2014 Chevrolet Malibu
This year drew an ordinary 711 complaints for a Chevrolet Malibu — the model's median is 976. What they were about is the unusual part: 28.3% of them mention stop, against 9.1% across the model's other years.
Generation 3 of the Chevrolet Malibu, which began in 2013 and ran to 2015. 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 | 711 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 976 |
| Involving a crash | 37 |
| Involving a fire | 16 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 28 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- stop — 28.3% of this year's complaints, against 9.1% across the model's other years (3.1×).
- valve — 16% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the model's other years (6.7×). Owners wrote it as: valve, arm, rocker, rocker arm.
- function — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.2% across the model's other years (5.4×). Owners wrote it as: function, hvac.
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
I OWN A 2014 CHEVY MALIBU. IT CURRENTLY AS OF TODAY (1/8/2020) IS IN ITS EXTENDED WARRANTY. THE PART MY VEHICLE NEEDS TO FUNCTION AGAIN IS A: INTAKE ROCKER ARM OIL CONTROL VALVE, PART# 12633613. THIS PART IS NO LONGER IN PRODUCTION BY GM AND ACCORDING TO THEM…
Variable valve timing system Rocker arm oil control valve solenoid Need help asap! My car is unsafe!
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V502000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14V240000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 15V164000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 14V092000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 14V247000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 13V567000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
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 2014 Chevrolet Malibu? What happened to yours?
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