general problems of the 2006 Chevrolet Malibu - part 1

I purchased this car about a month ago in April of 2025 as of today June 2025 I have lose my power steering it’s so hard to turn and I’ve called the dealership and they told me the car has already been fixed for the recall and it was odviously not because the problem is still present!.

My electric power steering has gonna out then came back and now its not working. There's been a recall for that on my so not sure if my car is available.

My electric power steering has gone out causing wheel to be tight and hard to turn.

Steering got stiff and hard to turn and it shakes while idle.

No incident yet but will happen if not recalled and fixed. My eps keeps going out while driving and will yank the steering wheel hard in either direction at any given time. Uncontrollable.

The contact's granddaughter owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the power steering assist failed to operate as needed. The contact stated that the "steering assist reduced - drive with care" message was displayed on the instrument panel. The contact replaced the electronic power steering fuse; however, the failure returned soon after the repair. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the steering column needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 15v064000 (steering). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact was referred to the NHTSA hotline to report the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 165,000.

I recently acquired this 2006 chevy Malibu that belonged to my parents. It only has 29k miles on it to date. It is mint inside and out, and has been well taken care of in regard to routine maintenance. Looking through repair records I see a pattern of various power steering issues with this vehicle. The car was purchased new in 8/2006, then in 4/2009 the power steering shaft had to be replaced at the dealership. The recall in 2014 was also power steering related and was repaired at the dealership. Fast forward to the present. This vehicle now had the electronic power steering module fail - causing the steering to not work - making the car not drivable. I had it towed to a mechanic who performed an inspection and noted the electronic power steering module needed to be replaced. After 2 weeks, they confirmed no parts were available and it was best to try and deal with gm directly. I opened a case with them #9-14673786524 regarding this part and they would only work with a certified dealer so it was towed to the original dealer it was purchased at that has all of these repair records on file. As of today, it has been sitting at the dealership since 2/28 waiting on this part with no eta in site. I feel gm should have included this with the other recall. It's pretty obvious the power steering in this year and model has serious failure issues. Had it been getting driven more - it most likely may have failed a lot sooner while it was being driving on the road - and who knows what sort of accident this may have caused. Gm doesn't seem to see it that way and keeps telling me the vehicle is old - there are plenty of old vehicles on the road - so I think it's irrelevant to keep bringing up the age when the poor power steering is the issue at hand. I want to have the vehicle fixed and I think gm should be held accountable for everything. Please help because nobody is helping me at all at this point.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu maxx. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the power steering malfunctioned, and the steering wheel became difficult to turn in either direction. During the failure, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the power steering assist assembly was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in the NHTSA campaign number: 15v064000 (steering). The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced the failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 204,000.

Steering wheel very stiff after driving 70 miles an hour sometimes very stiff when vehicle is started.

Sent the car to fix recalls and they said it has another problem and want to charge to fix the steering recall n140772 problem. They said is not free. . . . Do not know if the other recalls were repaired.

My steering wheel began moving back and forth on its own. This happened both while I was driving and while idling.

Steering wheel stop working and dealer do not fix it. 15v064 recall.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving at approximately 20 mph, and making a left hand turn, the steering wheel had become very hard to turn. The contact was able to get through the turn and she stated the steering functionality had resumed. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent, but was reoccurring. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle was not diagnosed and was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 15v064000 (steering). The contact stated that she had the recall repaired in 2015. The failure mileage was approximately 72,000.

While son is driving down the road the power steering goes out and an alarms sounds saying the power steering is out. We can turn the vehicle off and turn it back on and the power steering comes back. Happens about 2 times a week.

In 2014 there was a gm safety recall #14116 to replace torque sensor assembly on electric power steering. Recall was completed by gm. Now, the electric power steering has failed again with the same warning signals that gm originally advised would happen. Issue has been diagnosed as failure of the power steering assist motor. In two separate conversations with gm one with (sam) & another with (chasity), gm case #9-12326403986, one says repair should be covered by gm & the other says it will not be covered. The NHTSA campaign id # for this recall is 14v153. Requesting that NHTSA help me get to the bottom of this situation. Thank you.

The power steering goes out when making a slight turn, an alarm on the dash sounds.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while the contact's son was driving at an undisclosed speed, the power steering seized. The contact stated that the vehicle independently turned off. The contact's son was able to get the vehicle to the shoulder of the road. The contact's son was able to restart the vehicle and the vehicle was driven to the contact's residence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed steering wheel torque input sensor and the steering wheel torque input sensor needed to be replaced. The contact was informed about recall NHTSA campaign number: 15v064000, however the VIN is not associated with the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 109,000.

Each time I’m driving my vehicle, I’ll hear a ding, ding, ding and my power steering will stop working. This seems to happen, most times, immediately after starting my car, while backing up. I did have it happen once, while in the middle of turning onto the road. Each time this happens, I must put the car in park, turn it off and restart it.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel started to turn independently, prompting the contact to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway. The contact became aware that the electronic power steering was not functioning properly. The power steering warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed failures with the electronic power steering control module and steering column. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the NHTSA hotline for assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 55,000.

While driving, the power steering stopped working and I couldn’t turn the wheel. This will be the 2nd time in 7 months that I will have had to replace the electrical power steering.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that on several occasions when the vehicle was in reverse (r), the steering wheel began shaking. Additionally, the contact stated that on several occasions, while driving at various speeds, the steering wheel became stiff. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the power steering pump and another unknown part needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 126,000.

While driving the power steering message came on screen. And all electrical power steering assist stopped working. Had to use all my strength just to turn the steering wheel.

Power steering will suddenly go out while driving, making it harder to maintain control of the vehicle. The car dings three times and then it goes out. The only way to reengage is to turn the car off and back on. At first it was intermittent and has progressively become worse. It seems the same thing that was recalled years ago is happening again with these cars.

The electric power steering went out while I was driving. I will not be able to send the part in for inspection until it gets replaced. My safety and others were at risk because it made it really difficult to change lanes which could've resulted in a crash. The problem hasn't been reproduced on my vehicle specifically, but has been produced on enough vehicles to have a recall issued. There weren't any warnings prior to the power steering going out. Just a beep and a warning on the radio display as it went out. My vehicle was manufactured in may of 2006 but want recalled, although the affected vehicles were made from April - June 2006. This is the second one that has gone out on me and there is still no recall for my vehicle. First one happened October of 2020, got it fixed then the second one went out November of 2023.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at 40 mph, he became aware that the electronic power steering was not functioning properly. The eps warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related it to NHTSA campaign number: 15v064000 (steering), but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 174,000.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, an alarm sounded, and the message "power steering failure" was displayed. No warning light was illuminated. The contact pulled over to the shoulder of the road to restart the vehicle however, the failure persisted. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. Another local dealer was contacted and informed the contact that the vehicle was previously repaired under NHTSA campaign number: 14v153000 (steering); however, the contact stated that the vehicle was never repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 118,000.

Dashboard cluster is not working properly and now I am getting and loud noise when I go to make or a slight turn.

I had my 5 year old in the back seat we had just left gymnastics. I was about to pull out on to state route 87 and my car just stops running. Everything shut down, no power steering, was hard to brake, and engine stopped. The dashboard lit up with all the lights anti-theft, oil, traction control, engine. I couldn't get it to turn over and when I tried it made no noise at all. I was in a dangerous spot about to pull out into oncoming traffic. Luckily there was a gentleman in a truck whose child was also at gymnastics and pulled me into a driveway with his truck to keep me and my child safe as we waited on a tow. This car also started having power steering problems early this year, I took it to a good mechanic who replaced the power steering lines and fixed what ever could be causing a leak/ power steering problems. I don't drive my car a lot, just in town usually, and after a few weeks the power steering is all messed up again (which there is a recall on the power steering issue for this year, make, and model but does not appear to include my VIN). Today this scary and dangerous incident mentioned above, when my car just stopped with no warning, happened to me and my five year old.

Good afternoon. The electrical power system has gone out of the vehicle. It was recalled in 2015 for this same issue and it was serviced in 2015 but it’s still having the same issue. Whenever I’m driving, the steering wheel just completely locks up on me and the eps goes out completely making it extremely difficult to steer. This happened as my wife and I were turning away from cannon afb, nm where we’re stationed and during the outward turn, the steering locked up making me go onto oncoming traffic. Luckily there wasn’t a vehicle directly in front of me. I called a gm dealer and they said it is not covered under warranty because the recall is no longer active.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving 45 mph the steering wheel became stiff without any warning. While the contact tried pull over the steering wheel made it difficult for the contact to pull over. The contact was able to pull over and shut down vehicle and restarted it, but the failure continued. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and stated that there was no recall for the failure. The failure mileage was 241,000.

The contact stated that his daughter owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while his daughter was attempting to drive out of a parking spot the steering wheel was hard to maneuver. The power steering wheel warning light illuminated. The contact was unaware if the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic or a dealer for diagnosis. The contact stated that his daughter informed him that the diagnosis was a malfunction with the power steering assist that needs replacement. The vehicle was not repaired. The daughter was also informed of NHTSA campaign number: 15v064000 (steering) however the VIN was not included in the recall. The contact stated that his daughter called the manufacturer who confirmed that the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was unknown.

Power steering goes in and out.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle started to shake and vibrate. The contact stated that the vehicle lost power steering functionality. The contact pulled over and turned the vehicle off and on and regained power steering functionality. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the steering column needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The contact stated that the failure was related to a recall that had been completed under NHTSA campaign number: 15v064000 (steering). The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

The contact owns a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 mph, the vehicle experienced a loss of power steering functionality, with the power steering warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was inoperable. The vehicle was not taken to an independent mechanic or a local dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 15v064000 (steering). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.

Random power steering loss that happens more often in the winter. There is a recall on my model vehicle for power steering loss but not my particular VIN. I think chevy needs to widen the range of vehicles since I am experiencing this problem as well.