction control" and "eng reduced pwr." vehicle would not accelerate past 60 MPH, and that was with pedal all the way to the floor. When I had to stop, the engine shook. Luckily, I was able to drive the vehicle home - although, at one point, I was driving 20 MPH on the highway acceleration lane because the car could not accelerate at all. The messages cleared when I shut the engine off and turned it back on; however, the engine light remained on. Dealer found dtc of "p2135" and replaced the throttle body. They said it was not covered under the emissions/engine/powertrain warranty and charged $500 for the repair.
Exiting the freeway my car display flashed "ESC off" "reduce engine power". My car continued to reduce power until it eventually shut down. I was in chicago rush hour traffic and could not pull all the way over before the car shut down. My car was disable in the middle of the street for about 5 minutes. When I started it back up it was fine, however the engine light stayed on. I continued to try to make my drive home and it happened again about twenty minutes later. This time I was not in a safe neighborhood. I did make it to the parking lane and set there for approximately five minutes before restarting the car. The engine reduced power on me again approximately ten minutes from my house. I was able to get out of the way of traffic again. The final time was as I was parallel parking my car in front of my home and I just let it shut off after I parked. I drove the car today and the engine light is on but it has not stopped. This was extremely scary and concerning. Having your engine shut down own a freeway is terrifying and dangerous. I have read several complaints on line about other malibu owners experiencing the same issue. I can't believe there has not been a recall for this thus far.
When the cars had about 60000 miles the check engine light started coming on, gauges shut off , AC would not work gas mileage would drop after taking it to different dealer ships we had different reasons for the problem. All of the expensive and they were note sure it would help son by unhooking the battery it would sometimes clear the problem for a short time, but it would always return. Now with 100,000 and about first of 2014 the engine started shutting off while driving down the road, traction control would come on by itself and lower power light would come on plus all the other problems with two your boys this can be scary. We have had the recall done with the bms cable which didn't do anything to help the problem the dealership which was in west jefferson, nc left there tools in the car and note very professional, mack browns in boone said it had no recall were rude and didn't do anything. We have changed the cam shaft sensors and when we get he money another suggestion is the throttle body sensor which is part of an assembly which is expensive but we have no choice can't trade it in like this so were stuck. This is the worst car experience I have ever had no more chevrolets for us.
Had the spacer for the bcm put in for the safety recall on october 17,2104. Today october 24,2014, I turned the key to start the car and it immediately started to accelerate while in park, it then began to hesitate and want to stall. The ESC warning light came on and the car read 'reduced engine power' immediately after, the car stalled and the car read 'engine disabled'. I turned the key to off, and since I was quite a distance from home I waited about 10 minutes and restarted the car. The car started but the check engine light remained on. I drove the car home and it would barely accelerate to the appropriate speed.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. While driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle decelerated and the check engine warning indicator illuminated. The dealer stated that the throttle body needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was unavailable.
While driving suddenly the car jerked (like a transmission error) and then the message on the display would show "service ESC" and "traction off". I brought the car in first to run an electrical test, where they reprogrammed a sensor (cost=$158.95). A few days later the very same issue happened and at this time when I came to a stop sign I went to accelerate and my car had shut itself off. I then brought it in where the found codes regarding the manifold absolute pressure (map) sensor problems. The service place then monitored both the computer data for the map sensor and the actual sensor data during test drive and found that when the problem occurs the computer data drops out but the sensor data remains the same, they suggested that it could be a possible wiring problem, and I agreed to have them replace the sensor.(cost+$275.15). Nothing happened until a few weeks later and the very same issue occurred. My husband played around with some wires and had noticed that there was a possible way that condensate could get into where the sensors were and so he fixed that issue. I have not had this issue since then. Just wanting to see if there is a recall for this problem and to get a proper fix.
Vehicle was parked and caught on fire when it was not running. The vehicle was in use earlier in the day. The fire started under the hood and burned the entire front of the car and caused some interior damage as well.
The engine has an eco-tech it is getting fuel in oil , you can smell it on cap. This is causing the engine to burn oil , use more gas.the car only has 27000 miles on it. Excellent condition. Using oil at an accelerated rate, you have to monitor or valves chatter. The motor cant last in this state, please add to recall list.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to start after multiple attempts. The failure recurred on multiple occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 46,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. While driving at an unknown speed, the headlights and instrument panel failed. The dealer could not duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 23,555. Updated 11/20/14*lj updated 8/4/2015
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the instrument panel failed. The contact mentioned that the clock was reset, the low engine compression, and the check transmission lights illuminated. Additionally, the accelerator pedal was depressed and the vehicle jerked. The vehicle was restarted and resumed to normal. The failure occurred on four different occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 81,000 and the current mileage was 87,401. Updated 10/23/14*cn the dealer informed the consumer, the throttle body needed to be replaced. Updated 10/30/14
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