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
191 reports, newest first.
Electrical system, Sep 16, 2022
After shifting into park and turning off the car, a warning message to shift into park comes up. Pressing on the button on the shifter several times eventually gets it to stop.
Electrical system, Engine, Fuel/propulsion system, Sep 15, 2022
Numerous times while driving my car both my son and I have experienced the same issues. Trying to get on the highway and pressing the gas pedal the car isn’t responding appropriately to the level of which the gas is being pressed. It isn’t accelerating appropriately. Than at stoplights or just trying to make a left hand turn from a stop position. You take your foot off brake and press the gas to go and it rolls a bit and you’re pressing the gas to go and the car isn’t responding. It’s just sitting there. Like paused. Then all of a sudden the car engages and takes off. It is very dangerous to not have the car respond to pressing the gas. And I don’t want to get into an accident because I’m trying to make a turn and get hit cause I’m just sitting there. Rather than it going when I’m pressing the gas. I am not getting any codes popping up on the dash. So the dealership has nothing to look at other than me saying this is happening to me and my son. I’m finding issues similar to this on previous models. But nothing on the 2019 that I can find. And with no error codes registering. But the issues occurring is highly concerning to me. There isn’t just one date this has occurred. This has happened now many times over the last 6mos.
Power train, Engine, Sep 15, 2022
I purchased a 2019 chevy malibu on April 9th 2022. Car seemed to be fine at first drove car for two month experienced frequent shift to park issues as car would not recognize itself in park Until multiple attempts at parking. I was arrested on June 4th 2022 and came home on September 5th and attempted to start my car. Car cranked multiple times before starting stalling and cutting itself off while display engine power reduced and check engine light. I used Obd computer and car codes p0014 p0017 p0556. Vehicle was taken to Hertrich Chevy of Salisbury Maryland. The technician informed me that I needed a engine replaced due to nature of damage upon diagnostic chevy discovered vehicle had little to no oil (Which is still puzzling oil life sensor in car is still reading at 22% and check oil light never came on not once for it to be a cause of no oil in vehicle. Was asked to present receipts for service and oil change of a vehicle I drove for maybe 2 months max prior to my incarceration and no one had driven my car during this time as the key was in my possession during incarceration. Problem occurred at 59,898. I purchased the vehicle at 54054 miles on the vehicle starts and has and extended crank and codes p0014 p0017 p0556. Most vehicles require an oil change at 7000 miles and still had a good amout of time before reaching that mark.Vehicle states that it is still under powertrain warranty until 60000 miles. However it's states that it is not covered if improper fuel or lubricant levels (oil) are the cause which is puzzling also because this is apparently a known problem with chevy vehicles as they have provided a bulletin on nhtsa website as to how to diagnose and fix the issue. Service Bulletin #PIP5598C or Google the pdf bulletin. Chevy is sticking me with a known problem their engine does with the cost and replacement of a new engine. As well as losing the 7000 dollars I put down on my newer used vehicle. As well as it being a safety hazard and stalling randomly.
Electrical system, Sep 13, 2022
When I shift the car into park the computer does not register it is in park. Still says place vehicle in park when you open a door. Have to shift it several times before it will read in park. I took it to the dealer and was told it is a common issue. They bent a bracket forward and got it to read for now. The tech said its a poor design flaw and GM should be replacing the sensor bracket but refuse to issue a recall on it.
Power train, Electrical system, Service brakes, Sep 7, 2022
Vehicle goes into near stall instrument panel goes as if you were starting the vehicle gauges go up down then back gas gauge said no gas on full tank , brakes felt as if was gone abs system not responding , engine rough , road had minor to moderate pot holes "Rawsonville Road" when stopped vehicle while running gave msg put in park to shift . , vehicle was in drive once put in park it would not come out of park or realize it was in park . the issue i have been able to determine so far is on the vehicle fuse panel under hood it is connected to the main service disconnect for the entire wire harness "pin connectors male and female over 30 pins , it is held by 2 locking handles all with plastic tabs for the latching , this is failing under driving conditions and coming loose enough to separate contact from 1 or more pins normally on the drivers side . to fix the issues I had to disconnect the service disconnect and reconnect it while securely fastening the handles verified correct and happened again on testing down a dirt road service appointment is thursday -9-7-2022 at mark chevrolet in wayne michigan , i contacted gm and they said it had to be fully tested through a dealer i informed gm this is a major issue and not something i will be paying for it is likely a recallable issue i have seen alot of issues with malibu 2019-2022 having similar issues and are likely caused by the same issue if using this same service disconnect and fuse box likely nullifying the TSA's used for shift to park etc as others have stated and documented those issues repeat . the vehicles modules lose communication with the vehicle via intermittent service disconnect on the wiring harness . "network errors " support this via obd code reader as well as the powertrain hard fault code and the various pending fault codes prior to having to physically disconnect and reconnect the service disconnect fully to restore vehicle function and bring to safe location instead of on side of busy road
Power train, Aug 11, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that after shifting the gear shifter to Park(P), the vehicle was unable to turn off with the "Shift to Park" message displayed. The contact spent the night in her vehicle due to the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that there was no recall associated with the VIN. The failure mileage was approximately 25,700.
Power train, Aug 10, 2022
Car ignition will not turn off. The dash displays car not in park when it is.
Power train, Electrical system, Fuel/propulsion system, Aug 1, 2022
The car stalls out an sometimes deads an say no key fab. The ecm has been reprogram even before the car was sold to me back in 2019.
Power train, Jul 25, 2022
I get a warning saying that the car is not in park when it is in park, when I am driving or stopped at a stop sign or red light the engine will shut completely off as if the car was in park. When I take my foot off the break it will start back up as if the car had just been started by pushing the engine start/ stop button. It’s really scary when I have my kids I. The car with me
Electrical system, Engine, Jul 17, 2022
Throttle body hose comes lose causing car to stall or shut off while driving, engine light come on saying engine power reduction issues
Power train, Jul 14, 2022
I can’t get car to go into park, I continuously get a “shift to park” error..This seems dangerous and from what I read online this is a chronic problem with this year malibu
Electrical system, Engine, Fuel/propulsion system, Jul 13, 2022
https://autoforums.carjunky.com/Automotive_Repair_C1/General_Discussions_F5/2019_Chevy_mailbu_LS_constantly_changing_spark_plugs_P209221/ That’s the mechanic forum I posted with my issues. It’s gotten so bad the vehicle is stalling out while driving and in busy roads and the highway. Here is the service bulletin: https://www.tsbsearch.com/Chevrolet/PIP5598#:~:text=Summary%3A,Cranks%20But%20Does%20Not%20Run%22
Power train, Jul 12, 2022
Control modules are malfunctioning
Electrical system, Service brakes, Engine, Jun 29, 2022
Driving along the interstate the car suddenly lost power. I was able to pull over and restart car and drive like nothing ever happened. Then once I parked the car at my destination the car would not start 10 minutes later leaving me stranded in an unfamiliar city. When trying to start the car it would click and the DIC would display Batter Saver Active following EMS following Power Steering. No check engine light was on in the vehicle before this incident. I was stranded in an unfamiliar city with no one around to help. After asking a random stranger for a jump the car started and allowed me to get home. No dealership can convey the problem with the car, everyone says there's nothing wrong with it. I have had the vehicle for about one year now with no problem up to now. The car often backfires and even completely cuts off at red lights (not from the auto stop feature). This is dangerous.
Power train, Jun 1, 2022
Vehicles stuck in park. Unable to move vehicle. Waiting for dealer to call me back for repair. No info center messages. The white piece for the gear selector keeps coming loose. This is the second occurrence in two weeks since I’ve owned the vehicle.
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.
Other or unspecified, May 8, 2022
PURCHASED MY 2019 MALIBU LT IN SEPTEMBER. ABOUT 3 MONTHS AGO THE SHIFT TO PARK MESSAGE STARTED APPEARING. IT SOMETIMES TAKES ABOUT 1O MINUTES TO FINALLY GET T HIS CLEARED.
Other or unspecified, Apr 27, 2022
When car is shifted in to park it is not registering that the car is in park and a message comes up that says to “shift to park” even though the car is already shifted in park
Electrical system, Apr 25, 2022
“Shift to Park” message appears on dash information screen and prohibits the vehicle from fully powering off and can cause battery to fully discharge. This appears to be a known problem, as referenced in GM TSB 19-na-206.
Engine, Power train, Electronic stability control (ESC), Apr 5, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH and accelerating, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled in the middle of the roadway. The ESC, traction control, check engine, and powertrain malfunction control warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The engine was replaced; however, the failure reoccurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 52,000
Electrical system, Mar 27, 2022
Unable to leave vehicle because the car thinks the gear shift is not in park. The car is actually in park . I’ve tried wiggling the gear shift, turning the car back on several times and putting into gear and back in park. Nothing seems to work and it goes off whenever it decides to go off. This is causing a safety issue for me personally since I can’t leave the car. This started about 2months ago.
Electrical system, Fuel/propulsion system, Mar 25, 2022
The throttle body charge pipe popped off there was a recall that on this car says it’s fixed. We replaced o ring and clip on charge pipe drove car. When we sped up to pass a car the charge pipe popped off car shut off. We had to push the car out of traffic. The car would not start. Error code check engine and engine power loss. Three hours under a Houston TX bridge got a tow. Only to be told that the gasket and clip needed to be replaced. Replaced again gm parts, car still can’t go up hills or sped up. Charge pipe will pop off. The throttle body was checked and the lip on throttle body is still good. But there is too much oil build up on throttle body it appears and the charge pipe can’t stay on. Causing engine failure. This almost got us killed on the highway. Very unsafe please help.
Other or unspecified, Mar 20, 2022
Vehicle has 38,000 miles and I keep getting the “Shift to Park” error message. The dealer said it is an “ongoing problem” with these vehicles as the “electronic sensor” is not registering that the car is in “park”. Problem is all features (parking lights, dash message, alarm “Bong-bong sound” and radio stay on and drain the battery. I am getting it replaced but if this is a “known problem” why don’t they do a recall and fix it?
Engine, Fuel/propulsion system, Mar 7, 2022
The turbo charge pipe keeps popping off while driving and the car loses power.
Power train, Feb 7, 2022
The contact owns a 2019 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while the gear shifter was placed in Park, the "Shift to Park" warning message was displayed while turning off the vehicle with the push to start/stop button. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed that the sensor and gear shifter needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that she had to pay out of pocket for the repair. The failure mileage was approximately 48,000.