2011 Chevrolet Malibu
This year drew an ordinary 976 complaints for a Chevrolet Malibu — the model's median is 905. What they were about is the unusual part: 16.6% of them mention reduced, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Chevrolet Malibu, which began in 2008 and ran to 2012. 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 | 976 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 905 |
| Involving a crash | 40 |
| Involving a fire | 17 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- reduced — 16.6% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: reduced, engine power, throttle, throttle body.
- body — 7.3% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the other years of this generation (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: body, diagnosed throttle.
- mph vehicle — 6.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: mph vehicle, decelerated.
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
THE OTHER DAY MY 2011 CHEVY MALIBU STARTED TO VIOLENTLY SHAKE COMING OUT OF A PARKING LOT AND THEN AGAIN WHILE DRIVING ON A TWO LANE ROAD. THIS ISSUE WAS FRIGHTENING BECAUSE I COULDN'T PROPERLY STOP THE CAR AND ALMOST GOT INTO AN ACCIDENT. THE DISPLAY INDICATE…
WHEN SHE STARTED THE VEHICLE THE ENGINE POWER REDUCED WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE LUNGED FORWARD AND STALLED. THE DEALER REPLACED THE THROTTLE BODY. THE FAILURE RECURRED AND THE WARNING LIGHT (SSIBLE) ILLUMINATED. THE [VIN] WAS NOTIFIED OF THE F…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V019000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V252000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14E044000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V269000 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 2011 Chevrolet Malibu? What happened to yours?
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