2009 Chevrolet Malibu Body Problems
- 21
- Owner complaint records in our dataset
Records are owner complaints, not a measured failure rate.
Owner complaint recordsComplaint records reflect reports in our dataset and do not measure how frequently the problem occurs across all vehicles.
Among these 21 stored complaint records:
- 5 indicate a crash
- 4 indicate injury
- 0 indicate fire
What owners report
- side door · 4 records
- failure mileage · 4 records
- rear door · 4 records
- lock unlock · 4 records
Mileage in stored records
| Band | Records |
|---|---|
| 60–100k mi | 8 |
| 30–60k mi | 6 |
| 100–150k mi | 5 |
| 1–30k mi | 2 |
Complaint records
Owner-submitted complaint content, presented as stored.
Body · Steering
Power steering goes out at random moments it could be 1 mile of driving this vehicle or 1000 miles of driving this vehicle so it's very difficult to know when or if this car needs to be taken to the shop and i'm sure if there is a survey these vehicle have more owners due to the fact that this defect is so difficult to detect and they are sold off when detected. But this is extremely dangerous if the power steering…
ODI 11296695
Body
The doors on my 2009 chevy malibu do not open no matter what i do with the locks this is a safety issue if i was in an accident i would not be able to get out of the vehicle the problem has gone on and off for the last year and sometimes they won't work and sometimes they will work. I have seen many complaints about this issue and think it should be addressed as a serious safety issue
ODI 11210059
Air Bags · Body
Traveling east turning left going 17 mph, struck by a van going the speed limit which is 50 head on, driver airbag deployed, passenger airbag did not. Passenger is 5'4' and 120 lbs
Crash reported · 2 injuries
ODI 11195919
Body · Door
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that the front driver side door would intermittently fail to open from inside or outside of the vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or an independent mechanic to determine the failure of the door handle. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 62,000.
ODI 11091385
Body
I am having difficulty with the latches on my doors. It started with my passenger front door. I would close the door and it would pop open a little and wouldn't close. After a few tries it closed but this would intermittently happen from time to time. Eventually it closed permanently and now will not open at all. It is a safety hazzard that the door cannot be opened. This is now beginning to happen with the driver…
ODI 11083754
Body
3 of the 4 door actuators are failing. This is a huge safety issue as i drive with a 2-year old and cannot open the rear doors in the event of an emergency without extreme hardship in reaching the manual rear door pegs near back of each door. This is a huge complaint on the internet and all are referencing the safety aspects of it which the ntsb is doing nothing and gm is offering to replace at full cost saying…
ODI 10992203
Body
Rear door power locking mechanism fails to actuate. Fails to lock passenger door when driving, fails to unlock in the event of need to quickly exit. Locks are difficult to access manually.
ODI 10807668
Body
I was reended sitting at a stop light. About the same time that happened, my door locks started acting up. I've never been able to lock the doors on the inside of the car, before getting out. I've always had to use my key fob. I have googled the issue, and according to what i have found, for all 4 doors it will cost around 1600 dollars to fix. I think this should be a recall, simply because i've had to have people…
Crash reported
ODI 10747321
Body · Electrical System
Attempted to unlock passenger doors from driver door panel switch when the driver rear door lock failed to open. This occurred intermittently until it completely failed about 3 months later in which time the other doors began having the same issue progressing clockwise around the vehicle. If door lock-unlock is cycled more than twice, 3 (non-driver) doors fail about 95% of the time. This failure occurs both when the…
ODI 10730531
Body
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that water was leaking into the rear passenger side of the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 130,000.
ODI 10619499
Body · Electrical System
Rear door locks just quit working, doesn't work with key fob or inside switch. *tr
ODI 10679077
Body · Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that while driving at a very low speed, the steering wheel became extremely difficult to turn. The contact had to apply force to the steering wheel in order to turn the vehicle. The power steering and service esc warning lights displayed across the message board. In addition, the contact stated that all doors failed to lock and unlock electronically.…
ODI 10782357
Air Bags · Body
I was traveling wb ih-30 west of e. Grand ave in the hov lane. A car was stopped in front of me due to heavy traffic. I was coming to a stop. A truck rear ended me due coming into the hov lane very fast, made contact with me from behind knocking me into the car in front of me. When the truck hit me, he smashed the whole back end forcing the back windshield to break and my face hit the steering wheel causing severe…
Crash reported · 1 injury
ODI 10576668
Body · Latches/Locks/Linkages
The driver's side door latch failed to open. Neither the inside nor outside handles worked. There was no accident, abuse or indication of imminent failure. It was extremely difficult to exit the vehicle; my daughter needed to crawl across the console. Would be even more difficult (perhaps impossible) in an emergency situation. I searched the chevrolet owner forums on the internet and found many people with the same…
ODI 10572653
Body
I've had this terrible smell in the car so i went exploring to see what it could be. I opened the trunks and noticed some mold so i lifted the liner and my wheel well was filled up with water. After some more exploration, i found the floorboard in the back seat to be sopping wet. *tr
ODI 10522651
Body · Electrical System
Suddenly the door locks on the drivers side of the vehicle, front and back, began working intermittently.the remote key fob does not work, and the manual button to lock and unlock the doors does not always work. The locks only partially lock, resulting in the doors being able to be partially pulled open from the outside. Sometimes the two locks on the drivers side do not lock at all. Also, the electric windows…
ODI 10607468
Air Bags · Body
I was driving to work april 10th & i was side swipe by an 18 wheeler dump truck starting on my driver side passenger door. My front end was hit by the nose of the dump truck, i was spun 180 degrees slammed into a school bus to which the truck squashed me up against the bus dragged me up the q bridge leaving me there with no air bags deployed or onstar alert! My concern is i have front & side airbags & i am not sure…
Crash reported · 1 injury
ODI 10508538
Body
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that the driver's side door could not be opened. The contact had to pull the door handle several times in before it would open. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 54,000. The vin was unavailable.
ODI 10500832
Air Bags · Body
My daughter rear ended another vehicle, hard enough for her passenger to hit her head on the dashboard and do a lot of damage to the front end of the car, no one was injured other than her hitting her head pretty hard. However, the air bags did not deploy. *tr
Crash reported · 1 injury
ODI 10638067
Body
Condensed water from my cars air condition is draining inside the vehicle and accumulates behind the right passengers seat on the floorboard. I have notice it when the water was about 1 inches high. After cleaning the drain pipe, which is very hard to get to and $150.00 later, the problem is solved for a day. I feel that the system is not engineered correctly and is allowing mold, mildew, and algae to grow in my…
ODI 10424298
Body
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that the driver side door failed and could not be opened automatically or manually. The failure was experienced several times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the dealer lubricated the door, but the failure was not corrected. The manufacturer advised the contact to take the vehicle back to the dealer to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not…
ODI 10433141