2015 Chevrolet Malibu
This year drew an ordinary 268 complaints for a Chevrolet Malibu — the model's median is 976. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.4% of them mention airbag, against 1.3% across the model's other years.
Last year of its generation. This Chevrolet Malibu ran from 2013 to 2015, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 268 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 976 |
| Involving a crash | 18 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- airbag — 10.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.3% across the model's other years (7.8×). Owners wrote it as: airbag, airbag light, service airbag.
- auto stop — 8.2% of this year's complaints, against 1.3% across the model's other years (6.1×). Owners wrote it as: auto stop, engaged.
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
Service airbag light goes on and off. Also passenger air bag keeps turning on and off.
THE AIRBAG LIGHT CAMERA CAME ON I HAVE ON THE SCREEN A MESSAGE.... SERVICE AIRBAG. THIS JUST HAPPEND YESTERDAY, I WENT TO WALMART AND WHEN I CAME BACK TO GO HOME I HAD THIS ISSUE.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V502000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 15V666000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V164000 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 2015 Chevrolet Malibu? What happened to yours?
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