Chevrolet Malibu Transmission / powertrain problems
1.65 vs. all vehicles Steady
267 of the 1,391 complaints about the Chevrolet Malibu (19.2%) concern Transmission / powertrain, making it the model's second-largest problem area. That share is 1.6× the Transmission / powertrain share across all tracked vehicles.
267Complaints · Transmission / powertrain
19.2%Share of complaints
1.65×vs. all vehicles
38Last 12 months
2.2%Share involving a crash or fire
1Related recalls
Analysis
By model year, Transmission / powertrain complaints peak with the 2018 model (120, 17% of that year's complaints) and are lowest for the 2025 model (1). 38 Transmission / powertrain complaints were filed in the last 12 months versus 49 in the 12 months before — a steady pace.
Owners most often describe: “shift park”, “park message”, “shifter”, “message shift” and “gear”. 6 of these reports (2.2%) describe a crash or fire, with 1 injury and 0 deaths mentioned.
1 recall campaign relates to this area, most recently campaign 20V668000 (2020-10-29, model years 2018).
The contact owns a 2024 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked and turned off in front of the hotel lobby.
Transmission / powertrain · 2026-07-06 · ODI 11748495 · Crash
Hit an animal on the roadway and the airbag didn’t deploy and my car is destroyed engine light is on I could have been hurt
Transmission / powertrain · 2024-04-28 · ODI 11585684 · Crash
The contact owns a 2021 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate as needed; however, the RPM was extremely elevated.
Transmission / powertrain · 2026-08-21 · ODI 11758483
The contact owns a 2023 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the vehicle failed to turn off. The “Shift to Park” message was displayed.
Transmission / powertrain · 2026-08-20 · ODI 11758173
Failure - B000A-00 Body Control Module Error code - Shift Lever Position not plausible . Safety - This causes the car to upon attempting to turn off the car say "Shift into Park" on the dashboard and the car refuses to turn fully off.
Transmission / powertrain · 2026-08-14 · ODI 11757048
The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while attempting to shift the vehicle into park, the transmission failed to shift into park after several attempts.
Transmission / powertrain · 2026-07-24 · ODI 11752681
Excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA, trimmed for length. The ODI number is NHTSA's record identifier.
Related recalls
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION Campaign 20V668000 · 2020-10-29 · Model years: 2018
Summary: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Chevrolet Cruze and Buick LaCrosse, 2018-2020 Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Terrain, 2018 Chevrolet Malibu, 2019-2020 Buick Encore, Buick Enclave, Cadillac XT4, Chevrolet Blazer and GMC Acadia, and 2020 Cadillac XT6 vehicles. The start/stop accumulator endcap may have missing bolts.
Remedy: GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the start-stop transmission accumulator and replace it if any bolts are missing, free of charge. The recall began December 15, 2020. Owners may contact GMC customer service at 1-888-988-7267, Buick Customer service at 1-866-608-8080, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 or Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006. GM's number for this recall is N202313440.
How common are Transmission / powertrain problems on the Chevrolet Malibu?
267 of the 1,391 complaints about the Chevrolet Malibu (19.2%) concern Transmission / powertrain, making it the model's second-largest problem area. That share is 1.6× the Transmission / powertrain share across all tracked vehicles.
Which Chevrolet Malibu model years have the most Transmission / powertrain complaints?
By model year, Transmission / powertrain complaints peak with the 2018 model (120, 17% of that year's complaints) and are lowest for the 2025 model (1).
Is there a recall for Chevrolet Malibu Transmission / powertrain problems?
1 recall campaign relates to this area, most recently campaign 20V668000 (2020-10-29, model years 2018).