2017 Chevrolet Malibu: battery drain or dead battery

Filed Jun 7, 2026 · Electrical, Transmission · AZ

Shift to park error on dash. GM is aware of this issue and won't do anything about it. This causes stress and can cause battery drain. The issue lies within the microswitch that reads that the shifter is in park. The metal arm that activates the switch wears down or the wiring is faulty. Several Malibus, as well as other models have this issue and Chevy dealerships want hundreds to thousands of dollars to fix this. If it's a known, repetitive issue on several models, it should be a recall. This causes owners to try to fix this issue themselves, which can cause more damage and more money.

Filed Jul 19, 2022 · Transmission · WI

When the vehicle is in park and turned off, there is a message that appears on the dashboard that reads, "Shift to Park," despite the gear shift in the park position. This is a safety hazard because the vehicle will not turn off and will continue to use the vehicle's battery unless the "Shift to Park" message is cleared from the dash board. To clear the message, one must press the gear shift button several times or wiggle the gear shifter. My spouse spent 10 minutes doing this earlier today and was almost late for a doctor's appointment. If my spouse did not clear the "Shift to Park" message, my spouse would have risked having a dead battery after the doctor's appointment and would have had to call for a ride home or walk in weather with heat indices in the mid-90 degree F. The "Shift to Park" message has showed up on the dashboard with increased frequency over the past several weeks and Chevy should issue a recall to remedy this issue at no cost to consumers. This is a known issue by Chevy, according to GMauthority.com, as a class action lawsuit has been filed because Chevy has not acted to fix a known problem in their vehicles. I am writing to add my complaint to the list complaints this agency has received regarding this issue. Please promptly issue a recall to remedy this issue.

Filed Jul 13, 2022 · Acceleration, Engine · SC

My car has been in and out of the dealership since I purchased it back in 2017. The vehicle shuts off while I am driving it. The first time this happened I was on the highway with my 5 year old son. I completely lost power and had no control being my steering wheel locked. Since then I have repeatedly had the same issue. Each time calling the dealership and each time they find either nothing wrong with it. Or say they fixed the issue which I was charged for. For the same issue that was fixed to happen again. This happened yet again today as I was making a left hand turn onto a 4 lane highway. It happens atleast once a day. I lost all power to my car. Steering wheel locked and car refused to start. There is something going on with this car and many others. The dealership I purchased it from agreed and offered to get me into a new Malibu being it’s a safety issue but I want nothing to do with another Chevy after my research. Too many issues with this car. THIS car has already been fixed for the recall involved AND this is still happening. And the car also won’t go into park. It says shift to park which drains the battery because the car never really shuts off. Before the recall I payed for repairs out of pocket for what the dealership “thought” it was which it was not. Clearly because the same thing keeps happening. Nothing different. It’s all the same. This car is a lemon. God forbid my car stops in the middle of a highway and won’t start. I won’t say the rest but if there are any injuries or the worst I have documented everything through my dealership. My family and I will sue.

Filed Apr 20, 2022 · Electrical · ID

After stopping and shifting to park and pushing the "Ignition Button". The button indicator light shows car is not in "park". The dash indicator also states "Shift To Park" even though it is in park. This can be resolved by many pushes on the shift stick lever. It is obvious to be a shabby mechanism inside the shift box that isn't connecting the circuit to show that the vehicle is actually in park. This problem began about a week ago and it seems to be somewhat worse as time goes on. When it first happened, I did not know what to do. Thank god for google that showed me how to "jerry-rig" a fix each time to show it actually in park (flipping the shift stick button). If left alone, I would possibly drain the battery. Also google comments and post indicated this is a complaint by many and should be a considered for a recall.

Filed Jan 23, 2021 · Transmission · 64,300 miles · CA

When I put the transmission in park, the indicator screen on the dash notifies me to put gear in park. I'm able to shut down the engine but not turn off the electrical system which ends up draining the battery. The gear is in park, but a switch in the steering column isn't operating properly.

Filed Aug 14, 2020 · Transmission · 38,000 miles · IN

Beginning several months ago, the vehicle would occasionally display a "shift to park" error message after the "start/stop" button was pressed to turn off the parked vehicle. Although the engine would turn off, all of the electrical systems would remain on. For the first few months, the error message would disappear after a few seconds to a minute, after which the "start/stop" button to be pressed to turn off the vehicle completely. Over the last month, however, the amount of time the message stayed displayed increased to many minutes, and it would take turning the car on/off and shifting in/out of park multiple times before the vehicle could be turned off completely. Once the vehicle was finally turned off completely, I wasn't able to drive it for a few weeks for fear of not being able to turn off the vehicle at work/stores/etc., or for fear of being stranded when the battery drains. This is a serious safety issue that effectively makes the vehicle unusable. After researching the problem, it was found that this is a known issue to gm for multiple models and years of vehicles per service bulletin 19-na-206. Based on my experience, however, the initially intermittent nature of this problem quickly turns into a permanent, disabling problem. In addition, a more permanent solution needs to be provided than what's listed on the service bulletin: (a) scraping deposits off the electrical contacts with your thumb 50 times to see if that works, (b) installing a jumper to see if that works, or (c) replacing the shifter control assembly. My concern is that if the design of the new assembly is the same, the problem will reappear in a few years with the replacement assembly; all are just temporary stop gap measures. A real fix that prevents the corrosion/deposits is needed, and a recall should be issued.