general problems of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu - part 1

I have not been involved in no incident or accident with anybody but my vehicle is installing up and dying in the middle of the road the power steering is locking up the battery is draining and the car is cutting off I had the battery replaced and I'm still losing power in my battery and I can't figure out why I'm not too long after the battery dying and the vehicle starting up and dying it started overheating for no known reason at all shortly after sorting the overheat my navigational system and my radio has started to fail I took it to several places to have it put on machines they can figure out why the check engine light is on or why the battery is dying because it's showing that it has battery the battery life they don't know why it's falling up and down I'm checking till not sound but other than that they're not getting no read out on the machine they put it off of I'll contact the dealership because on certain 2013 chevy Malibu equals they have a recall on the general control module system burger is being defensive but I'm on my specific then there's not a recall online but everything that happens with the defective general control module it sounds like what's going on with my car I'll contact it the dealership and they told me that although they had the recalls on the defective funeral control module if I was to take it to a dealership and it proved to be an effective general control module that I was still going to be liable for out-of-pocket expenses because my car is not covered under the van recall and I'm not understanding how that right or how that's legal when they have all these defects of recalls on these cars and if that's what's going on with mine how is it not the same thing.

While my daughter has been driving our 2013 Chevrolet Malibu 2013, the vehicle continues to experience add loss of electric power. The dashboard display and infortainment system went down black. The problem first began -2019-2020 and continues to recur about once or twice a month. The most recent incident occurred on September 18, 2025, with my daughter behind the wheel. An independentc mechanic confirmed that cause is a manufacturer's defect in the fuse box located near the battery. He stated this is a widespread issue and refused to repair it, advising Chevrolet should address it. Chevrolet waldorf kept my car for over a month but only replaced the battery, could find the issue, which did not resolve the defect. This recurring failure creates a serious safety risk to the driver, passenger, and others on the road because the car can lose power and steering at anytime. This issue was he subject of prior NHTSA complaint I submitted in 2020 (id 11315997), and it has continued despite the report. Everytime this defect occurs with Chevrolet Malibu 2013. . . My family's safety, and the safety of others on the road is placed in jeopardy. Gm must be held accountable to correct this ongoing safety defect beforer more lives are placed at risk, and NHTSA's response wil demonstrate where consumer safety is being prioritized or neglected. The upload pdf shows the name butterflies (is me asking questions) in a Malibu forum date 2021.

My power steering intermittently 'locks"cannnot remove key from ignition. Car loses its data memory, time &date go haywire. A lot of times car wont start. I have taken it a few times to my mechanic. He has run scans, but all the codes are clear. This is the problem. He has checked the battery&altenator, all fine. He tried cleaning some ground wires. He feels bad charging me money because he cant fix a problem that he doesnt see. !! when the car is in the shop,the intermittent problem is not evident. !!! very frustrating.

The contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced several electrical failures, causing a loss of power and the vehicle to stall. The vehicle also lost power steering and braking functionality. While inspecting under the hood, the contact discovered that the battery terminals were extremely hot to the touch. The vehicle was taken to the independent mechanic, who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer and local dealer were not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 60,000.

While driving my 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, the electrical system intermittently fails: the radio shuts off, the instrument cluster goes blank (gauges drop to zero, fuel/temperature show empty), headlights flicker off then on, and turn-signal indicators disappear. Warning messages such as “service theft” and “no key detected” appear, power steering becomes difficult, and the vehicle shakes, stalls, or even turns off completely at stop signs. Sometimes the engine continues running even after the car is shut off, overheating and producing a burnt smell. These failures began months ago, occur unpredictably, and have been witnessed by an independent shop. The loss of lights, steering, and cluster data creates a serious safety hazard, and the vehicle is available for inspection.

Battery voltage going up and down. Car will make clicking sound. Car will shut off and start back up. Battery issue will pop up n steering wheel will lock while driving and service battery charging will pop on dashboard.

The dash board instrument cluster is turning on and off randomly. Loosing steering control due to electronic steering. Mechanics cant find a problem and seems to be common with this year Malibu. Wont replicate at mechanics completely random. Just had a new battery installed also and mechanics say everything is within specs. No warning on this it just happens. 83000 miles on car and it happened about a year ago once and last two weeks several times. The front passenger seat got some water on it and the presence sensor must have deactivated the air bag system. Much to sensitive to be reliable.

Car randomly goes into engine reduced power mode and won't go over 50mph. Power steering either won't turn the wheels and will start working again without warning while driving and jerks wheel to the right. Service stabilitrac warning would come on intermittently and disable traction control. Service stabilitrac warning is on now everytime I crank the vehicle and traction control is never working. I have pictures where it has went in limp mode and videos of the gauges doing crazy things after this warning has come up. Very dangerous. Car will jerk the wheel without warning when power steering warning comes on.

I was driving down a busy street one day after work during the early night, and as I went to engage the brakes my whole electrical system started to shut off and on. Once I came to a complete stop it shut off my a/c then proceeded with my radio and lights. I took my foot of the brake in pure shock and back on come my a/c and radio. I proceed to drive with caution and again it starts to try and shut off my vehicles electrical systems. I pull over turn the car off check the battery and fine. Trusting it to make it less than the mile trip left home I drive again no issues, as I am approaching a busy intersection then car begins to go haywire with the electrical systems without the ac on and locks the all eletric steering systems and almost causes me to collide with surrounding traffic. Took to have diagnostic run for codes and none. Purchased another brand new battery which I thought maybe it was defective. Well wasn't NY of the issues because tonight with my family's safety put at serious risk along with any of the many tourist pedestrians and other motorist I experience the same exact thing but within a higher speed limit zone. When I pulled over to park the car it refused to cooperate. It was if my car was being controlled by a hacker and I was fighting for control over the wheel.

When driving this vehicle with ~111,000 miles on it. The infotainment center continually rebooted, causing drops of bluetooth connection and pauses in the ac. The instrument panel stayed working, but lights turned off. This happened about 6 times in a 20 minute drive on the highway. After exiting the highway and executing a turn the reboot happened again, however the power steering locked up making the car unmanageable. Thankfully nothing was hit by the car! after this incident, driver was rightfully freaked out and won't touch the car again until this is resolved. One week prior the car rebooted once and the engine idled oddly, turned car off and on and worked fine for about a week, then the above incident happened.

The vehicle has major electrical issues from the day I bought it. Just last week I started the car it made a noise as I was driving I had no speedometer, no blinkers. No radio on gas gauge and no temp gauge. I have had this car stall in motion on a highway and no recall? it's basically a death 🪤.

The steering wheel sticks/locks up on left and right turns, usually while driving on street roads. The steering wheel also locked while switching lanes on the highway. This is a major safety concern. The radio also blanks in/out often while driving the vehicle, sometimes in conjunction with steering issues. I've only had this vehicle for a short time and been to the dealership on repeated occasions without any luck with duplication or resolution. Also, the pending product safety recall regarding the rear suspension toe link hasn't been addressed by the dealership due to no availability of parts from manufacturer. I've paid for this used vehicle but inherited these issues which are major safety concerns and very bad business. (supporting docs available upon request).

When driving, the car will suddenly stop and lose power. It will restart again but will not have power steering. This happens on city streets, because of the problem we have kept it off highways. Unknown the cause, there was a recall about this happening but per the VIN it was completed. We have owned the car 7 months.

While driving my vehicle turned off and back on. The vehicle was stalling all the way home turning on and off. Highest speed I was driving was no more than 35 mph.

Driving slow and when making turns the car starts to shut off if not given gas. The car has no shutoff multiple times when trying to make a slow turn. This last time I had to restart the car then the power sterring was out completly making it near impossible to turn.

The dash screen goes black and cuts power, disconnecting calls and blue tooth connection, and power steering. When this happens I am unable to turn the wheel. The wheel jerks back in place. This happens while the car is in motion. This has happened to me while on the freeway. It only cuts power for a few seconds and it comes back on but I am unable to control the car when this happens. I am also unable to move the steering wheel at all when this happens. This happened a few months back a few times and I contacted the dealership and they didnt know what to do with it because it wasnt happening at the time. It most recently happened yesterday on 12/10/2020. ## #vpic# 1 - check digit (9th position) does not calculate properly #vpic#.

I made a left hand turn and steering went out of the car and had to manuever car to keep from wrecking vehicle. Took to dealer and they stated it would be 2200 to fix the problem. Module and motor needed to be replaced.

While driving the whole car turned off. Steering wheel locked up, engine cut off, and light went out. This has been happening for a couple of months now. While I'm driving the car will shut off. It has done this while I have been on the highway and also in the city. This is very dangerous. Can not figure out the issue.

Tl the contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving 30 mph, the steering wheel seized with the battery not charging message displayed on the instrument panel. The contact stated she was unable to remove the key from ignition. Additionally, the windows failed to operate as designed. The vehicle was not drivable. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where the gear-box was repaired and an unknown fuse was replaced. Three days later, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the independent mechanic and was repaired for the same electrical failure. Despite the second repair, the failure recurred with the battery warning light illuminated on the instrument panel while her husband was driving at 30 mph. The contact's husband had the vehicle towed back to the same independent mechanic and was informed that there was another electrical short in the fuse box. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 95,000.

At various times while driving-whether parked, actively driving, at a stop sign, turning, backing up- my cars power will flicker and the engine shuts off causing the steering to lock. This has done this to me quite a few times, almost causing an accident on more then one occasion. Sometimes it will do it as often as 14 times in a 25 minute ride. No lights such as the cel or anything come on beforehand to indicate that theres a problem when it happens. I've taken it to a mechanic twice to have it checked out and he sees no obvious reasons why it would do this, and there are no codes to pull to explain it. Enough people are having this same issue it should be made a recall and looked into! it's not safe to drive a vehicle like this that can shut off and the steering locks at any given moment. The 1st time this happened was June 5, 2020 and almost every day since.

While in the middle of traffic at a stop light the car shut completely off where my steering went out, the key was locked in the ignition and I had to get someone to help push the car into a parking lot for safety. The car has been jerking, will not pick up speed and if sitting at a stoplight too long, the car will shut off. When I put the car in reverse, the car either jerks or shuts off bu then starts back up.

Car cuts off and stalls and lights flickering.

Vehicle occasionally loses power when in traffic or reduced speed, stabilitrak malfunctions consistently, initiating "limp mode", power steering went out this morning as my speed reduced.

I woke up and went to the store and when I came out to start the car it didn't start. The lights and radio came on and everything work except windows will not go up or down. The message center then showed message "service power steering" car wont start now and battery and everything else is good and new.

Tl-the contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving approximately 10 mph, attempted to turn left, the vehicle stalled for approximately 3 to 5 seconds. Then afterwards the vehicle was normal. Also stated that approximately 30 minutes later, went over a small bump on the road and the " service power steering " message appeard on the message center and the vehicle stalled again. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or an independent mechanic for a diagnostic. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 146,000. Bp.

I got a error message power steering issue, & then the key stuck in the steering wheel & won't come out. The vehicle was parked in my garage. I was getting ready to drive it. Now my car won't start & I still get the error message.

While on the road or highway the car power off and on while driving . It has happened on many occasions. It is dangerous.

Tl- the contact owns a 2013 a Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving at a unknown speed a message displayed on the instrument panel. "engine power is reducing" . The steering wheel was unmovable. The contact also stated could not remove the key from the ignition. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or independent mechanic for diagnoses or repairs. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 136,833. Bh.

When you are driving the electrical system cuts off, making it hard to steer and affecting other electrical controls such touch screen, lights, and control panel. The system usually shuts off for a brief moment when utilizing power locks, turn signals, and power windows. Recently, the engine won't start but after waiting for a few moments, it starts up again. This has been going on for the past 8 months.

I bought this 2013 Malibu in February 2014. In 2016 it started with the many issues. The hybrid system when stopped at stop sign or light would die. The car would completely die while driving down the road. That lead to the power steering going out. Every code on the dash board would come on. Then the battery would just completely die and need to be jumped. It would run ok for a few days then be dead the next. More and more the battery would completely be dead every few days. Had two new batteries installed and it would test fine usually. Seemed that something was draining it somehow. Took it to the dealer many time and could never get a definitive answer. Finally in November 2019 I was driving down the highway and it completely died and would not take a charge (jump). Stranded on the high I had to have it towed to coyle Chevrolet only to be told they didn't have a hybrid mechanic to look at it. Then had it towed to bachman Chevrolet only for them to tell me after having it for two weeks that there was something wrong with the engine. Either they needed to disassemble it to find the problem or I would need to get a new engine for $7,000. I had a claim with gm but they also just gave me the run around. The car itself is only worth $3,500-$4,500. I still was paying on the loan for it also. Not only have I not had a car since November I have a car that won't start and can not trade in on another car. Although there was many complaints about the same issues no recalls are on the car for them. Very frustrating situation I dealt with for a few years with the car and no solution for a fix. I loved that car and chevy but very disappointed in them. Need to invest in another model I guess.

I have a 2013 Malibu lt with 52,000 miles on it. Last month on the 20th of November service power steering warning started to flash on the information system. When that happens my doors would lock and my car would stall. However; unlike most other consumers who are having this problem my steering wheel didn't get tight and I did not lose control of my car. I could not do more than 40mph and sometimes if I hit a bump in the road service power steering would come on and the doors would lock and the car would stall and then go back to normal. I took my car in to genesis Chevrolet to see what the problem was. They had my car for about a good 4 to 5 hours. They then came and informed me that they could not find anything wrong with my care because, no codes where popping up and the mechanic tried 4 times but could not duplicate the situation I was having. It is now December 11th and I am still having the same problem. I just drove to work today and went to make a right turn down the street leading to my job the service power steering flashed again ,the car stalled ,and the engine light came on. This time the car slowed all the way down until it came to a complete stop. Even though my car had come to a complete stop it was still on and running. My radio still worked my heat was still on and I still could shit my gear shift. I put the car in park turned it off for about a minute and then started it back up. When I started it back up the engine light had gone off and I was able to accelerate my car and pull into the parking lot of my job.

The key gets stuck in the ignition switch. I had to get a new ignition back in Nov 2017. Now Nov 2019 the same thing is happening. Im afraid this my be a every two year problem. I've found out how to get the key unstuck but than three hours had past waiting for help and my battery had die.

This happened two days in a row I was driving me so me turning a corner and my car just stopped steer wheel locked up could move the car or nothing near had an accident I'm a petrified because I don't know when this god happens again I vaule my life this recall seriously needs to be looked into I worked hard many long days to save to get this car just for it to turn out bad I seriously need help with this life threatening issue.

Tl- the contact owns a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at 60 mph, the steering wheel seized while the entire instrument panel warning light illuminated. The contact mentioned that the vehicle jerked while the failure occured. An independent mechanic was contacted and informed the contact that the vehicle wold not be able to be diagnosed unless the failure occurred while being looked at. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer for a diagnostic test or repairs. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 147,000. Dr.

As I was driving 35 mph on a busy downtown location in my area of new orleans, my 2013 chevy Malibu decided to shut down on me. At first when I stopped at a red light, the car stall as though it wanted to cut off but it didn't at that moment. When I made it to the second red light the car shut completely off then came right back on. I was terrified as my 12 year old daughter sat in the back seat of the car so I decided to head home which was 15 mins from the location where I was plus I also had to travel over a busy mississippi river bridge to get to my house from that location. As I was making my way back towards the bridge to get home, I notice different signals flashing across my dashboard, then the car shut down completely giving me little to no time to make a decision to pull over. The steeling wheel locked up giving me no control as to which way to steer the vehicle, car completely dead. I was so blessed that no cars was in the way of where the car was going. The car refused to start again and key got stuck . I had to get it towed home. I'm begging chevy, please look into this issue. I have seen lots of reviews regarding these make and models and it looks like nothing is being done. I had a 2006 chevy Malibu which I loved so much that I decided to trust chevy with my next car. As I closed my eyes that night I could only imagine what could have happen if I was on that bridge heading home with cars traveling 60-70mph? what if I was infront of a river, on a train track, in front of a big body vehicle such as a bus or 18-wheeler or someone walking in the direction the car was going? someone, if haven't already could truly cause damage to their life or someone else's life. Please chevy think about the family lives which are being put in danger, even the dealership's dont truly know the issues.