Two problems related to cruise control have been reported for the 1998 Chevrolet Malibu. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
A totally unexpected malfunction of cruise control while set at 60mph, traveling up and down hilly stretch of us route #301 northbound nearing va route #3 the transmission down-shifted, engine accelerated to maintain set speed (as usual) when highway leveled the vehicle suddenly continued to speedup rapidly. . 65+70+75. Driver instantly applied brakes w/ normal pressure then even harder until she was standing on the brake pedal w/ both feet. Several times she pressed the cancel control selector, still no real slowing down. As both front and rear brake overheated rapidly smoke and sparks were seen by other motorist, two of whom tried to overtake them and hand signaled to pull off the road which she was soon able to accomplish on a wide grass shoulder where she turned off the ignition+++stop!! at long last. All three (3) adult women were greatly stressed but relieved to be safe. Her rear seat passenger had called 911 on her cell phone when they realized the frightful dangerthey were in and as a result three (3) different police cruisers arrived almost instantly from the county sheriff and va state police. Several witnesses were interviewed for more details. The vehicle is a 1998 Chevrolet Malibu 4dr. V6. The car was less than 4 months old, driven only 4,000 miles by the dealers wife, until my daughter purchased it. She continued to have it routinely serviced and maintained there so there is where she requested the tow truck driver to haul it to the next day at a cost of $400. Subsequently their service manager and mechanics ran diagnostic sequences as well as several road tests and were unable to reveal any abnormalities in the cruise control or accelertorperform-ance functions. However all four (4) wheels brakes were badly burned and warped. Repairs would cost an estimated $1,100 to $1,300. Our questions include the following: (1) is this event an isolated rarity? (2) what can cause such a dangerous failure? (3) why hidden?.
Cruise control brake release switch failed causing the vehicle to surge. Nlm.