2013 Chevrolet Malibu
This year drew an ordinary 1,817 complaints for a Chevrolet Malibu — the model's median is 905. What they were about is the unusual part: 27.6% of them mention steering, against 10.2% across the model's other years.
First year of a new generation. The Chevrolet Malibu was redesigned for 2013. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,817 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 905 |
| Involving a crash | 74 |
| Involving a fire | 22 |
| Recalls | 10 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering — 27.6% of this year's complaints, against 10.2% across the model's other years (2.7×).
- radio — 13.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.2% across the model's other years (4.1×). Owners wrote it as: radio, lose power, dash lights.
- panel — 8.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: panel, instrument, instrument panel.
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
WHILE DRIVING AT AN UNKNOWN SPEED A MESSAGE DISPLAYED ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL WHICH STATED ENGINE POWER WAS REDUCED. THE STEERING WHEEL CEASED. THE CONTACT WAS UNABLE TO REMOVE THE KEY FROM THE IGNITION. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO THE DEALER OR INDEPENDENT M…
WHILE DRIVING 60 MPH, THE STEERING WHEEL SEIZED AND THE ENTIRE INSTRUMENT PANEL WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT MENTIONED THAT THE VEHICLE JERKED WHILE THE FAILURE OCCURRED. AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WAS CONTACTED AND INFORMED THE CONTACT THAT THE VEH…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V502000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 15V164000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 15V245000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 12V484000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 13V566000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 13V024000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 12V224000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 20V764000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 10. 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 2013 Chevrolet Malibu? What happened to yours?
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