What 689 owners told NHTSA about the 2018 Chevrolet Malibu Eco

While driving o Leo noticed temp gauge going up. Pulled into a parking area. All my antifreeze had drained through a hole in the lower radiator hose. It had worn through because it was against a pully.

NHTSA ODI 11455061

When the check engine light initially comes on, the car will go into "reduced engine power mode" which will decrease the power and speed of the car, forcing me to pull over and turn the car off and restart. This is a hazard to myself and other drivers especially when on the highway, driving at higher speeds. There has been an investigation in to GM where it was found that a few other models have this issue. This happens every time I have something repaired and the light comes back on, which has been twice in the past month. The first time this happened, I had the repair done and it was fine for a while. After the car has been off for a while and the light is still on when I start my car, for the most part the car is no longer in this mode, but it can come back on at any time.

NHTSA ODI 11454056

engine shuts off with out warning. shuts completely off sitting a stop light and has to be put in park and restarted. shuts of in drive through and scared it will begin doing while traveling down the highway. no warning lights or nothing on. was told at dealer if not doing all the time or there was no light on indicating a failure that there was nothing could be done. very dangerous problem

NHTSA ODI 11453467

We have had this car since 2020 & frequently the "reduced engine power" warning comes on & the car will not/or very slowly accellortate. Along with the engine light on.We have hooked it up to a computer many times but nothing solves the issue. Lately it has been staying on constantly. Huge safety risk as my two children are in the car daily & we do take main roads/highways! When this comes on, the car will not remote start as well, also this is random in doing so, it has came on when I 1st start the car in the morning, while driving at 35mph, stopped at a light, or turn on any time I turn the car on. Doing some research and many others have had issues as well as their engines giving out at 60,000 milles (ours is at 57,000) & nothing resolved for them either. This is a huge safety issue and needs recalled. Us malibu owners should not have to pay to get this looked at constantly nor worry about owing on a car that could give out at any given time. We keep maintenance up on our car and this is the only constant issue we have that cannot be fixed.

NHTSA ODI 11453534

My car always go in engine power reduce mode.

NHTSA ODI 11453258

The vacuum pump on my vehicle has gone out for the 3rd time in 2.5 years. This creates a safety issue as that the brakes stop working and it takes an extreme amount of pressure for the car to stop. This has occurred once on the freeway and twice in heavy traffic areas. This could cause an accident and potentially seriously hurt or kill someone. This has occurred once before the engine was replaced and twice since it's been replaced.

NHTSA ODI 11452088

Shift to park

NHTSA ODI 11451623

When the car shuts off at a red light and starts back up after u take your foot off the break, it has a stalling problem. Sitting at a light, the radio was still playing. Once it was time to drive and I took my foot off the break, the car was stuck. I had to turn the car off and turn it back on in order to drive it. That is very dangerous because I was in the middle of traffic. If the car behind me suddenly moved over the car behind them could have hit me from the back, I have a 5 year old in the backseat. This should be a recall problem. Other 2018 chevys have this problem as well but my model for some reason is not on the recall list.

NHTSA ODI 11451560

As I was driving down the highway at 60 mph the road was clear at the time of any debris my car suddenly had two lights on the dashboard. On the left was the traction control light and the right side was the engine light. On my computer display was the words “reduced engine speed”. My car suddenly slowed from 60 to about 30 mph in a matter of seconds. It was like I had slammed my brakes. This all happened simultaneously I attempted to pull over safety and turn the car off and restart it. The lights remained on. My car was not able to get over 27 mph There was no warning what so ever If anyone would have been behind me I would have been rear ended At this time I took it to a mechanic who put it on the computer it was coded at the pedal position sensor. He was able to save the code, clear it so I was able to drive the car and advised to drive it locally for a while in case it would do it again as it is unsafe. The closest Chevy dealer is over an hour away from my town and at the time of day it was not safe to drive the car to the dealership for confirmation.

NHTSA ODI 11450059

Vehicle continually throws reduced engine power code which includes while traveling at high speeds and winter weather. Vehicle resets once powered off to throw a code sometimes again immediately or within a short period of time rendering the vehicle virtually unusable. Difficult to get to a safe spot to turn vehicle off to attempt to re-set. This puts occupants in danger of being rear ended, stuck in snow/mud or hit from behind while pulled over trying to reset vehicle. This has been an ongoing problem since purchasing the car new. Was fixed under warrant once. Fix didn’t last long and have continuously had issues

NHTSA ODI 11449445

Driving on my way to work and the check engine light came on with the traction control light. A message was displayed that said the engine’s power was reduced.. My speed also decreased to about 20-25 MPH and it was hard trying to get it back about that without the car sounding all funny.

NHTSA ODI 11448572

My 2018 Chevy Malibu has been working fine then all of a sudden the warning light came on and the message warning light read ENGINE POWER REDUCED While I was driving on the freeway at 60 mph dropping my speed to 25mph instincts told me to pull over, so I did! Then I tried to drive again still no power it was like a strong pullback! So I again pulled over and turned my car engine off! Let it sit a few hours before driving up to local automotive parts store to use the ODII code reader and it read the code P2138 Throttle/ Pedal Position Sensor Correlation The part to order is $120.00 I am not able to get it today so I googythe problem and found out that this is a possible RECALL ??!!??

NHTSA ODI 11448671

I was driving on a crowded city street in St. Louis and my car suddenly reduced power and I saw a message on my dash that said Engine Power Reduced! I could not go faster than 15 miles an hour and had to pull into a gas station. I restarted my car and still had the message. I restarted again and the check engine light was still on, but I was able to drive at a normal speed. My concern is that I was a short distance from getting on a busy interstate highway and it could have happened while I was on the highway and could have been struck by a car.

NHTSA ODI 11448700

I have owned this vehicle for 3 months now, since week two "ENGINE POWER REDUCED" HAS BEEN A BIG PROBLEM FOR ME I TOOK IT IN TO MISSION BAY CHEVY IN SAN DIEGO THE PROBLEM WENT FROM EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE TO NON STOP. I WAS UABLE TO GET AN ANSWER FROM THEM IN WEEKS. FINALLY I WENT BACK TO THE INDEPENDENT DEALERSHIP I PURCHASED THE VEHICLE FROM 4X TO FIX THIS PROBLEM. AND IT KEEPS COMMING BACK AFTER DAYS. IM PAYING $500 MONTHLY FOR THIS CAR AND IM RUNNIN GOUT OF OPTIONS THIS IS CAUSING MY VEHICLE TO REDUCE POWER ON THE FREE WAY AT SPEED OF 23MPH TO 35MPH. THERE WAS ALREADY A CLASSACTION LAW SUITE FOR THIS PROBLEM. AND I CAN NOT AFFORD TO KEEP GETTING IT FIXED ITS CLEARLY A DEFECT THAT KEEPS COMING BACK, I HAVE READ SEVERAL CONSUMER REPORTS WITH THE SAME ISSUE. I NEED A FUNCTIONING CAR AND I DONT KNOW WHERE ELSE TO TURN

NHTSA ODI 11448478

My daughter was driving and the engine power is reduced message appeared on her dashboard. Once it appeared she couldn’t go more than 20 miles an hour and this is dangerous.

NHTSA ODI 11447972

Driver seat not moving. This rode came out of the bottom of seat that causes the seat to move front to back. The the left side the seat moves

NHTSA ODI 11447245

Reduced power mode warning came on and 3 seconds later I went from 70mph to 10mph on a freeway and could only do about 10 from that point on, the accident that was avoided would have been deadly if I wasn’t in the right lane to immediately pull over Took it to the mechanic and he said that there’s a recall that the dealership REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE even tho we got a reading of #n1-82188250-01 told the manufacturer and there fixing it Monday My question is why has this not been recalled?? I do not feel safe, I do not want this car I WANT THIS PROBLEM ACKNOWLEDGED by ppl who care and can do something, what is Chevy waiting for someone to die before this is addressed??? This is so criminal put a RECALL OUT

NHTSA ODI 11446619

I am driving and all of a sudden car "reduces power" and won't let me go over 20 mph. Sometimes it dies completely even on the highway. Out if no where, it shows "Reduced Engine Power" on the dash and won't go over 20 mph. This has almost caused a few accidents with my baby in the backseat, too. This has happened several times

NHTSA ODI 11446468

Vehicle jerks when accelerating. Loses power. Usually will stop after turning the car off for a few minutes. Different engine codes have came up (camshaft position timer, air intake system) no one can seem to find the problem

NHTSA ODI 11446333

A few days after I got my in October 2018 my car did not start! I pressed the push start and it turned on but wouldn’t “start.” It went back to normal shortly after that but then randomly “steering issues” started happening. THEN my car would LITERALLY STOP at lights and take a minute to turn back on. Or I would be trying to get speed and my CAR WOULD NOT GO. Do you know how unsafe that made me feel especially having a 5 year old and 2 year (when it happen in the last they where obviously 3 and a new born) but it was scary. The check engine light comes on and off. And TODAY MY CAR did what it do a here and there it shut off… and then on a BUSY road WOULD NOT GO. I had to sit and wait until my family could help push my 2 year old car off the busy road with my 2 babies in the car. It was horrible. Im paying so much for a car I CONSISTENTLY have issues with. Im scared to drive my own car. Now im being told my car needs a new battery, a weird part is needing to be replaced. I have had the same issues taken it to the shop and told everything is good. Oil changes kept up etc. everyone I know that has a Malibu has issues with their Malibu’s

NHTSA ODI 11445888

While driving engine warning function low power. Would not accelerate above 20mph. Defective accelerator pedal assembly and sensor.

NHTSA ODI 11445341

My vehicle had the reduced power dash warning and check engine light on while I was driving down the interstate at 65 I lost my power speed reduced to 45 and my stability light came on as well it could have caused a serious accident had it been day time with traffic flying at 70 to 75 mph rear ending me I was able to get off the freeway safely last night when the incident occurred and safely make it to a parking lot there doesn’t seem to be a current recall on my car with my vin number at this time but it is a year and model that has known issues also the other issue is vehicle not registering into park even when I put shifter in park possibility is a loose shifter cable

NHTSA ODI 11444653

Driving on I20 in heavy traffic all doing 75MPH the car lost all power.Although I had plenty of gas it did no good pumping the gas pedal .Fortunatly I was in the left lane and coasted to the shoulder before anyone collided with me. If I was in the right lane I am sure a collision would have occured as traffic would not have allowed me to get to the shoulder.After several hours I got towed 70 miles to the dealership.There was absolutely no warning of a problem prior to the incident. According to the dealership the fuel pump sensor shorted out and no gas could get to the engine.The car is still at the dealers as they have not gotten the backlogged part to repair the vehicle

NHTSA ODI 11444565

Driving at a speed 55-65 engine power being reduced light comes on and vehicle slows to about 40 speed while engine light is on. It goes in and out like this for days then it does it again. Vehicle was repaired at Chevy dealer 3/18/21. Now it’s doing it again.

NHTSA ODI 11444485

Fuel injectors went out on my car I had no power to drive

NHTSA ODI 11444514