2019 Chevrolet Malibu
This year drew an ordinary 188 complaints for a Chevrolet Malibu — the model's median is 976. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.4% of them mention start stop, against 1.6% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 4 of the Chevrolet Malibu, which began in 2016. 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 | 188 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 976 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- start stop — 7.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the other years of this generation (4.8×). Owners wrote it as: start stop, incline, delay.
- placed — 6.9% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: placed, green.
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 STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT THE AUTO START WILL ENGAGE. WHEN THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN AND YOU RELEASE THE BREAK THE CAR WON'T MOVE. THE CAR NEEDS TO BE PLACED IN PARK TURNED COMPLETELY OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC. NO WARNING LIGHTS ARE ON, DEARLER SHIP CANT FIN…
- started shutting shutting off at while in drive. - started having reduced power - started idiling high while driving - initially there was no codes - last night I drove, I put in drive gear but it was delayed so I had to keep moving from park to drive for it…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V649000 SEAT BELTS 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 2019 Chevrolet Malibu? What happened to yours?
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