LIVE Global accident monitoring — updating every 15 minutes
Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2020 Chevrolet Malibu — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 198 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

198
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
10
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
0
Involved Fire
owner-reported
7 / 1
Injuries / Deaths
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Chevrolet Malibu — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

923 complaints

363 complaints

270 complaints

863 complaints

725 complaints

700 complaints

192 complaints

198 complaints

90 complaints

99 complaints

71 complaints

43 complaints

11 complaints

0 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Engine 59 reports
Power Train 58 reports
Electrical System 57 reports
Service Brakes 49 reports
Unknown Or Other 44 reports
Vehicle Speed Control 18 reports
Steering 16 reports
Fuel/propulsion System 14 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Service Brakes ODI 11707950 12/31/2025

Vehicle vacuum pump failed I have changed it 4 times now. Saw there have been more cases

Engine ODI 11444814 12/23/2021

Engine Light came on before a full year of having the car. Started August 23 2021 the car will take forever to move like engine was lock up or something then when you put the car in drive it was go backwards and when you put it in reverse it will go forward. Car has a head of its own. I am pregnant I don’t feel safe In this car and this car is not safe for my baby to be in I …

Fuel System ODI 11631844 12/20/2024

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the message "Transport Mode" was suddenly displayed, and the vehicle decelerated and stalled. After restarting the vehicle, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who serviced the throttle body, but the vehicle was not fixed. The manufacturer was not …

Power Train ODI 11706146 12/19/2025

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 su…

Power Train ODI 11497994 12/19/2022

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 pu…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2020 Chevrolet Malibu, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2020 Chevrolet Malibu reliable?
Owners have filed 198 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2020 Chevrolet Malibu, most often about engine. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Chevrolet Malibu years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.