2019 Chevrolet Malibu
Problems, recalls and owner-reported issues
Power train is the leading concern among 191 owner complaints filed for this model year. This is the 21st highest complaint count among 26 Malibu model years with reports.
Of the 2019 reports, 8 involved a crash and 1 involved a fire. 7 people were injured.
What owners report most often
Recalls and investigations
Seat belts, critical fastenersAug 20, 2021
General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2016-2021 Chevrolet Malibu and 2019-2021 Cadillac XT4 vehicles. The rear seat belt retractors may be improperly secured with loose or missing fasteners.
An improperly secured seat belt retractor may not function properly in a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
Dealers will inspect and tighten the rear seat belt retractors, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on September 17, 2021. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020 and Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006. GM's number for this recall is N212333380.
Campaign 21V649000 on NHTSA.gov
Representative owner complaints: vehicle speed control
12 reports, newest first. Show all
Power train, Vehicle speed control, Engine, May 16, 2026
The first problem with my car was the tire pressure monitor. The location of each tire was wrong on the informant section. Soon after purchasing the car when ever I would park the car would not shut off and the DIC would display Shift to park message. Around 6 months after the purchase the brake pedal was getting harder the press down on and within a week from that while driving home from work the car completely shut off in the middle of traffic. It wouldn't start leaving me stuck on a busy street with heavy traffic blocking use of the lane. After 10 minutes it started back up and I barely made it into a parking lot of a shopping center with it shutting off again before I can park. I had to get a tow. I didnt go to an authorized dealer. I took it to a certified mechanic and had to replace the brake vacuum booster. The motor had to be cleaned out due to broken metal that got inside. After that repair car seemed okay until March 2026. The car now is in high idle and struggles to pick up speed. The message on DIC says engine power reduced. On the freeway the car can be going with the flow of traffic then suddenly engine power is reduce rpms go up high and it drops speed struggling to pick up. I paid the loan $16,000 off using what I had saved. I cant go out and purchase a new or used car.
Power train, Vehicle speed control, Engine, Mar 18, 2026
Year 2019, code P1101- vehicle hesitates while drive, will reduce power while driving, while sitting idle at a stop the car will die and I will have to restart the vehicle. Multiple times while driving on the highway at 70mph my car has all of a sudden either reduced power causing the car to jerk and shudder very hard or has lost all power completely and forced me to pull over while avoiding other drivers on the road. SOMEONE IS GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF THIS!!! THIS NEEDS TO BE ADDRESS AND RECALLED ASAP TO GET IT FIXED. I am not in a financial spot to just go buy a new car and I shouldn't have too either. I'm scared to even drive 10 miles down the road to take my children to daycare/school because of how bad it is.
Power train, Vehicle speed control, Engine, Mar 1, 2026
- 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 to full go into drive - the codes came P0325 P0505 P0507 P0700 P1101 P2714 After I was driving up an incline the car stopped moving forward and started reversing backwards. One other independent shop advised they were able to produce but couldn’t figure out the problem because no code were shown at the time. There has been many people having the same issues I started off with and I found the forum to file a report .
Vehicle speed control, Other or unspecified, Aug 21, 2023
Car looses power out of no where. No lights are on or anything
Power train, Vehicle speed control, Other or unspecified, Jul 3, 2023
My car decelerates and has a problem accelerating and I received a Shift to Park error on my instrument panel which would not allow my car to cut off leading to a drained battery and rolling. When I looked up Shift to Park I found that there has been a recall on Chevy Malibus 2016-2019, but the dealership says there’s no recall on my car.
Vehicle speed control, Apr 13, 2023
I went to put car in park and when it was in park I was still getting shift to park alert on dashboard. With this alert I was unable to turn off the vehicle. After about 30 minutes the first time it happened I was able to get it to acknowledge the car was in park by moving my car around parking lot and shifting from drive to park. The next day it happened again but this time I had to jiggle the shifter to get it to go into park after trying for about 30 minutes. The alert basically trapped me in a car that would not turn off. I took it to the dealer service center the next day and was told it is a common problem with my car. Repair bill was $400 and told it was not a recall or something gm would warranty.
Electrical system, Vehicle speed control, Engine, May 22, 2022
Numerous accumulated problems, all have complaints already on NHTSA site here. First, Start/Stop malfunction, when it is active when stopped vehicle will stall when it tries to restart when you take your foot off brake and it’s troublesome to restart at times, when that happens lights on dash all come on (warning lights) and radio/entertainment resets as well. Second, the traction control light on dash is on. The warning displays to have traction control system serviced, cruise control is disabled as a result, it’s been to the dealer for both above problems the start/stop problem they say they can’t get car to duplicate although it happens to us almost daily if not numerous times per day. This morning driving home from work the intake charge tube that attaches to intake keeps popping off and engine goes to reduced power mode on highway or wherever driving not safe at all. Saw a voluntary recall from GM going to contact dealer about tomorrow when open. Stereo resets often, completely shuts off and resets while driving at random. I also get the rushing/sloshing water noise other people have reported as complaints when coming to a stop, I read in forums that it’s something to do with low coolant but not low enough to turn on low coolant warning light. GM really needs to address this stop/start and traction control needing service light problems as I read all over the internet of owner’s complaints of same problems I have. Dealerships don’t want to do anything with the cars unles the issue a recall because it comes out of their pockets. So many complaints I read owners keep reporting that dealer “cannot reproduce identical problems” because they don’t want repairs coming out of their pockets only out of GM. I’m going to start filing formal complaints with GM until they get tired of hearing from me and fix some of this stuff or deem it a lemon and get rid of it finally.
Power train, Vehicle speed control, Engine, Aug 16, 2021
While driving on the highway my car started loosing power. A warning light came on stating Engine Power is reduced. I could not excelerate had to pull over on side of road. This is the first time this has happened to me but I just purchased this vehicle on 7/15/21 with 51,000 miles.
Vehicle speed control, Engine, Jul 21, 2021
The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving 10 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The accelerator pedal was depressed however, the vehicle was slow to respond. The local dealer was contacted however, the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 53,713.
Power train, Vehicle speed control, Other or unspecified, Apr 3, 2021
I'M NOT SURE WHAT'S WRONG, BUT WHEN I STOP AND START MY VEHICLE BACK UP WITH THE AUTO START I CAN HEAR SOMETHING LIKE WATER FLUSHING OR RUNNING THROUGH MY DASHBOARD. MOST OF THE TIME MY VEHICLE WILL STALL OUT WHEN I PRESS THE GAS, IS DRIVING OR TURNING MOST OF THE TIME IT DON'T WON'T TO GO. I ALMOST GOT HIT ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS BECAUSE I WOULD TRY TO TURN AND THE CAR WILL STALL BARLEY GOING. THIS HAS CAUSE A LOT OF FRUSTRATIONS. I HAVE HAD MY CAR SINCE AUGUST OF 2020 AND IT HAS BEEN DOING THIS SINCE 2-3 WEEKS AFTER PURCHASING IT. I HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO TAKE IT TO THE DEALERSHIP FOR INSPECTION BECAUSE I HAVE LUPUS AND I'M TRIED AND HAVE RANDOM FLARES.
Exterior lighting, Vehicle speed control, Fuel/propulsion system, Mar 25, 2021
WHEN TRYING TO ACCELERATE ON THE HIGHWAY AND MERGING IF I GET CLOSE TO 3 RPM TO GET UP TO 60-65 MPH M ENGINE LIGHT APPEARS ON THE DASH AS WELL AS MY TRACTION SENSOR LIGHT AND MY CAR WILL NO LONGER ALLOW ME TO ACCELERATE. ALSO AFTER THIS HAPPENS IT WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO USE MY CRUISE CONTROL. THIS HAS HAPPENED MULTIPLE TIMES OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS. I TOOK IT TO MY DEALERSHIP TO HAVE IT FIXED TWICE THE FIRST TIME THEY COULD NOT FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS WRONG THE SECOND TIME THEY DISCOVERED 3 OF MY FUEL INJECTORS WERE BROKEN. I STILL EXPERIENCE THIS ISSUE AND IT IS VERY SCARY NOT BEING ABLE TO ACCELERATE ON THE HIGHWAY WITH BIG SEMIS AND OTHER VEHICLES COMING BEHIND ME.
Vehicle speed control, Jun 4, 2020
SOME DAYS WHEN I AM DRIVING MY CAR IT SEEMS AS IF I'M PUSHING MY FOOT DOWN ALL THE WAY ONTO THE PEDAL AND THAT'S NOT NORMAL IT DID IT TODAY 6/4/2020I JUST GOT THAT CAR OCTOBER 2019, IT DID IT 3 TIMES SO FAR LIKE I WAS AT A STOP LIGHT AND IT SEEM AS IF THE CAR TOOK A VERY LONG TIME FOR ME TOO PUSH DOWN ON THE PEDAL, AND ALSO WHILE TURNING A CORNER IT TOOK A WHILE FOR THE ACCELERATION TOO CATCH UP AND AS I DID SOME REACH SEARCH SOME LOWER YEAR CARS LIKE MINE HAS RECALLS FOR FUEL INJECTORS RELATING TOO ENGINE STALLING OR PEDAL SENSORS. *TR