general problems of the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu - part 2

The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated while driving approximately 55 mph, the gear selector indicator started fluctuating between park(p) and reverse(r). The vehicle started to jerk and hesitate while driving. The contact was able to stop and turn the vehicle off. After restarting the vehicle, the message "shift to park" was displayed. The vehicle was later towed to the residence. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 159,000.

I was driving on the freeway at about 65mph, and the car shut down on me. It was extremely dangerous to get over on the freeway with no power. 2 warning lights came on. The stabilatrak, & the check engine light. I pulled over & called for help. I had the car taken to the service department at the dealership. They contacted me & informed me that a piston was cracked, & the ecm had to have a software update. They are charging me $5,389 to repair it. The car only has 8,000 miles on it. There are recalls for this exact problem, but do not apply to my specific VIN#. My car is a 2016, so I am out of warranty, but this should not happen with a vehicle with this low of mileage.

When I was driving to work, a light appeared on my dashboard stating that my "engine power reduced". When I was in the left lane passing a vehicle, my car slowed down to 40pmh instead of accelerating when I had pressed the gas pedal. The car behind me almost re ended me in the process. This has happened now on a couple of occasions afterwards.

Car began to lose power while driving down the road, then began sputtering gas and creating black smoke. Engine pistons appear to be shot. Car has a little over 100k miles.

When I turn my ignition button off, the dashboard on my vehicle will have the letter p showing that it is in park, but will have a message pop up on the dash that says "put in park". I have to wiggle my transmission lever around while it is in park until it finally clears the message.

My vehicle is stuck on “shift to park message” and can’t turn vehicle off. The vehicle has been displaying this message even thought the car is already on park.

I was driving to the clinic I go to everyday in the mornings I was in the freeway going about 70mph when suddenly I get a msg saying “engine power reduced” also engine light came on and the car starts slowing down and it’s not letting me go more than 20mph on the freeway! I could have caused an accident, (this is very unsafe specially since my 2 and 4 year old were in the car with me) I got off on the next exit and pulled in to a gas station and turned the car off and waited about 10 mins I turned the car back on and the msg was gone but the engine light was still on about a minute or 2 later the msg comes back on so I have to pull over again, it did it about 5x before I can make it to my destination not to mention the way back home I had to stop about 3x more. This is very unsafe and something has to be done as it is not only my car with this problem.

The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated upon shifting the gear shifter into park(p), the message shift into park was displayed though the gear shifter was already in park(p). The contact stated that he restarted the vehicle and continuously shifted into park(p) until the vehicle registered that the gear shifter was in park(p). The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The dealer and the manufacturer were notified of the failure and advised the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer for a diagnostic test as the VIN was not included in a recall associated to the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 46,000.

I can be driving and "drive assistance system" and "engine reduced power" comes up and then the car starts to slow down even on the highway and that is ridicoulous.

May car loses power when acceleration I don't why but there is something going on.

When shifting into park a dash message appears saying shift to park. The gearshift is in the park position but the message still appears and some electrical devices remain on and you cannot lock the doors.

I was driving my car home from work and all of a sudden my car starting showing in the dash engine power reduced. My car literally couldn't go anywhere. So I pulled over and shut the car off for a minute started it back up and it was running great and then I happen again a few minutes later. So I took it to the dealership were I purchsed it and they replaced the gas pedal they said a sensor was bad and that was causing the problem. So picked up the car a couple days later and it happen again about two weeks later. . .

The morning I started my trip. My back up camera stayed on. I stopped turned the car off and back on. It was still on. Turned it off again. This time the camera went off. I was going up the cajon pass. No warning light or anything. Was coming up to my exit. Tried to slow down to exit. Couldn't press my brakes. They were rock hard to press. Took my foot off gas. Slowed down enough to get to the shoulder of the road. Once I was able to stop. My brakes were hard to press they made a clunk noise. I noticed the check engine light was on. I could of been killed had someone been in front of me and stopped. Or I could of killed someone. This is not the first time these brakes have done this. They did it earlier this year I wasn't able to press my brakes as and when I was it made the same noise. I had it towed to dealer to be fixed. They said they fixed it. This could of killed me or someone else as I was traveling on the freeway at faster speeds than the streets.

Car will randomly stall. I see gm recalled 500+ Malibu hybrids for this problem, but mine is not one of them. This is the worst car I have ever owned.

The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that after shifting to the park position, the message "shift to park" displayed on the instrument panel and the vehicle was unable to be turned off. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the shifter was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 71,000. The VIN was invalid.

The contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that after parking the vehicle, an error message on the instrument panel indicated that the vehicle was not in park. The vehicle was restarted, shifted to drive and back to park and the vehicle to operate as designed. The contact called the local dealer and made them aware of the failure. The contact stated she had experienced the failure several times. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 55,000.

I have a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu and while driving on the highway, my engine light came on and my speed decelerated from 65 mph to 40. I took my car for a diagnostic test and the results were trouble codes: p2138, u0401-71 and c0242-00. I have done my research and from what I have found so far, is that several people have made youtube videos about these codes, complaints and complaints on this website as well, and it has come to my understanding, that if enough people complain that this can be a safety issue, then maybe the "powers that be", will help with this issue and possibly resolve it. This is and can be dangerous for an individual to drive at the average speed on most u. S. Highways, 65, and they decelerate without warning down to 40 mph. I'm not sure why anyone does not se the dangers in this situation, especially with other motorists on the road driving at speeds of up to 70 mph, sometimes 75 mph. If I have vehicles behind me driving 65 or more and my vehicle decides to decelerate because of a sensor failure, the vehicle behind me is not going to know that there is a problem and may not have enough time to react before causing an accident. I am adding my concern not only to many individuals who have reported the same or similar experience , but in hopes that this issue would gain more attention.

Every month my car will randomly say engine power reduced and will go no higher than 30mph. Which has happened on the highway and is super dangerous! I have seen many reports of the same problem but nothing being done about it. I took it to the dealership I got it from and I paid $100 dollars for diagnostics and the mechanic said the car computer needed updated. . . Alright, the next day the message came back up and car couldn’t go higher than 30. I haven’t had this car for a year, and the shocks have popping noises, and whenever I put the car in park a message will appear saying shift car to park. And I have to literally roughly giggle the lever for it to read it’s in park or my car won’t turn off. I truly love this car but it has to many issues that shouldn’t be happening.

A power reduced engine light came on and slowed the car down to 20 miles per hour very abruptly, it was very dangerous. It keeps doing this, the engine light turns off so it can't be detected, and now we can't take it into a dealership because its out of warranty.

From time to time, the vehicle does not register the car is in park and exhibits a "shift to park" message. It can take restarting the car upwards of 10 - 15 times to get the message to disappear. The car cannot be left in this condition as there is no assurance the car is parked properly nor will it turn off, which could drain the battery. It is a known issue for years, and gm has issued TSB 19-na-206 (rev Dec 11, 2020). This is well known and pervasive, yet gm has not issued a recall, or been proactive about the fix, and is not covering it outside of warranty.

Was driving in 45mph street when I got a �engine power reduced� message and dropped speed to 10mph. This is clearly a safety issue and can very well cause an accident if I'm driving on highway or uphill for the matter.

I was driving down the road at 55mph - 2-lane road (4 days ago) when a warning came across my dash that stated "reducing engine power". It slowed my vehicle down a mininum of 20mph and wouldn't pick up speed. The check engine light came on. I pulled over and turned off my vehicle. I restarted it and the check engine light stayed on. I was able to make it to an auto shop and they hooked it up. It read a p2138 code. If I had been on the highway, this could've caused a devistating crash. I found where gm extended the warranty and this fix should not cost me anything - I will see when I take it in tomorrow.

Shift to park failure at 40,000 miles. . March 6, 2018 diagnosed as shifter assembly failure. . In park. . Alert on dashboard "shift to park". . If alert on dashboard, and radio and or wipers on. . They stay on with car off. Reoccured at additional 50, 000 miles. On March 19, 2021 . Corporate Chevrolet aware. . Issued repair bulletin #18-na-297, which was revised to 19-na-206. . Malibu owers forum report issue with year 2016-2019. . Also with other models. . Dangerous. . . Exhausts battery. . Not sure if car in park or not ? roll risk. . Chevrolet refuses to fix as no recall exists. . I believe with frequent. Issue needs to be addressed and parts recalled. . I have grand children in my vehicle and am concerned for their safety.

When I was driving home from work tonight. I was taking the ramp to get on to the highway and my car gave me a warning that the engine power was reduced and my check engine light came on and my car was immediately reserved to only going 20 mph. This is very unsafe as I was trying to merge onto the highway.

While driving on the highway doing 55 mph my vehicle began to stutter and then immediately dropped to a speed of 20 mph. It would not accelerate any further. Check engine light came on as well as�reduced engine power� message. I pulled over and shut the car off, waited a few minutes and restarted. It drove this time at a spped of 35. Made it home within a few minutes and let the car sit. The next day the check engine light was still in but the car drive at regular speed.

Vehicle is placed into the park position while foot is on the brake. Once dash shows that it is in park, foot is released from the brake and engine is shutoff. At this time a message displays on the dash console "action required: shift to park". This occurs the most often on an incline upon which the message "switch to park" leads to concern of the rolling back of the vehicle. While the message is displayed you are unable to turn the car off which will eventually lead to the battery being drained. The only resolution that I am aware of other than going to the dealer is to start the car back up (engine wear, additional c02 emissions) and attempt to place it in park again with the hope the message will display. In performing research this issue is due to a poorly manufactured microswitch within the shifter assembly, the permanent fix is to have the dealer replace the entire shift assembly.

Car showed a "reduced engine power" notification and could not accelerate over 15 mph.

As I was exiting the highway the just slowed to a crawl . The screen said reduced engine power and wouldn't allow me to accelerate past 15 - 20 miles per hour. Luckily there were no cars following behind me at the time . I pulled over shut the car off and issue continued. I plugged up a code reader and got p2138.

I am reporting a recurring safety defect related to gm’s known “shift to park” issue. My vehicle displays a “shift to park” warning even when the vehicle is already in park, preventing the car from shutting off properly and creating a safety risk. This issue has been widely reported and associated with gm recalls and service bulletins. Gm previously repaired this issue once while my vehicle was under warranty, acknowledging it as a known defect. The same defect has now reoccurred after the warranty period expired. Gm is refusing to repair it again, despite the issue being recall-related and tied to a known defective design rather than wear and tear. This defect affects safe vehicle operation, risks battery drain, rollaway hazards, and driver distraction. I believe this is an unresolved safety defect that should be covered regardless of warranty status.

I noticed an oil leak in my garage and drive way from my vehicle which is an environmental and safety hazard. I have taken the vehicle to the manufacturer's dealership and an independent shop and their conclusion for the cause of the oil leak is from a head gasket and upper oil pan gasket leak. This vehicle is 4. 5 years old and has 78,000 miles on the vehicle and should have not presented an issue like this early in its life expectancy. The leaking head and upper oil pan gaskets causes environmental concerns of oil not being disposed of properly that could affect our wildlife and food supply. The safety concern is that there are no other signs of this failure thus it is a safety hazard for the occupants of the vehicle and commuters along side the vehicle.

When I come to a stop and shift my 30k miles 2016 Malibu into "park", I sometimes get a message on the dash: "shift to park". The "p" for "park" is lit near the gear shifter. The car is in park. But, my headlights stay on and I can't lock my car, because the vehicle computer thinks the car is not in "park". I lock the doors with the switch on the inside of the door, but the car unlocks immediately. Sometimes, the situation clears up by repeatedly starting/shifting/braking/turning off the car. The problem is intermittent, but getting worse.

While driving everything is fine, as soon as I stop and put my car in park it will show an indication to (put the car in park). I can literally spend 30 minutes jiggling the shifter back and forth until that notification goes away. If I don't make it go away, all the lights stay on and my car will beep at me once I close the doors, the doors will also not lock due to this. So spending 30 minutes to make it go away so it doesn't kill the battery after a 12hour work shift is all I can do.

"shift to park" issue on dic when vehicle actually is in park, as indicated by the shifter light and even on the dic, but the vehicle will not shut down the electrical system fully. You can not even lock the doors, the anti-theft systems will not engage, and the battery will discharge overnight. The manual clearly states that if the vehicle is not properly in park when turning off the vehicle, it is a safety issue that must be addressed immediately. But it is not, either by gm or the NHTSA.

When shifting to park the car doesn't know it's actually on park and after turning engine off it displays the message �shift to park�.

Tl the contact owns a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that upon placing the gear shifter into park, the vehicle failed to recognize that the gear shifter was in the park position. The shift to park warning light was displayed on the instrument panel. The contact took the vehicle to napleton Buick GMC crystal lake (6305 northwest hwy, crystal lake, IL 60014) and the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective gear shifter. The vehicle was repaired out of pocket. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact was informed that there was no recall on the vehicle. Upon investigation, the contact linked the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 16v502000 (electrical system, power train). The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 34,000.