Latches/locks/linkage Problems of Chevrolet Malibu - part 2

The contact owns a 2010 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the key fob failed to unlock the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician stated that the solder joint needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 39,300. Updated 05/23/lj updated 05/29/2013.

See all problems of the 2010 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

Driver side and passenger side automatic door locks have failed. Intermittently, opening any of the four doors at any given time will cause all locks to engage.

See all problems of the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

My rear driver door lock will not activate. Only manually. Very dangerous. It seems to be a very common thing with these cars. They have bad actuators. This should be a recall by general motors. . .

The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the doors on the vehicle would not lock with the key fob, but it did lock with the key. The contact stated that the check engine light also illuminated on the instrument panel and the air conditioner smelled like the coolant was burning; however, the vehicle did not overheat. The failure was not diagnosed by a dealer or mechanic. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was unknown. The current mileage was 50,000.

See all problems of the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu 🔎.

Both passenger side doors locks only stopped working electrically and only work manually, I began to notice this about two weeks ago, they were only working about half the time. I took it to the dealer and they told me the car is out of warranty, and even its a common problem they want me to pay roughly $500. 00 dollars for the repair. I think this is a safety concern because in the event of a traffic collision I will not be able to get my kids out of the vehicle quickly since you cannot unlock the rear doors through the outside of the vehicle manually with a key. I contacted gm customer service and addressed my concern to no avail. I don't think it is right for a 3 year old car to be having such problems, I also own a 1996 Honda civic whose doors still work properly?? thank you. . There are a lot of unsatisfied customers on this forum. . . . Read more...

Three of my car doors do not lock unless manually locked. The electronics have failed on all three doors. I have to replace the motor in each door, at the cost of over $750. The cost is not the only problem. The motors that failed in each door will be replaced by the same faulty part. I can't believe it costs $300 to fix one door's locks alone. The drivers lock had greater problems than the others because sometimes it locks me in the car because it shifts the lock a little and the door gets jammed. This should be recalled. I filed a complaint with gm.

Started the car to come out of a parking spot, heard humming/rattling noise. Steering wheel started to vibrate then would do rapid half-turns by itself, jerking left and right. Shut the car off and restarted. Seemed ok for first few minutes then started again. Got on the road, driving about 35-40 mpg on highway and it became uncontrollable. Could not keep it straight within the lane. Almost hit a car in the lane on my right! pulled up to an auto shop near by. They test drove and experienced the issue but explained that with these cars, the technology in them is too advanced and would have to be taken to a chevy dealer. Mechanic explained that the matter is quite hazardous and it would be a huge risk driving it now. Single mom driving 45 minutes from home with 2 minor children. Had to get a tow truck to get back home, 45 minutes away. $$$!! had this vehicle for 11 months only. Prior to this issue, had door locks issues as I've ready on other threads and also currently experiencing issues with faulty tire pressure sensor as well. Nothing but problems with this car since I've had it. This is my first and very last Chevrolet!!.

The door locks do not work. How is this not a safety problem? sometimes the door locks work sometimes they don't. I have a newborn that rides in the backseat. If the doorlocks don't work, the only way to unlock the back door is to either roll down the rear window or crawl into the back seat from the front. If I had to get my child out of the car in an emergency, I don't know how I would do that without working door locks. I have researched this problem online and it appears this is a common problem with this car.

The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the power steering assist intermittently failed without warning. In addition, the door locks for all four doors failed to engage when using the key fob remote. Also, when shifting the vehicle into park the doors failed to unlock. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 92,000.

The driver's side rear door lock no longer works when using the power lock button. It must be actuated manually- by manually lifting the knob up. The main problem is the knob is located to the rear of the door and is not accessible unless you are in the back seat- the knob cannot be raised from the front seat area of the vehicle in order to unlock the door to help occupants exit the vehicle, especially in case of emergency. The lock pull knob is located in a poor position.

Turn signal arm does not stay in place when signaling to turn. Also the turn signal arm when it does stay in place it will not return to normal position/turn off signal by itself after making a turn. When turning the steering wheel it makes popping noises. Door locks on all doors stay either in the "lock" or "unlock" position at all times. One of the rear passenger door lock has been replaced at the dealership for $300. 00 and the door lock still fails. The only way to unlock the passenger doors is to do it manually and climb over the seats. The driver door has to be unlocked with the key and manually locked when exiting the vehicle.

The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the doors would sporadically become locked and unlocked independently. Additionally, the contact noticed a burning odor inside the vehicle and the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was taken to dealer for inspection and the contact was awaiting diagnosis of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 90,000. The current mileage was 100,000.

The a/c unit is blowing hot air . . Door locks will not unlock.

Remote lock would not work on driver's door.

The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the power locks failed to lock and unlock. The failure occurred intermittently. The failure affected the rear doors and the front passenger door. The failure occurred when attempting to lock the doors using the inner door lock control on the driver's side instrument panel. The contact noticed that the failure occurred more often when there were higher temperatures. The vehicle was not taken to dealer for inspection or repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure; however no further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 24,500 and the current mileage was 25,600. Updated 09/05/lj.

The power locks on the car would not unlock the doors, leaving the passengers trapped inside. We were unable to open the doors manually, electrically or even with inserting the key into the door. Passengers had to crawl out of the windows. After trying the key and remote numerous times the driver side door unlocked but would not relatch when the door was closed or even after starting the engine and placing the transmission in gear. The locks sound like they engage and disengage leaving one to think every thing is okay but, it is not. This a serious safety hazard and one that could be life threatening.

The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that none of the doors would lock or unlock. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer and the contact was informed that all four door actuators needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 58,000. Updated 09/05/lj.

The contact owns a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated the rear passenger and rear drivers side door do not lock or unlock properly. Sporadically the doors would not respond when the contacts vehicle was in the park position. The dealer was not made aware of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and declined to provide the contact with a remedy. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 40,000.

2008 Chevrolet Malibu 4 door sedan. I purchased the car and approx. One month after purchase the front passenger door lock failed to operate, I took it to the dealer the car was purchased from and they fixed it under the warranty. Approx. One year after the passenger door lock incident, both driver side door locks failed. Took the car back to the dealer and they wouldn't fix it because I was 200 miles over my warranty. Approx. 3 months later the rear passenger door lock failed as well. I cannot unlock the back doors, and have to use the key to unlock the front door. I have two small nephews in car seats and my concern is that if they are in the vehicle during an incident that I will not be able to get the children free from the back seat because of the door locks. They cannot reach the lock itself so they would be trapped. For myself to fix the door locks would cost more than three monthly payments on the vehicle and in the economy that is very high. I would prefer to have a safe vehicle with no concerns about the safety of my vehicle to have to worry about when traveling with my nephews. After doing some research I have discovered this is a wide spread issue with this make and model. Considering this I believe it is a problem that gm needs to address.

The passenger door lock does not operate. The locks moves slightly but not enough to lock or unlock the door.

The lock actuator is broken on one door.

Nothing occurred prior to my passenger door lock working, electronically. It does not lock/unlock when the car is placed in park, or using the key control or door panel control. We are having the dealer hopefully fix the problem tomorrow.

The was nothing leading up to the event, the car was working fine. One day in may I put the car in park, and noticed that the front passenger door did not unlock as the rest of the doors did. I put the care back in drive, then back in park, still the door did not unlock, I tried the lock button, and the remote for the car and nothing happened. I went to the dealership, and since my warranty is up, I was told its $52 to diagnose the problem. Unfortunately my bumper-to-bumper warranty ended in Dec 2010. I see that this is a known issue with one or more doors not working after approximately 37k miles.

2008 Malibu - drivers door latch does not work. Often driver gets stuck in vehicle. In addition, there is a loud knock in the steering and it has had a ring gear replaced already, same problem 12,000 miles later.

Back in April I started having problems with my driver side lock. It would get stuck. Sometimes the door wouldn't even open. I would press the button to unlock the door, and that wouldn't work. I would have to use my key, ans sometimes that didn't work either. I am still having problems with the lock, and pretty much everyday I have to use my key to open the driver side door. I was told to use wd-40 and that sill didn't help. The most recent event with my car is this loud vibrating noise that has been occuring off and on for the past two months. I'v had several people check it out and they say they can't find anything wrong. My car makes the noise while sitting in park, sometimes while I'm driving, or sitting still at a light. About a 1-1 1/2 months ago my wheel wou;d move back and forth. I went to have it checked out and was told that there wasn't anything wrong. My wheel moves more and more. It moves sometimes when I first start my car, while sitting a light, and at various speeds while I am driving. When I turn my steering wheel back in a neutral position sometimes it would turn the other way. Today my wheel was moving while I was drivng and my car started moving in the same direction. It was hard to control and it was very scary because I was on the highway. I'm so fed up with this car, and I totally regret buying it. I am probably never going to buy a Chevrolet again, even if Chevrolet's are all that I have ever owned.

The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that the rear driver side automatic door lock would not activate upon the engagement of the key fob or the interior door lock device. The vehicle had not been diagnosed. The failure mileage was 24,638.

Power door locks do not work properly. . . The passenger side rear power door lock was repaired under warranty. The other three remaining power door locks do not function correctly and have to be locked manually. This is an inconvenience when exiting the vehicle and also a hazard in the event of an emergency. . .

In March, 2011, I began having problems with the doors not opening from the inside. I unhooked the battery terminal to reset the computer then the windows started working again. In April my driver's window would not go up. I replaced the 30a fuse and got the window to go up. Once I tried to use one of the other windows, the fuse blew again. Now my windows will not go up or down without blowing a fuse. The switch in the driver's door was replaced and the relay was replaced with no resolution. My windows will not work at all and yesterday, July 19, my doors began acting up again and will not open from the inside. I feel like I'm going to get trapped inside this vehicle.

The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu classic. The contact stated that the rear driver and passenger side doors could not be unlocked. The locks on the doors were broke. The contact stated that she attempted to open the doors from the exterior but to no avail. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection where they advised that the locks needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified and offered to cover half of the repair expenses. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 42,000. The VIN was unavailable.

The contact owns a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu ltz. The contact stated that the rear driver and passengers doors were unable to opened from the outside. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer and they advised him that they needed to replace the door lock actuators on the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 47,000.

Driverside rear passenger door and front passenger door unlocks not working, or work intermittenly. Have manually lock/unlock both doors.

Rear driver door will not unlock with power locks. It is very difficult to reach the manual door lock without crawling into the back seat and there is no keyhole on the exterior of the rear door. It would be extremely difficult to get my children out of the car if there were an emergency.

I have automatic locks on my car and I have already had to take the car in twice to have the locks repaired or replaced and now the locks are giving me problems again. The car is still under the warranty period, but this is the third time that I'm going to have to take the car in for the same type of problem.

Bought a used 2008 Malibu with 36k, by the time I hit 43k the driver side rear door lock would not work electronically. By the time I hit 45k the driver door is not working properly. I looked into the issue and there are many others out there with the same problem. Chevy dealers then charge over $1000 to fix the lock motors, even though it seems to be a factory defect.

Both rear door lock actuators are inoperable. The doors will not lock automatically or unlock automatically. Both doors will not lock or unlock when the power door lock button is actuated. Both doors will not lock when the car is placed into drive. The rear doors can be opened when the car is moving. Both doors will not lock or unlock using the remote keyless entry. Because the vehicle is out of warranty, gm will not cover the repairs.