Front Seat Power Adjust problems of the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu

Drivers power seat on my 2009 chev Malibu 52000 miles is lower on right side and rubs on console when you try and move, there is bar under seat with broken weld seat moves while driving when I checked online there were a number of complaints from people with the same problem.

The driver's seat is a power seat and, while I keep the seat in the lowest position, my wife needs the seat up higher. When raising the seat, she noticed that the seat was going up crooked and was not supporting properly on the side nearest the center of the vehicle. Upon further investigation, I noticed that the seat frame had broken near a weld, but not on the weld. Instead, a piece of the structural tubing that was welded between both sides of the framework had actually ripped, like a stress failure. I pulled the seat out of the car and took pictures of the failure on the front. I then noticed that the rear tubing was also split/cracked near the weld. The seat no longer feels solidly mounted, especially when in the raised position. The bar actually separates when raising the seat and moves around when weight is applied. After researching this on the internet, I could find no safety recall for this problem, which surprised me very much, given the nature of the failure. I believe, in an accident, that the driver seat would not be held in it's normal position properly and could injure someone more severely than the accident might cause on its own. I did find numerous other reports on various forums about people with the same type of failure. In fact, one of those people posted pictures and the tubing failed almost identically to mine, with a large piece still attached to the bracket by the weld. I do not know exactly when the break started, but it has most certainly gotten worse over time. My wife has been the primary driver of this vehicle for the last year or so, but I drove it for several years before that. The seat hardly ever got moved when I was the only driver. My wife and daughter noticed the seat leaning when in the raised position, which prompted my investigation. It appears to be a poorly engineered framework assembly and should be recalled.

Seats - front driver power seat, there is a bracket or brace that goes across the front and supports the seat, it is welded, the weld is broken, after doing forum and google searches this is a common problem for years with the broken weld, causing the seat to become unstable and allowed to rock while driving. Engine - the front engine oil seal or crankshaft pulley seal is prone to leaking, there is service bulletin out about this issue for a 6 cyl model, apparently the 4cyl model has the same problem. The fix is to have the seal replaced with an updated style constructed with a better spring and seal wiper. This can cause a substantial oil leak, even though this could not cause (to the best I know) a serious problem, it does cause oil to leak along the frame and onto the bottom of the engine and possibly onto the exhaust piping behind the engine. It also cause an environment issue causing motor oil to leak onto the ground.