2010 Chevrolet Malibu: won't start

Filed Apr 27, 2022 · Electrical · TN

Car will not start. There is a recall for this, but my car seems not to be included. Turn the key over and over....battery is good....will not start.....after 50 or so tries, occasionally it will start, but when you get to your destination, you have to pray it will start again. Sometimes it will....most times it won't. This is a problem with a recall. Dealership will not fix it under the recall without the car being on the list. A little help from y'all would certainly help me. I'm 73, retired, on fixed income. Cannot afford to pay a Dealership to fix this when it is a known problem. Please help....

Filed Jan 23, 2021 · Electrical, Engine · 123,000 miles · KY

While traveling at 60 MPH, lost power for a split second then regained. About 5 miles toward destination, at a traffic light I was attempting to make a right turn & when I accelerated, the car completely died with line of traffic behind me. Should this car have died in the midst of heavy rush hour traffic we could have caused a serious accident with a chain reaction of vehicles piling up behind me & possible injuries. . We were slowly creeping around the corner trying to catch a clear path to proceed when the car went dead. There have previously been problems when after driving for 30 minutes then returning to the car it would not start, cranked but not start with no warning lights present.. But after repeated restart attempts it would start maybe an hour later. But this time it died in traffic 3 days ago and we had to be towed home, it still will not start. I've read online about many other malibu owners having similar problems with concerns of accidents. No engine or dash lights came on and a dealer could not get it to code. The unsafe problem is the car dying in the traffic with no warning in front of a long line of traffic.

Filed Oct 11, 2019 · 70,000 miles · PA

I have been having a problem with my car running really funny. Sometimes it won't start. Then at times it will start but if you put it in gear to drive. It goes very slow. This happen in 2016 before. I got a letter from gm to take it in to be fixed. When I take it in. My car resets. And the dealer tells me they can't fix it. The letter I received from gm is saying I have until 2020 to get it fixed. The first time it happened I had very low miles.

Filed Aug 30, 2019 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 78,000 miles · TX

Electronic stability control ESC light comes on and says service then ESC off. This is a safety issue with these cars. Seat belts fail. Safety issue. And our will not start because the anti theft system is activated for no reason. All of these are consistent with several other complaints. Gm should be ashamed for selling vehicles that fail. Approximately 78,000 miles. Hopefully they will step up and correct these problems!!

Filed Mar 14, 2019 · Electrical, Fuel system · 90,000 miles · IN

There is a problem with the fuse box located in the trunk. My car has completely lost engine power while driving on multiple occasions. Fuel pump, alternator, and battery have needed replaced. There is a short in or near this rear fuse box. Fuel pump relay has been replaced, and connections greased. Temporarily fixed, then a few days later shuts off while running. From researching, this appears to be extremely common with this model across multiple years, with the wire leading to the fuel pump relay burning up and shorting. Clearly poor wiring. At least three times my car has completely shut down while in motion with no warning at all. Multiple crank/no start situations as well. My next option is to replace the entire fuse block, but that will not fix wiring design. Have been towed multiple times in a short period of time.

Filed Mar 9, 2019 · Brakes, Electrical · 157,000 miles · AL

On the highway going 65 MPH, the engine shut off without warning but the battery/electronics were still on. I safely stopped the car on the side of the road. The check engine + ABS + traction control lights came on simultaneously. The car would not start. I finally had to call a tow company. No mechanic knows how to fix it. Upon further research, many owners of the same make model and model year range suffered similar situations. The car still won't start till now.

Filed Mar 13, 2018 · Driver assistance · 82,000 miles · MD

My vehicle has been giving me issues for the past month or two with the ecs traction light that keeps coming on . I have had it in the shop on and off and they keep replacing sensors and nothing helps. It almost feels like the engine is missing when the light comes. On. The car acts like it is in slow motion and it cut off on me stopped at a redlight. Nothing would turn on I was almost hit by cars that were coming behind me. Nothing came on at all no lights it would not turn over. Apparently all malibu's are having this same issue since 2005 models up to 2015 models. It appears it is the cam line that needs to be replaced mine is broken and the wires are frayed according to the code that is being put out. This should have become a recall for all of these malibu's. A life or really bad accident could occur. I was told that chevrolet does not know how to fix this that is why there is no recall. To repair this if it is repairable could be in the thousands of dollars. I wont pay it I will trade my car in for a foreign vehicle. I have always been a chevrolet person but not anymore. I feel let down that no one is listening and this is a safety issue. Thank you

Filed Nov 8, 2017 · Acceleration, Transmission · 140,000 miles · FL

I have 2010 chevy malibu I love my car it has never given me any problems the whole 3 years of owning it just the normal maintenance. One day I was driving at a speed of 25 MPH and I crossed over an intersection and as soon as I did so I pushed to gas pedal to accelerate a little and I noticed that it wasn't going. This was very dangerous because I had my children in the car and another vehicle was right behind me and could have caused a car crash. I didn't realize that the car had shut off because everything was still work radio was on , lights were working. So I pulled over and turned the car completely off and when I tried to turn it back on it wouldn't start. The engine just kept turning over and not getting a good spark. And it also caused the battery to fail so I had to get a new battery. I changed the camshaft sensor, the crankshaft sensor and the car is still doing the same thing. This is a huge inconvenience for me because no one can find out what the problem is because the battery died o lost all diagnostic codes. Now what?

Filed Jul 2, 2017 · Electrical · 100,000 miles · NJ

I have been stranded too many times with this vehicle. The vehicle just won't start sometimes and I have numerous people saying it is the security malfunction in the vehicle preventing the vehicle won't start. I've spent so much time and money. I do not recommend anyone buying this product. It is chevrolet malibu. Note, this is maybe 15th times it happen to me within 2 months period of time.

Filed Oct 10, 2016 · Acceleration · 110,000 miles · PA

2010 malibu experiences fluctuations in power/ rpms when trying to accelerate. I have taken the vehicle to get looked at severals times, but mechanic could not get the car to replicate issue. Not sure if its related to the fuel system, transmission, or motor. Either way, no one can diagnose this problem. When issue occurs, the vehicle acts sluggish (does not want to go) and bounces between 2 & 3 on my RPM gauge. It's as if I would push the gas then let off the pedal (repeatedly). At first this only happened when going up a hill, but has become more frequent, and is now happening regardless of grade. It is a definate safety issue, as this has occurred when crossing an intersection and merging onto a highway. It does however seem to be resolved if I press the gas all the way down (rpms go up to 4-5 on gauge, then the car finally goes) I have seen many complaints about this online, but no resolution. The number of miles the car has does not seem to be a factor, as this has happened to others with this car being brand new (based on other complaints).this has been happening intermittently for months. This is my first chevy- bought last year. Seems to have a ton of electrical issues. Bought the car unknowingly with an open recall, tire sensor light comes on intermittently for no reason, car suddenly stalled on the highway and would not start a week after purchased, stereo loses power, power steering is intermittent, the passenger door sometimes fails to open and/or close, the driver side door loses power intermittently, the exhaust is rusting, ect. I did buy a warranty with this car, but being that nothing can be diagnosed, its a waste of money! I still owe over $8000 on this car, and paid blue book value! -chevrolet totally misleads their customers. Never again oh, and I did recieve a recall letter about my power steering, but the dealership says there is no recall.

Filed Aug 22, 2016 · Transmission · 185,000 miles · NC

On august 21, 2016 I place my car in reverse to back up out of a parking space in a residential parking lot. Then I attempted to place my car into drive to pull off and the gear shift moved but my car started rolling backwards. So immediately stepped on my emergency brakes so the car would stop. I look at my gear shift and saw it was still in reverse. I played with the gears moving the level back and forth but the car remain in reverse so I turned my car off. When I went to turn the car back on, my car wouldn't start. Not knowing what to do but guessing it was something wrong with the gear shift, with the help of some citizens we tried to push the car back into a parking space. I then called a tow truck to come tow my truck to the closest chevrolet dealership, lucky me was only 23 miles away. I had a friend come pick me up and take me home where I went online and began doing some research on this part. That's when I came across the recall ref this part . Unknown to me because I never received a letter. The next day the dealership called me and advise me that my transmission gear shift cable needed to be replace. They stated they didn't show any recalls on my VIN no#,so the cost was my responsibility. I called the federal safety agency inquiring about everything relating to recall. They could only confirm there is a recall but my VIN is not included. Currently my vehicle is at the dealership waiting to be repaired because they have to order the part.I am very upset because everyone keeps stating recalls are based on the probability of the problem happening to certain cars. Well I am hear to say my VIN was not included but it happen to my car. I could has easily rolled into another vehicle or something else and hurt myself or someone else's property. I can't believe when you have 100's of thousand of cars recalled that the manufactured, in this case gm catches them all.

Filed Oct 22, 2015 · Electrical · 92,000 miles · MA

My car wouldn't start, so I looked it up on the internet. The anti-theft light was on, it told me to unplug my battery so the car would reboot the system. I did that, then it started. It happens now about once a week. I have called the dealership and that year there is no recall on it, but previous years it was. I have no notice when it will happen, the car is parked . It just won't turn on.