Automatic Transmission problems of the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu

2009 Chevrolet Malibu. Consumer writes in regards to transmission and suspension failures.

The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle suddenly decelerated as the check engine warning light illuminated. In addition, the contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the gear shift failed to switch into the drive position. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 87,000.

Vehicle would not recognozie that vehicle was in park.

On June 29, 2010 my son was able to bypass the safety lock switch on our 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. . . . We took the vehicle to the dealer on June 30 and had the switch replaced along with a drivers side door handle my wife pulled off the door in a frantic frenzy to try to stop him. On July 8th while tightening down my child's car seat, my son again was able to bypass the safety switch by turning the key to the acc mode of the ignition and pushing the button on the shifter, he then started the car and began dragging me across a parking lot into a cement light pole. When we called gm to inform them that this should be a safety concern that children can bypass this switch, they informed us the vehicle isn't designed for a two year old!!!!!! they also referred us to the owners manual claiming that this is a dinghy towing option. In that section it tells you to place the parking brake on. In three other areas the book claims that you must push the brake to get the shifter to move from park. My son never touched the brake pedal, and the car came out of park and began to move. . . While I understand than my child is well below driving age, I do believe that gm has a serious safety problem here. While my insurance is covering the damages and not gm, I would think that they would at least want to look at this as a potential for a huge liability claim. . . . . . I hope that someone can get through to them before someone seriously gets hurt or killed.

Bought a new 2009 Malibu with a six speed automatic transmission in sept. '09. I noticed the problem after about a week and a half or driving the car. I feel a hesitation, then jerk when resuming acceleration while traveling 5-35 mph after having decelerated to the lower speed from a greater speed. It happens consistently while driving, but does not occur when acceleration begins from a stop or at speeds greater than 35 mph. Brought the car to the dealer, and transmission was reprogrammed and updated twice. Because the computer is reading everything as normal, gm will approve no work on vehicle. So far gm has said there is nothing they will do to solve this problem.

Own a 2009 Malibu that hesitates when trying to accelerate into traffic, or slow down and try to pick up speed again brought it to dealerships attention every time I take it in for service, they say this is normal and nothing is being done to fix the problem, this is going to cause an accident or death in this make of car.

Owns a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu, vehicle hesitates while accelerating, when in gear hesitates when you accelerated to move vehicle into traffic, vehicle move very slowly, the rpm show engine high but vehicle move slow, been inform by dealership that this is common with this type of transmission on this vehicle, and nothing can be done to fix it, gm has been inform and nothing is being done from that end, this vehicle is an accident waiting to happen, it is unsafe.

The contact's relative owns a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitates while accelerating. The failure was noticed while driving 55 mph. The vehicle has a 6 speed automatic transmission that hesitates, but the dealer cannot repair the failure. The dealer stated that this was a standard feature on this type of transmission, which was tested by gm. The contact asked the dealer to install a four cylinder transmission from the Chevrolet impala, but gm refused without providing an explanation. The current mileage was 1,300 and the failure mileage was unknown.