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2017 Chevrolet Malibu

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

More warning signs than most Malibu years

Owner complaints for the 2017 Chevrolet Malibu are substantially higher than the model-year median of 310.5.

About this comparison →

When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

397 reports with mileage · 305 unknown

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Engine. Review the 253 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Electrical System. Review the 161 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Power Train. Review the 139 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

16 crash reports4 fire reports8 injury reports

What owners actually said

702 reports
121,000 miles · Jun 5, 2023
Service Brakes, Hydraulic

The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH and attempting to depress the brake pedal, the vehicle failed to stop as needed. The contact was able to get to the side of the road but ended up in a ditch which stopped the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed …

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The contact owns a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH and attempting to depress the brake pedal, the vehicle failed to stop as needed. The contact was able to get to the side of the road but ended up in a ditch which stopped the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the brakes had failed and that the vacuum pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, due to the manufacturing of the braking system, the damages was extensive, and the vehicle was undrivable. The contact stated that additional parts were needed to fix the vehicle. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 121,000.

NHTSA ODI #11525439

Mileage unknown · May 21, 2023
Unknown Or Other

shift to park message appears most often

NHTSA ODI #11523101

Mileage unknown · May 16, 2023
Service Brakes

Brake failure, turning into my parents driveway I had to swerve to miss a truck and drove in the yard because of it. It has been diagnosed a faulty brake vacuum pump that caused this failure. I am getting it looked at by a mechanic of Friday and hope that this issue didn't cause further problems with the engine/camshaft. From …

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Brake failure, turning into my parents driveway I had to swerve to miss a truck and drove in the yard because of it. It has been diagnosed a faulty brake vacuum pump that caused this failure. I am getting it looked at by a mechanic of Friday and hope that this issue didn't cause further problems with the engine/camshaft. From doing research it seems that many other people have experienced the same issue with the same year vehicle (2017 Chevrolet Malibu). I have also in the past had to get my car fixed by a GM mechanic for the issue of the car giving the "reduced power mode" and basically shutting off while driving down the street. That has now been fixed but was also an issue GM was aware of but I never received a letter or anything about the issue or that there was a recall on it.

NHTSA ODI #11522296

Mileage unknown · May 13, 2023
Power Train

Vehicle has trouble turning off once in park. Vehicle doesn't acknowledge the shift change in order to allow the vehicle to shut off the engine.

NHTSA ODI #11521801

Mileage unknown · May 11, 2023
EnginePower TrainUnknown Or Other

My car Engine failed on me and I have Taken this car Back to dealership over and over again and they kept telling me nothing was wrong and kept clearing my codes on the car and now out of a car I have to still pay on this car cost me 22,000 dollars I bought the car with 34,000 miles in Dec of 2019 and have had problems since th…

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My car Engine failed on me and I have Taken this car Back to dealership over and over again and they kept telling me nothing was wrong and kept clearing my codes on the car and now out of a car I have to still pay on this car cost me 22,000 dollars I bought the car with 34,000 miles in Dec of 2019 and have had problems since the first power loss i cant remember exact date I found out this car had a recall and at 3,300 miles with the valve and gotten fixed I had loss of power with the gas pedal which was also recall car felt like it was gonna stop on me multiple times with power loss engine was riding rough I wold smell a burning smell at times my shift into park as well needed fixed the dealership said I needed a new computer and they couldn't do nothing about it I even Contacted GM and nothing was done before my car engine went out on me every time I took the car in the codes that came up was in the car history which i asked why do codes keep pop up in history if you keep clearing them that means something wrong and they couldn't give me a answer My extended warranty denied my claim they had a inspector come out and take a look due to consumption of oil and bent valve is a part in the engine they wont cover and I even asked my advisor all the times I brought my car in this could of been issue and he said possibly I have all my invoices as well have I dont have a way to upload them at the moment

NHTSA ODI #11521623

Mileage unknown · May 1, 2023
EngineUnknown Or Other

I purchased a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu LT for my son Memorial Day weekend in 2019. The first night we got the vehicle home it rained overnight. We checked the trunk and found water in the trunk. After a search online we found that this was a known issue for the Malibu yet Chevrolet/GM did not issue a recall. After putting pres…

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I purchased a 2017 Chevrolet Malibu LT for my son Memorial Day weekend in 2019. The first night we got the vehicle home it rained overnight. We checked the trunk and found water in the trunk. After a search online we found that this was a known issue for the Malibu yet Chevrolet/GM did not issue a recall. After putting pressure on the dealership that sold the vehicle to us they agreed to send us to a Chevrolet dealership to have the issue fixed at no charge. Last Monday, April 24, 2023, my son was driving his vehicle and the StabiliTrak came on and his car would not accelerate. He took the car into the dealership and they determined his pistons were cracked and it would be $6,900.00 to repair the pistons/engine. After doing an internet search I found a letter on a commercial attorney's website and on the GM website that was sent to Malibu and Cruz customer's in 2017. The piston damage was a known issue. The letter from 2017 stated it was a misfiring of an ECM module that could lead to piston damage. Owners of the Malibu and the Chevy Cruz were given to March 31, 2019, to come in and have the module reprogrammed and new oil placed in the vehicle. We bought the care at the end of May 2019 so there was no way to know of this issue. There was no recall so the information was not readily found. I did not find out this was a known issue until I did the Google search last week. I have reached out to Chevrolet and filed a claim. Chevrolet at first said they could maybe pay 20% for the repairs. They should be paying 100% due to the fact they knew of the issue and should have issued a recall.

NHTSA ODI #11519806

Mileage unknown · Apr 13, 2023
Suspension

Rear suspension knuckles damaged. Make loud clunking noise when entering/exiting vehicle and anytime I ride over bumps

NHTSA ODI #11516907

Mileage unknown · Apr 10, 2023
EnginePower TrainVehicle Speed Control

2017 Chevy Malibu has P2138 showing up.. I was on the highway loss half the power to my car, almost causing a major accident, went from 65 mph to 30mph in seconds.. This is a safety issue & needs to be address ASAP!! I have my vehicle at the dealership, the service teams seems to have no clue that there is an issue with the m…

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2017 Chevy Malibu has P2138 showing up.. I was on the highway loss half the power to my car, almost causing a major accident, went from 65 mph to 30mph in seconds.. This is a safety issue & needs to be address ASAP!! I have my vehicle at the dealership, the service teams seems to have no clue that there is an issue with the mailbu's !! The P2138 is defined as “Throttle/Pedal Position Sensor/Switch “D”/”E” Voltage Correlation.” It is triggered when the vehicle's Engine Control Module (ECM) detects that the signals from the two throttle position sensors or the two accelerator pedal position sensors don't correlate.

NHTSA ODI #11516303

Mileage unknown · Mar 29, 2023
Fuel/propulsion System

bought this kind of new and while still under warranty reduced power engine light came on & engine is reduced to 20 mph have to pull over shut it off wait a few minutes and start it back up and then it will be all right for a while we called dealer made an appointment but by the time the appointment came around the light had go…

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bought this kind of new and while still under warranty reduced power engine light came on & engine is reduced to 20 mph have to pull over shut it off wait a few minutes and start it back up and then it will be all right for a while we called dealer made an appointment but by the time the appointment came around the light had gone out they said the light needs to be on in order for them to diagnose the problem the light goes off after about 50 miles after this happens so we could never get it into them within that 50 mile time frame we gave up after a while now it's happening more often and I hear that maybe a class action suit coming they don't seem to be able to solve the problem. we still own this 2017 Chevy Malibu and it is still doing it today.

NHTSA ODI #11514464

Mileage unknown · Mar 24, 2023
Electrical SystemForward Collision Avoidance

Back left door will not open, from inside or outside. Has happen before and then will open a few days later. this time it’s been a week. Black paint also needs to be recalled.

NHTSA ODI #11513682

Official recalls

4

21V649000 · Seat Belts:critical Fasteners; Seat Belts:rear/other:retractor

Aug 20, 2021

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2016-2021 Chevrolet Malibu and 2019-2021 Cadillac XT4 vehicles. The rear seat belt retractors may be improperly secured with loose or missing fasteners.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: An improperly secured seat belt retractor may not function properly in a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and tighten the rear seat belt retractors, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on September 17, 2021. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 and Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006. GM's number for this recall is N212333380.

Additional source detail variants (2)

Seat Belts:rear/other:retractor

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2016-2021 Chevrolet Malibu and 2019-2021 Cadillac XT4 vehicles. The rear seat belt retractors may be improperly secured with loose or missing fasteners.

Consequence: An improperly secured seat belt retractor may not function properly in a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and tighten the rear seat belt retractors, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on September 17, 2021. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 and Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006. GM's number for this recall is N212333380.

Seat Belts:critical Fasteners

General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2016-2021 Chevrolet Malibu and 2019-2021 Cadillac XT4 vehicles. The rear seat belt retractors may be improperly secured with loose or missing fasteners.

Consequence: An improperly secured seat belt retractor may not function properly in a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and tighten the rear seat belt retractors, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on September 17, 2021. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 and Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006. GM's number for this recall is N212333380.

18V400000 · Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification

Jun 14, 2018

General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2016-2018 Chevrolet Malibu vehicles. During servicing, a Passenger Presence System (PPS) may have been installed that was not correctly calibrated to the vehicle's seat type. As a result, the PPS may not properly identify an adult passenger from a child passenger in the front passenger seat, potentially causing the air bag to not deploy when it should, or causing the air bag to deploy when it shouldn't.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: In the event of a crash, improper air bag deployment can increase the risk of injury.

Remedy: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger PPS seat service kit, free of charge. The recall began August 7, 2018. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 18208.

18V358000 · Fuel System, Gasoline:delivery:fuel Pump

May 31, 2018

General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2015-2018 GMC Canyon, 2016-2017 Buick Envision, 2016-2018 Chevrolet Colorado and Malibu, 2017-2018 GMC Acadia, 2018 Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac ATS, Chevrolet Equinox, and GMC Terrain vehicles. The high pressure fuel pump may detach from its mounting flange, possibly resulting in the pump damaging the high pressure fuel line.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A damaged fuel line can create a fuel leak, increasing the risk of a fire.

Remedy: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the high pressure fuel pump, and high pressure fuel pipe, free of charge. The recall began July 2, 2018. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 18188.

16V870000 · Air Bags:side/window

Dec 2, 2016

General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2017 Malibu vehicles manufactured on November 10, 2016. The right-hand rear side air bag inflator manifold may have insufficient welds.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: Insufficient welds could cause the inflator to separate and propel air bag debris into the cabin during a crash. Also, the inflator could fail to inflate during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Remedy: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the rear side air bag modules, free of charge. The recall began on January 25, 2017. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 16146.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.