2006 Chevrolet Malibu
This year drew an ordinary 1,385 complaints for a Chevrolet Malibu — the model's median is 905. What they were about is the unusual part: 73.1% of them mention steering, against 10.2% across the model's other years.
Generation 1 of the Chevrolet Malibu, which began in 2004 and ran to 2007. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,385 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 905 |
| Involving a crash | 53 |
| Involving a fire | 7 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering — 73.1% of this year's complaints, against 10.2% across the model's other years (7.2×).
- wheel — 32.1% of this year's complaints, against 9.1% across the model's other years (3.5×).
- column — 12.3% of this year's complaints, against 0.3% across the model's other years (40×). Owners wrote it as: column, steering column.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE STEERING WHEEL SEIZED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHERE IT WAS FOUND THAT THE STEERING COLUMN, STEERING BOX, AND SEVERAL OTHER UNKNOWN COMPONENTS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS CONTACTED ABOUT THE FAILURE. THE F…
THE STEERING WHEEL SEIZED. THE CONTACT MENTIONED THAT THE STEERING COLUMN WAS TOO LOOSE NEARLY CAUSING THE CONTACT TO LOSE CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE, WHILE TURNING. IT WAS UNKNOWN IF THE VEHICLE WAS DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF THE FAILU…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V252000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14V153000 STEERING
- 15V064000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 14V224000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 14E044000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 11E009000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 09E012000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 05V486000 EQUIPMENT
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Chevrolet Malibu was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu? What happened to yours?
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