2020 CHEVROLET MALIBU Unknown Or Other Problems
39 complaints about Unknown Or Other
High Severity Issue
This component has been associated with crashes, fires, or deaths.
This Problem Across All Years
All Unknown Or Other Complaints (39)
Shift to park issue and fluid mixing in with engine
This is a 2020 Malibu with only 18,000 miles on it now. We are having intermittent loss of power. Car will be moving fine when suddenly it looses power when pulling into traffic from a stop. It has also happened on the highway(right after leaving the dealer service department) when going to pass a vehicle…all of a sudden power drops and rpms go up and car slows up. When it suddenly happens, pulling into traffic is very slow. The only way to get power back is to turn off traction control via a button. It is back at the dealer now. They have had it the last two weeks. They fixed a shift to park issue but cannot duplicate the loss of power. So they are saying it is ready to pick up. Once, recently, a check engine light come on along with a message saying something like low power mode. We went straight to the dealer with the vehicle. They had the car for three five out of six weeks and were able to duplicate the loss of power once. We wanted them to contact Chevy to help resolve this, but we are unsure if they actually did. These problems first were serviced in April of 2024. This car is very scary to be in, the way this happens and when it is happening.
My vehicle displays a "shift to park" message on the dashboard, even when the gear selector is in the park position. This prevents the car from being shut off, and in sometimes, the doors may not be able to be locked. Not understanding the issue initially has thus caused me to have to replace my car battery numerous times for battery drainage.
The vehicle intermittently shows shift to park error message. It takes several tries of moving the shifter for the notice to disappear. This has been an ongoing issue since I purchased the vehicle and since the dealership couldn’t replicate it at the time, they did not fix it.
The shifter will not read when the vehicle has been placed in park.
When putting the vehicle in park, the vehicle states please shift to park but the vehicle is already parked.
For over a year now my car has been giving me the SHIFT TO PARK warning when I am in park. Happens several times a day, every day. Seems to be taking longer for the warning to shut itself off and allow my to turn car off and lock. Im not sure if my car is included in the recall but if it is NOT then it needs to be added as I am suffering on a daily basis with this issue. I am a single mother and cannot afford to miss work due to this and cannot afford to attempt to fix issue out of my own pocket. Please add my car to the recall list and help me fix this issue.
My car is displaying a "Shift to Park" message on the dashboard even when the shifter is already in the park position, preventing the vehicle from being turned off and potentially leading to a dead battery or the vehicle rolling away. The "Shift to Park" issue poses safety risks, as it can prevent drivers from turning off their vehicles and potentially lead to unintended movement. This issue is getting worse everyday.
Car is not recognizing that is in park and displays a "shift to park message". Chevy has yet to address this WELL known issue and expects consumers to pay $700-$1000 for something they should be required to fix. This is a major safety issue
After pressing the button to turn the vehicle off the message board displays a "shift to park" alert. The vehicle will not completely turn off until you clear the message. I do not know how to clear the message so the vehicle will completely turn off and to keep this from happening again. It requires me to turn the vehicle off, restart it, put it in drive, stop, put it in park, then turn it off. Simply turning the vehicle off and back on does not clear the message. It takes me at least 3 tries to get the vehicle to finally turn off normally without the "shift to park" message. This does not happen every single time when I turn the vehicle off and at no particular frequency. It is very annoying because it happens when you least expect it. When you are on a time schedule you do not have 5-10 minutes to re-start and turn off the vehicle again numerous times to get the message to disappear. It is also not good for the engine and transmission components to keep having to go through this process. This issue has been occuring for approximately 1 year. I thought it was fixed because the message stopped coming up for awhile but the issue is occurring again at no particular frequency. Please check into this and issue a recall. From what I can see, I am not the only one having this issue.
Very hard to brake, like stepping on a brick. Have to start breaking way in advance. Also keep getting a "shift to park" alert and car won't shut down and can't get out of it sometimes.
When the car was turned off a message appeared that said shift the park the gear indicator already stated the car was in park and the car gear shift was already in park. Looked into this issue and apparently there is an open recall for the year and make of my car but it for some reason does not include my vin number
After parking the car says I need to shift the car into park even though it is.
Shift to park detected when I have gear in park
Faulty Vacuum pump caused catastrophic engine failure. The vacuum pump exploded cracking the cam shaft sending metal shards into the engine. $12000.00 to repair and mechanic will guarantee the work because the replacement vacuum is an only OEM part. I was having braking problems prior to the vacuum pump failing. The brakes would intermittently freeze up and I couldn't get the car stop and had to use the emergency braking system to stop vehicle. Car is still at shop I can't afford the repair and I'm am still paying finance company for car. I have a disabled child and am low income. This has put hardship on me as I live in an area that does not provide public transportation. I don't know what to do.
Vehicle will say shift to park and also can't use the limp mode and manually shift gears and also can't be used outside of 1st and 2nd gear
My car has the known shift to park error. Any time the car is put into park, it isn't registering as in park and won't shut down.
I keep getting a shift to park alert to my car when my car is in park. I have to wiggle my shift gear in order for it to cut off or play around with the way the car is park
This car has problems when shifting to PARK. Sometimes it doesn't recognize its in park and wont shut off. There is a recall on this but when I look up my VIN it doesnt show a recall for my exact vehicle. Am I still able to get this fixed under the recall?
My vehicle started to show a shift to park message. I took it to Firestone and they replaced the switch. This started happening again 2 weeks later. It is worse this time. It takes me several minutes to get my car to acknowledge that it is in fact in park.
When I turn my car off it tells me to shift to park when it’s already in park
engine misfire, shift to park and transmission
There is a message that’s pops up on my dashboard when I cut my car off saying “car not in park” when I have in fact put it in park. I have to jiggle and constantly press the gear shift in order for the message to go away .My safety was fine , I’m just scared that I may not see the message and my car could potentially start rolling backwards or forward. My car has been doing this for about 6-8 months .
The steering assist is reduced will come on. The car randomly turns itself off and back on when at a stoplight; this has happened four times now. I worry that it will shut off and not restart creating a hazard on the road.
Started today, I would put my car in park and I’d would display in the dashboard “Shift to Park” even though I’m already in park. I tried to turn my car on and off and switch gears but everytime I turn it off and it’s in park, it would keep reading that message. It eventually stopped but I don’t want this to keep happening.
Car has stalled out, or acted like it's going to stall out several times. No check engine light on so unable to identify the issue. There are recalls for other Malibs for similar problems, but it states this model is not affected.
This car locked up about 2 Years Ago. It Told Me To Put The Car In Neutral While Driving It. The Brakes No Longer Worked And Neither Did The Steering. The Car Just Rolled Backwards No Matter The Gear It Was In Other Than Park. I Took It To Two Dealerships Who Told Me It Was A Problem With The Computer of the Car. I Seen About Three Lights on The Dashboard On And Off Typically When The Car Was Turned of And Restarted They Went Away. I Was Told That Since Nothing Was Showing Up It Couldn’t Be Diagnosed And That Since The Lights Were No Longer On The Dashboard It Was Fine. If I Seen Something Bring It Back In. Well Two Years Later It Happened Again On 7/3/23. I Had It Towed To Be Serviced Again. Just For Them To Give Me The Same Answer. It Has Been Driven 4 Times Since Then. As Of Today (7/12/23) I Got I Got In My Car And Literally Drove To The Stop Sign Of My Complex Before Having To Turn Back Around. The Car Was Smoking From The Inside Something Was Burning. The Car Is Having Issues That I Cant Even Get Resolved Because The Computer Of The Car Is Malfunctioning Some How & Its Costing Me Money & Putting Me Out Of A Vehicle. Something Is Wrong With The Computer System. & Now Ultimately Something Else Now.
Service ESC ABS I just had a 2009 Chevy Malibu and now a 2020 and I’m having the same exact issues loss of power steering braking and at first my gas gauge was off check engine light came on now today “Service ESC w ABS LIGHT” on dashboard
There have been four incidences (11/21, 10/22 (2x), 5/23) where my vehicle has completely stopped running while I am driving. The dash lights come on, it says to service ESC, it will say to put vehicle in park (even if I have done so already), it says I have low fuel (even with a full tank) and I lose power steering. This has happened when driving on city roads and at high speed on the freeway ( which is extremely dangerous). This puts me in danger because my vehicle stops accelerating and I must coast to the shoulder, which could very easily cause a collision, especially on the freeway. My vehicle has been to the dealership for each instance and they find nothing wrong.
This vehicle was purchased on February 10, 2023 under false pretenses, deceit, and fraudulent activities by Frank Leta Honda of Missouri. Frank Leta Honda and its Salesman failed to disclosed that this vehicle was in a major accident prior to me purchasing it. The front-end bumper and the front quarter-panel on the passenger side were damaged. This car was re-painted with non-factory paint, and it shows. Most importantly, the procedure and process required in painting a vehicle was not followed. I even questioned the salesman whether or not this vehicle was in a major accident, and the salesman said, "no." I had taken this vehicle to two professional auto body businesses, and two owners/auto body workers informed me without me asking that the vehicle had been in a major accident. Can you please give me a report on whether or not the previous owners of this vehicle reported an accident with this vehicle being involved in, and the original color of this vehicle. The dealer is calling it red. However, this vehicle is a deep dark burgundy.
Shift to Park Alarm will not stop beeping. Looked into it on the internet found it to be a known issue with GM. Can prevent the doors from unlocking and would drain battery and annoyance. Replaced shifter assembly at a cost of $567.28 I believe GM knows of the issue and should recall the defective parts. I am making this complaint on behalf of my 85 year old Mother that purchased the 2020 Malibu with the remaining 3 year/36000 miles warranty. In November of 2022 she had the Alarm Shift to Park come up and would not stop. I return the car to the shop where she purchased it, expecting the issue to be covered by warranty. I found out the car was put in service in August of 2019 making the warranty expired. The mechanic that replaced the shifting assembly explained the problem to me and gave me the defective part. When researching the problem I found that GM it aware of the issue and should recall and fix the problem. I have contacted GM but they refuse to reemburse me. I filed a complaint with the BBB and I see that there is a class action lawsuit over this issue. I have my complaint on file in hope that GM will voluntarily recall or be forced to if enough people complain.
This car is a rental. After driving the car, I parked it at my final destination, shifted it into park, and attempted to turn the vehicle off. The vehicle would not turn off and flashed a warning on the instrument panel instructing me to shift into park even though the car was already in park. The car would only finally turn off after several attempts at shifting in and out of park.
Sometimes when I drive my car it loses power especially when I’m turning into on coming traffic it will lose speed and I’ve almost been hit on numerous occasions. I’ve taking the car to Chevy dealership 4 times already the last time they discovered transmission issues they repaired it. They tell me they don’t see anything else wrong. I have read reviews from other owners and they are experiencing the same exact problem
I was at a stop light ready to take off while driving for lyft with a passenger in back and the car just quit running as i took off when light turned green no warning whatsoever no dash lights no brakes no steering i had to wait til car stopped rolling so i put car in park then i couldnt put in neutral to push car out of traffic lane. so while i was trying to call a friend for help about 5 minutes passed and i tried the ignition i had a reading on dash that said batterry saver on so i waited and tried again after 5 minutes and car started with battery saver on not knowing how that really works i called nearest chevy dealer about issue they said it was out of warranty for them to look at so i drove to autozone a local parts store to get car checked out for car not starting and the guy found battery was good and charging system ok so there was no code or nothing after getting it looked at to this date of report i had no issues so far but im worried and hoping it wont happen while im driving on highway and get rear ended if it quits running on me again i heard and read about a sotware issue on chevy malibu so im puzzled and afraid to drive this car that i bought new on january of 2021
while driving down a mountain in monterey tenessee from visiting a friend the car started blowing white smoke and all dash lights flickered before car shut off no brakes or steering while coasting down mountain almost got rear ended by pickup this was around 9pm it was dark i coasted into a gas station after a few attempts to start car . i called roadside assistance that night and got towed to dave kirk chevy dealer next town over after having issues with car i encountered issues with manager of dealer ship and roadside assistance neither could help til i started raising my voice i was stranded there in town for 2 days my friends felt bad the paid for my motel since i was so stressed out they didnt want to look at my car that manager said he knew nothing about after diagnosing my car they found a bad fuel injector that he said was open 100 percent so after 2 days i was on my way back to florida bad experience all the way around
Shift to park displays when I put my car in park and the vehicle will not turn off. I have read that there have been recalls on this issue up to 2019 but nothing for 2020. My car is not even 2 years old...I shouldn't have a problem turning my vehicle off especially since it's been an issue in the past
1. Something under the car hood is making a whistle type noise. Is available for inspection. 2. I don't know if it is a safety risk. 3. The problem has not been confirmed by the dealer. 4. The vehicle was inspected by the dealership. 5. There were no warning lamps on or anything. The whistling appeared under the hood around May 23,2021. 6. The whistling appears under the hood of the car after driving it approximately 30mins with the air conditioner on. 7. I took it to the dealership and they seem resistant to fix the problem!
RAIN IN GETTING INTO THE TRUNK AREA BY A LARGE AMOUNT OF WATER. LEAVING THE SPARE TIRE SITE FULL OF WATER.
MY 2020 CHEV MALIBU, NEW 10/19, WAS PROMISED 29 MPG CITY BY CHEVROLET'S WEB SITE AND THE VEHICLE SALES STICKER. I AM ONLY GETTING AT THE VERY MOST 25 MPG AT THE VERY MOST. I LIVE IN SAN DIEGO AND DO DRIVE IN THE CITY FOR ALMOST ALL THE CURRENT 2,000 MILES. THIS IS THE PRIMARY REASON I BOUGHT THIS CAR! I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER ON 1/17/20 & THEY TOLD ME ALL WAS WORKING PER SPEC'S.
Mileage: 2,000