2018 Chevrolet Malibu complaints

This vehicle was involved in a crash on the driver side door and now the problem is with the airbag pop up and the HAVC isn’t wanting to work either.

Engine power reduced notification came on the dashboard and car deaccelerated down to less than 25 miles an hour on the highway on multiple occasions. On the last occasion about 2 months ago the notification came on again, the car stalled and would not start up again. This was in ongoing traffic and I could have been seriously injured if people behind me were unable to stop in time. I sat in the middle of traffic for 45 minutes until fire and rescue came and pushed my car out of the road and onto the shoulder until the tow truck came.

My car keeps saying “shift to park” when it is already in park. I have to keep turning the car back on and off numerous times and shifting the car into another gear and back into park and wiggle the shifter to get it to read that it’s in park. I don’t know if the car is actually in park or not and will roll if I leave it. Also by turning the car on and off multiple times, sometimes 7 to 8, will ruin the starter or cause some other issues. I have not taken to a dealer yet because online reports of same issue in multiple gm cars have said they are replacing with the same faulty part.

The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated after parking the vehicle, the message Shift to Park was displayed. The contact was unable to turn off the vehicle. The contact reversed, drove forward and shifted into park(P) again. The vehicle then registered that the gear shifter was in park(P). The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while attempting to park the vehicle. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 20,400.

Getting an error "shift to park" message when parking and trying to shut the vehicle off. Have to now apply the parking brake, shift into gear, and shift back to park to get the vehicle to register in that it is in park to shut off. This error does not allow vehicles to be shut off or even doors locked which could pose a risk of a small child getting into the vehicle in these hot temperatures.

Son was driving my 2018 Malibu with 90,000 miles. Check engine light came on and car reduced speed from 75mph to 40mph on interstate! Autozone reading says replace Variable Camshaft Timing Solenoid. Very dangerous situation. Chevy should have to fix this.

My vehicle showed up on a Carfax report as being in an accident in Tennessee on 10/15/2020 when the vehicle was in Iowa on that date. The Chattanooga police report shows this VIN# on a 2002 Chevy Minivan owned by Enterprise Car Rentals with Colorado license plate 266XFH. My vehicle is a 2018 Chevy Malibu sedan purchased from Enterprise March 26, 2019. I do not understand why two vehicles have the same VIN #. Please investigate.

Third brake light cracks on left side, resulting in damage to the brake light and letting water leak in through the roof damaging the car's interior, including the rear curtain airbags.

The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while entering the vehicle, there was a warning light illuminated and a message stating: Action Required Place Vehicle in Park; however, the vehicle was already in park. The contact took the vehicle to a dealer and the vehicle was diagnosed that the harness needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,050.

The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and diagnosed with ECM module failure. The dealer informed the contact that the ECM module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the warranty had expired. The failure mileage was approximately 46,285.

I’ve brought the car in for the same thing “engine power reduced “ and they never were able to fix has been going on since February of 2019. codes related to the engine power reduced still occurred and are occurring on my vehicle, reported it to Gm ( have the emails) they offer me $2500 for a new car but won’t put it towards fixing this car, as it’s not a guaranteed fix as the vehicle has been brought in over 4-5 times for the same engine power reduced and never fixed it. I received a letter from GM regarding they will cover anything to do with “engine power reduced “ at no charge and now they won’t fix it. The last email gm said to report it to the dealership giving me the run around. This is one of MANY almost got in an accident today on the highway cause I was going 70 and it dropped to 40 out of no where of course with the engine power reduced message. I need help, please. I been going on since I bought the vehicle in 2019. Gm is doing nothing but taken advantage of for years

My 2018 malibu premier with 12600 miles on it, parking sensor, and wiring harness is defective. The shop tells me gm knows about it and recommends replacing them. when you park the car and turn it off it does not go into park, you can not lock the car, and the radio keeps playing. If you do not shake the shifter it stays that way. If you do not have the radio on and you get out and close the door and walk away you do not know it. They want $450 to fix it as long as all goes well.I feel there should be a recall on this since they put in faulty parts and have notified their dealers.

The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH and coming to a complete stop, the brake pedal was depressed and the vehicle Stop feature engaged independently as designed, causing the engine to stop running. However, upon releasing the brake pedal, the vehicle stalled and shut off. The contact was unable to veer to the side of the road. The contact shifted into the park, depressed the pedal, and was able to restart the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred twice. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that no issues were found. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the dealer. A case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 58,000.

I got the error message, "Shift to Park" after putting my car in park. Thus, my car would not fully turn off, affecting the battery. This is a known issue with various make, models, and years of Chevrolet vehicles. If this had happened anywhere but home, if would have left me stranded. The dealership confirmed it was a known issue as they have had to fix many of these vehicles. The bill was extremely pricey.

Component/System: Transmission shift control not correctly sensing vehicle has been placed in parked condition. Symptom: After parking and shutting off engine, message is displayed "Shift to Park" and car dings and lights and electronics will not turn off. Started about a week ago and was intermittent. Jiggling the transmission shift handle would always cause message to go away and electronics to turn off. Today, no amount of manipulating the transmission control handle will shut off the message. Tried to leave car in garage but lights and radio kept running. Decided to manually shut off lights and radio/info system hoping system will time out and shut down on its own. Finally got in contact with dealership who recommended I disconnect the battery cable until I can get the car into the shop. Safety concern: Though transmission can be verified as being in park, electronics will not shut down, thereby potentially allowing the electrical system to drain battery and not allowing car to be started when needed. Also, a bit concerned it was suggested by dealership I disconnect battery cable to eliminate power drain while "Shift to Park" error is occurring. Problem reproduced/confirmed by dealer: Not yet as the problem had a rapid onset from intermittent to full time over the course of a week. Having a bit of difficulty getting appointment scheduled that will get problem investigated and fixed. Loaner cars were discontinued last December and I live too far from dealership to be drive

Warning: Reduced speed, car stalled in the middle of traffic. Took to dealer ship and they charged me $279 and said it was the battery, from the looks of everyone else’s complaint, which we have the same complaint, I got ripped off. I deserve a refund and we all deserve our cars serviced.

Certain @018 Chevy malibu models has a recall for asoftware problem could disable the fuel injectors And im currently having this issue where my vehicle will not start all of the time and is misfiring.

Experienced electrical issues and engine issues since car was purchased in 2019. The car will stall randomly if stopped at a light or moving slowly in traffic. The breaks also skip when slowing down, I taken by break check and they advised the breaks where good, just had them done 2 years ago, max. I had the batteries replaced twice in the last 2 years,there is no faulty in the battery. Right now my car is not working at all, the breaks became stiff while driving, constant error saying "Reduced Engine Power". The car would turn over but it will not hold. I took it to my local mechanic, who advised he replaced all parts that could be the issue but the car still will not run right. He states it's and Engine or computer issue. There are a few recalls already issued by chevy, my car was made in July of 2017, and the issues described is the exact same issues I'm having.

P2138 throwing off code and goes into engine reduce power mode it’s dangerous

UNKNOWN . Stabilitrak , power steering drive with care, and steering assist is reduced drive with care light turned on . I was on the freeway with my newborn and the car was slowly giving out and suddenly stopped while in the carpool lane . Took it to the car dealer and did a diagnostics and codes u100,u0101, u0415, and u0073 popped up . This is the second time this same exact thing has happened to me same messages popped up so I took it to the dealer and codes p0300 came out and p050D came out . This malfunction could have caused a serious injury to myself or my family .

Suddenly and at random times check engine light comes on with error “Engine power is reduced” car will no longer accelerate even at freeway speeds causing a very dangerous situation. Has happened several times and continues to happen. According to other complaints this is very common and reoccurring for Malibu and needs to be covered by Chevy to resolve issue.

After parking car and turning off engine an error “Shift to park” displays. Only way to resolve is to turn car back on, put in different gear and then back into park, or keep pushing shifter up while in park to force into place and get car to recognize it’s already in park.

Car was driving on major highway when the alarm went off and check engine light came on saying reduced engine power. Car dropped down to 20mph at roughly 2,000rpm's on a major interstate. No prior indicators and mechanic said one of the sensors was the issue. Reading up there is apparently a class action lawsuit with GM and nothing has been done about it. NHTSA needs to address this matter ASAP.

The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving 60 MPH, the vehicle decelerated to 40 MPH independently. The check engine warning light illuminated. The contact veered to the side of the road for five minutes. The contact was able to continue to drive with no other issues. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred twice while driving. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 42,000.

The contact owns a 2018 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power with the traction control and check engine warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the accelerator pedal position assembly needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 72,721.

Shift to park error message. Sensor in the parking shift module is malfunctioning.

Doors do not lock when put into drive. Also when putting into park, car dings and error comes on stating shift to park. Doors have not locked in over 2 years, however at times it does but as of now they are not locked.

The vehicle was sent into the shop for repair four times and I continue to get a shift to park alert on dashboard after the repairs and warranty has passed I was asked to pay for the repairs when the dealership has serviced the car for over a week each time stating they couldn’t find the repair light I have contacted gm about the issue this is an act of consumer abuse I would like to be contacted on this matter

The car is going slow when you put it on drive a jumps then when you press on the gas it goes real slow then it kicks in at a faster level but when am at like 30 mlp it Jenks as if it wants to lock on me

Vehicle won't start and dealership determine it was the battery. Replaced battery now vehicle shuts off completely when making a complete stop. Vehicle will maintain in normal operation if shifted into neutral upon stopping. The vehicle was taken to Harper Motor Dealership where it was determine the starter was bad. After replacing the starter the next the problem remained. Took the vehicle back the next day and after three days it was determined a GM expert was needed to determine the issue. One week later and a proposed bill of $3500 to repair I decided to write this down. This appears to be a major safety issue that could cause harm or death. This has been an issue since 2013 in the Malibu and the issue has still not been corrected.

There is a issue with the chevy mailubu where a message will pop up on the dash and say engine power reduced which will significantly slow down the speed of the car and is impossible to keep up with traffic as someone who has to use the expressway everyday with a toddler in the car this is a big issue also im wondering why this isnt a recall on the the malibu because i know three other people with the same issue and we all have different year cars. chevy service team said the issue was from a pcv valve that will cause the exhaust to clog up.

Car does not recognize when it is in park despite attempt by dealer to fix

Driving at highway speed and the speed decreased to 20 mph engine power reduced along with engine light came on extremely unsafe. Purchased Dec 10, 2018 39,000 miles . Kids and myself could’ve been hurt.

Reduced engine power occurs while driving and will indicate a traction control issue and the check engine light will engage. The first time it happened, it was during a snowstorm on 2/24/2022, but it has occurred two other times while driving on a highway on sunny days (3/3/2022 and 3/8/2022) with no snow on the ground, road completely dry. Car speed dropped from approximately 55-60 mph to 20. I have to pull the car off the road, turn it off, and let set for at least one minute turned off before it will have engine power restored. Code for car was checked, and it was P2138, throttle/pedal position sensor switch.

The harness and shifter solenoid went bad in my car. When I was on the highway, it stalled causing me to have to pull over onside the road. I nearly got hit in the rear by an 18-wheeler. There was an TSB on the make, model, and year of the car, but GM did not inform their customers of the issue and the dangerous situation one could be in if the car decided to malfunction in the middle of traffic. I was almost rear-ended from behind by an 18-wheeler while on the highway going 60 miles per hour. I also was stranded on the side of the road because they said they could not send anyone out. Malcolm Cunningham Chevrolet, a local Chevy dealer is aware of the issues with the vehicles, but when I bought my vehicle into the shop to get fixed, they lied and said I had wasted something in my car. They provided no pictures of the spills or pictures of the parts with the contamination that they claimed it had on it. The only person that inspected my car was Logan and the other technicians at Malcolm Cunningham Chevrolet in Augusta, Georgia. No, there was no warning lights indicating my harness and solenoid needed to be checked.

While driving at 55 miles my vehicle displayed engine speed reduced on the dashboard. My vehicle slowed down to only 20 miles in the middle of traffic And wouldn’t pick of speed.I had to put my hazard’s lights on and get to the side of the road as quickly as possible. I turn the car off than turned it back on same thing on dash engine powered reduced. I haven't took the car to the dealership yet

While driving o Leo noticed temp gauge going up. Pulled into a parking area. All my antifreeze had drained through a hole in the lower radiator hose. It had worn through because it was against a pully.

When the check engine light initially comes on, the car will go into "reduced engine power mode" which will decrease the power and speed of the car, forcing me to pull over and turn the car off and restart. This is a hazard to myself and other drivers especially when on the highway, driving at higher speeds. There has been an investigation in to GM where it was found that a few other models have this issue. This happens every time I have something repaired and the light comes back on, which has been twice in the past month. The first time this happened, I had the repair done and it was fine for a while. After the car has been off for a while and the light is still on when I start my car, for the most part the car is no longer in this mode, but it can come back on at any time.

Engine shuts off with out warning. shuts completely off sitting a stop light and has to be put in park and restarted. shuts of in drive through and scared it will begin doing while traveling down the highway. no warning lights or nothing on. was told at dealer if not doing all the time or there was no light on indicating a failure that there was nothing could be done. very dangerous problem

We have had this car since 2020 & frequently the "reduced engine power" warning comes on & the car will not/or very slowly accellortate. Along with the engine light on.We have hooked it up to a computer many times but nothing solves the issue. Lately it has been staying on constantly. Huge safety risk as my two children are in the car daily & we do take main roads/highways! When this comes on, the car will not remote start as well, also this is random in doing so, it has came on when I 1st start the car in the morning, while driving at 35mph, stopped at a light, or turn on any time I turn the car on. Doing some research and many others have had issues as well as their engines giving out at 60,000 milles (ours is at 57,000) & nothing resolved for them either. This is a huge safety issue and needs recalled. Us malibu owners should not have to pay to get this looked at constantly nor worry about owing on a car that could give out at any given time. We keep maintenance up on our car and this is the only constant issue we have that cannot be fixed.

My car always go in engine power reduce mode.

The vacuum pump on my vehicle has gone out for the 3rd time in 2.5 years. This creates a safety issue as that the brakes stop working and it takes an extreme amount of pressure for the car to stop. This has occurred once on the freeway and twice in heavy traffic areas. This could cause an accident and potentially seriously hurt or kill someone. This has occurred once before the engine was replaced and twice since it's been replaced.

Shift to park

When the car shuts off at a red light and starts back up after u take your foot off the break, it has a stalling problem. Sitting at a light, the radio was still playing. Once it was time to drive and I took my foot off the break, the car was stuck. I had to turn the car off and turn it back on in order to drive it. That is very dangerous because I was in the middle of traffic. If the car behind me suddenly moved over the car behind them could have hit me from the back, I have a 5 year old in the backseat. This should be a recall problem. Other 2018 chevys have this problem as well but my model for some reason is not on the recall list.

As I was driving down the highway at 60 mph the road was clear at the time of any debris my car suddenly had two lights on the dashboard. On the left was the traction control light and the right side was the engine light. On my computer display was the words “reduced engine speed”. My car suddenly slowed from 60 to about 30 mph in a matter of seconds. It was like I had slammed my brakes. This all happened simultaneously I attempted to pull over safety and turn the car off and restart it. The lights remained on. My car was not able to get over 27 mph There was no warning what so ever If anyone would have been behind me I would have been rear ended At this time I took it to a mechanic who put it on the computer it was coded at the pedal position sensor. He was able to save the code, clear it so I was able to drive the car and advised to drive it locally for a while in case it would do it again as it is unsafe. The closest Chevy dealer is over an hour away from my town and at the time of day it was not safe to drive the car to the dealership for confirmation.

Vehicle continually throws reduced engine power code which includes while traveling at high speeds and winter weather. Vehicle resets once powered off to throw a code sometimes again immediately or within a short period of time rendering the vehicle virtually unusable. Difficult to get to a safe spot to turn vehicle off to attempt to re-set. This puts occupants in danger of being rear ended, stuck in snow/mud or hit from behind while pulled over trying to reset vehicle. This has been an ongoing problem since purchasing the car new. Was fixed under warrant once. Fix didn’t last long and have continuously had issues

Driving on my way to work and the check engine light came on with the traction control light. A message was displayed that said the engine’s power was reduced.. My speed also decreased to about 20-25 MPH and it was hard trying to get it back about that without the car sounding all funny.

My 2018 Chevy Malibu has been working fine then all of a sudden the warning light came on and the message warning light read ENGINE POWER REDUCED While I was driving on the freeway at 60 mph dropping my speed to 25mph instincts told me to pull over, so I did! Then I tried to drive again still no power it was like a strong pullback! So I again pulled over and turned my car engine off! Let it sit a few hours before driving up to local automotive parts store to use the ODII code reader and it read the code P2138 Throttle/ Pedal Position Sensor Correlation The part to order is $120.00 I am not able to get it today so I googythe problem and found out that this is a possible RECALL ??!!??

I was driving on a crowded city street in St. Louis and my car suddenly reduced power and I saw a message on my dash that said Engine Power Reduced! I could not go faster than 15 miles an hour and had to pull into a gas station. I restarted my car and still had the message. I restarted again and the check engine light was still on, but I was able to drive at a normal speed. My concern is that I was a short distance from getting on a busy interstate highway and it could have happened while I was on the highway and could have been struck by a car.

I have owned this vehicle for 3 months now, since week two "ENGINE POWER REDUCED" HAS BEEN A BIG PROBLEM FOR ME I TOOK IT IN TO MISSION BAY CHEVY IN SAN DIEGO THE PROBLEM WENT FROM EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE TO NON STOP. I WAS UABLE TO GET AN ANSWER FROM THEM IN WEEKS. FINALLY I WENT BACK TO THE INDEPENDENT DEALERSHIP I PURCHASED THE VEHICLE FROM 4X TO FIX THIS PROBLEM. AND IT KEEPS COMMING BACK AFTER DAYS. IM PAYING $500 MONTHLY FOR THIS CAR AND IM RUNNIN GOUT OF OPTIONS THIS IS CAUSING MY VEHICLE TO REDUCE POWER ON THE FREE WAY AT SPEED OF 23MPH TO 35MPH. THERE WAS ALREADY A CLASSACTION LAW SUITE FOR THIS PROBLEM. AND I CAN NOT AFFORD TO KEEP GETTING IT FIXED ITS CLEARLY A DEFECT THAT KEEPS COMING BACK, I HAVE READ SEVERAL CONSUMER REPORTS WITH THE SAME ISSUE. I NEED A FUNCTIONING CAR AND I DONT KNOW WHERE ELSE TO TURN