2018 Chevrolet MALIBU - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2018 Chevrolet Malibu has an impressive overall safety rating of 5 out of 5 according to the data provided. This rating is supported by high scores in various crash tests including front crash, side crash, and rollover ratings. The car is equipped with standard electronic stability control, which enhances its safety by helping the driver maintain control during abrupt maneuvers. Additionally, it offers optional forward collision warning and lane departure warning systems for added safety features.

Despite its strong safety profile, it is worth noting that the vehicle has received a total of 543 complaints and has been subject to 6 recalls. However, it is essential to keep in mind that safety ratings are just one component to consider when evaluating a car's overall safety. It is recommended to thoroughly review all available data and consult with experts before making a final decision on a vehicle purchase.

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Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

543

Recall Count

6

Investigation Count

0

Safety Rating

5/5

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Safety Features

2018 Chevrolet Malibu 4 DR FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2018 Chevrolet Malibu 4 DR FWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

Optional
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

Optional

2018 Chevrolet Malibu 4 DR FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2018 Chevrolet Malibu 4 DR FWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2005 Score 2018 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 4 5

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2005 Score 2018 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 4 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated 5 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated 5 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2005 Score 2018 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated 5 5

Complaints for the 2018 Chevrolet MALIBU

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"engine power reduced defect in chevy malibu vehicles. had the "engine power reduced" message show up countless times."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2023-06-11
Complaint:
"check engine light constantly comes on . pedal position sensor is faulty. engine power reduced pops up"
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2023-03-04
Complaint:
"while driving, my car’s dash suddenly showed a warning message that state “engine power reduced”. i was driving around 45mph at the time of the incident."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2025-03-10
Complaint:
"engine power reduced"
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2024-12-10
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2018 chevrolet malibu. the contact stated while driving 65-70 mph and overtaking another vehicle, the vehicle decelerated to 45 mph unintendedly, with the "engine power reduced" message displayed. the contact exited the highway and continued driving. the contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring increasingly and also occurred while driving 25 mph. the dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 58,000."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2022-08-12
Complaint:
"i was driving app. 41 miles per hour in heavy friday traffic on 10/7/2022 and the check engine light lit up and the car dropped to about 20 miles per hour and would not pick up speed. the rpm was staying on about 3000. i pulled over and called my husband. we set for awhile and restarted the car and the light went off and it drove as normal"
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2022-07-10
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2018 chevrolet malibu. the contact stated while driving approximately 65 mph, the vehicle stalled, causing the power steering and power brake functionality to become inoperable. the contact stated he was unsure if any warning lights were illuminated. the contact had managed to coast off to the side of the roadway. the contact stated that several attempts were needed to restart the vehicle and he was able to drive the vehicle to his destination. the contact stated that the failure started off as an intermittent failure, but gradually had become a constant failure. the contact stated that the failure recurred and the vehicle had to be towed. the contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer on several occasions to be diagnosed; however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. additionally, the contact stated that the radio would randomly switch through the preselected stations. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer had been informed of the failure. the failure mileage was approximately 75."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2018-06-10
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2018 chevrolet malibu. the contact stated the vehicle's reduce engine warning light would illuminate at various speeds. the contact would pull over unlock then lock the vehicle in order for the vehicle's warning light to no longer illuminate and to regain proper function. while driving 75 mph when the engine warning light stating reduced speed illuminated. the mph dropped to about 25 mph. the vehicle's onstar displayed a message stating that the antilock brake system was detected and the vehicle powered off shortly after. the vehicle was towed to a certified mechanic who diagnosed that the crankshaft needed to be replaced. the vehicle had not been repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that their vehicle was not included in any recall. the failure mileage was unknown."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2022-10-04
Complaint:
"on 3 occasions, my vehicle has displayed the message “engine power is reduced.” it has 83, 990 miles. i took it to the dealership to have them check it out, but i was told they couldn’t check it because the check engine light was no longer on. this is a problem because the warning will come on, then the check engine light turns off after the car has been turn off. the chevy dealership says there is a three day wait for them to conduct a diagnostic, but what are the chances the check engine light will remain on? after having gone through this process on three separate occasions, the check engine light hasn’t appeared the next day. i have read about how others may be experiencing this problem and they do not have some resolution to this kind of problem. my wife generally drives this car, so i fear for her as she travels to and from work."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2023-07-07
Complaint:
"experienced electrical issues and engine issues since car was purchased in 2019. the car will stall randomly if stopped at a light or moving slowly in traffic. the breaks also skip when slowing down, i taken by break check and they advised the breaks where good, just had them done 2 years ago, max. i had the batteries replaced twice in the last 2 years,there is no faulty in the battery. right now my car is not working at all, the breaks became stiff while driving, constant error saying "reduced engine power". the car would turn over but it will not hold. i took it to my local mechanic, who advised he replaced all parts that could be the issue but the car still will not run right. he states it's and engine or computer issue. there are a few recalls already issued by chevy, my car was made in july of 2017, and the issues described is the exact same issues i'm having."
Components Involved: ENGINE
Date of incident: 2022-08-05

Recalls for the 2018 Chevrolet MALIBU

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"general motors llc (gm) is recalling certain 2016-2018 chevrolet malibu vehicles. during servicing, a passenger presence system (pps) may have been installed that was not correctly calibrated to the vehicle's seat type. as a result, the pps may not properly identify an adult passenger from a child passenger in the front passenger seat, potentially causing the air bag to not deploy when it should, or causing the air bag to deploy when it shouldn't."
Consequence:
In the event of a crash, improper air bag deployment can increase the risk of injury.
Remedy:

GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger PPS seat service kit, free of charge. The recall began August 7, 2018. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 18208.

Component(s) Involved: AIR BAGS > SENSOR > OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
Date of incident: 2018-06-14

CHEVROLET Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

CHEVROLET ranks 2 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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