What 191 owners told NHTSA about the 2020 Chevrolet Malibu Eco

Brake pedal hardened due to vacuum pump

NHTSA ODI 11670384

P1101 AIR FLOW SYSTEM! I replacement almost every things ,but still have the p1101 code Park to Shift!

NHTSA ODI 11668551

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

NHTSA ODI 11667903

Shift to park

NHTSA ODI 11665500

When putting my car in park and turning the car off I get a shift to park message.

NHTSA ODI 11664982

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.

NHTSA ODI 11663888

I was driving in the interstate at about 4pm on May 16th and the check engine light came on. Thus is nothing new because since I bought the car on Feb. 14th, 2024 the check engine light is on about 75% of the time. I went to use my brakes and the pedal was hard as a rock. I had to use both feet to depress the pedal to get the car to slow down. I brought the car to Autozone and they did a scan and it showed the Power Brake Booster Vacuum Sensor needed replacement. I ordered it and had a friend who is a mechanic replace it and the problem still persisted. My friend thought it was the Power Brake Booster Vacuum Pump. I ordered it and he replaced it and the brakes are back to normal. My research regarding this has found that his is a VERY common issue with this vehicle which has lead to costly repairs for many people and has resulted in a class action lawsuit. This is a SERIOUS safety issue! When a person can’t hardly press their brakes when driving that endangers the lives of the driver, the occupants of the car and every other person on the road. Why do we have to wait for people to be killed before this is fixed?

NHTSA ODI 11663572

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake pedal was depressed and traveled to the floorboard. The contact engaged the parking brake to stop the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the vacuum pump had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.

NHTSA ODI 11656048

When putting the vehicle into park, the vehicle says it is still not into park even though we shift it into park. The vehicle will roll down a grade.

NHTSA ODI 11653386

Park switch in gear shift is faulty

NHTSA ODI 11652506

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.

NHTSA ODI 11651001

I had a constant message when turning off the car to shift to park. When the car was off, it would say shift to park on my screen. Apparently there is a recall for this, but my VIN number was not included in the recall. I had Several instances where I had been driving and my brakes locked up, and it caused my car to stall out. I would have to turn my car off and back on and sometimes it would work and that message would go away to shift to park. I eventually had to get a new transmission on a four-year-old car.

NHTSA ODI 11648844

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

NHTSA ODI 11648208

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving at 40 MPH, the vehicle decelerated to 15 MPH, and the brake pedal was depressed, but the vehicle failed to stop immediately. The vehicle crashed into a building before coming to a stop. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The air bags did not deploy. The contact shifted the transmission to park (P) and turned off the vehicle. When the contact attempted to restart the vehicle, the brake pedal was extremely firm and unable to depress. The vehicle failed to restart. Several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact did not sustain any injuries, and medical attention was not received. There was no police report filed. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was determined that the vacuum brake booster and camshaft needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 106,000.

NHTSA ODI 11646026

"Shift to park" error message and "engine power is reduced" error message

NHTSA ODI 11644621

After parking the car says I need to shift the car into park even though it is.

NHTSA ODI 11644414

My car is in Park. But the dash board is flashing Shift to park. I need to turn it off and on multiple times until it finally stops. I can not lock my car if this is happening and I can’t just let it go because it will drain my battery.

NHTSA ODI 11638965

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the shift-to-park warning light was illuminated. The contact shifted the gear shifter until the warning light turned off. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed transmission shifter assembly. The contact was informed that the transmission shifter assembly needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 31,803.

NHTSA ODI 11634421

Malibu displays “shift to park” message because of a known issue with the electronic shifter. The shifter fails to detect when the vehicle is properly in park, requiring adjustments until the system recognizes the correct gear position. Informed by dealer to just move gear shift back and forth until message clears then can turn off vehicle. This can take up to 10-15 minutes. Also advised to keep emergency break on or vehicle could roll away!!! Apparently this is a known issue per the mechanic. Said the electronic shifter may or may not resolve this and if it doesn't resolve the problem can also affect the transmission.

NHTSA ODI 11634445

“shift to park” message appears after car has already been shifted to park. Will not allow car to be turned off as the car thinks it’s still not in park. Known issue with earlier models of the malibu that warranted a recall of models 2019 and before. Seems like this is a continued issue in the 2020 model

NHTSA ODI 11633722

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 notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 180,000.

NHTSA ODI 11631844

Trouble going into forward gears. hard shifts into reverse. Hard idle, had transmission valve body replaced in october. Same issues before and after replacement

NHTSA ODI 11630078

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that upon parking and attempting to turn off the vehicle, the message "Shift to Park" was displayed while the gear shifter was already in park(P). The contact stated that upon shifting out of park(P) and shifting back to park(P) several times, the vehicle failed to respond as needed, and the failure persisted. The contact stated that upon researching the failure online, the contact became aware that it was a common failure and that the battery needed to be disconnected. The contact disconnected the battery. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

NHTSA ODI 11629833

The contact owns a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH and approaching a stop light the braking system malfunctioned when pressing the brake pedal causing the vehicle to crash into the rear of a second vehicle. The contact indicated that the vehicle did not reduce speed when pressing the brake pedal and the collision avoidance feature did not activate. A police report was taken at the scene. The police officer also confirmed no skid marks at the crash site. During the crash, the contact sustained injuries to the left arm and right shoulder that did not require medical attention. Both the driver and front seat passenger of the second vehicle sustained undisclosed injuries and were transported to the hospital. The vehicle was towed away and later deemed destroyed by the insurance company. The cause of the failure has not yet been determined. The manufacturer was notified of the incident. The local dealer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 57,000.

NHTSA ODI 11629724

Shift to park detected when I have gear in park

NHTSA ODI 11628415