Federal complaint record · Chevrolet Malibu · model year 2009

2009 Chevrolet Malibu

Owners submitted 1,509 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 89th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2007 to 2011 midsize sedan cohort. The largest reported component group is steering. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Steering · 33% · group n = 768Electrical · 16% · group n = 368Stability control · 11% · group n = 255Lighting · 7% · group n = 173Brakes · 7% · group n = 153
1,509
Complaint records on file
100,000
Median mileage at the reported problem · 1,195 complaints reported mileage
33%
Of classified component reports name steering · group n = 768
89th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 50 model years

Steering · 3 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Steering33%

Steering reports

Chevrolet Malibu · model year 2009

Reports in this group768
Share of classified reports33%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

Adjacent model years · same badge, different data

The complaint signal has a shape

Compare model years
2008
0.4complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
987 matched incidents
This car
2009
0.6complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
1,509 matched incidents
2010
0.5complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
1,357 matched incidents

The line compares submitted complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years, not failures per 1,000 cars. Vehicle-years use compiled US sales, a 0.25 prior-calendar-year plus 0.75 current-calendar-year model-year allocation, and the shipped survival curve. Rates appear only where estimated vehicles in operation are at least 5,000.

From the record · recurring narrative clusters

What recurring complaint clusters describe

How clusters are built
Steering effort · 608 reports

Reports describe steering effort or control concerns

Cluster 1 of 32009 Chevrolet Malibu
Brake performance · 218 reports

Reports describe braking performance concerns

Cluster 2 of 32009 Chevrolet Malibu
Loss of propulsion · 86 reports

Reports describe reduced power or hesitation while driving

Cluster 3 of 32009 Chevrolet Malibu

Cluster summaries paraphrase recurring symptoms reported to NHTSA. They are aggregate descriptions, not individual verbatim reports.

Records through 2026-07-19Published 2026-08-02 · Updated 2026-07-19

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NHTSA consumer complaint records can reveal recurring patterns across published model years. MotorCensus summarizes those records as one complaint-signal index, with a 95% interval and sample size, updated with each data snapshot.

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