Complaint volume
188 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2020 Chevrolet Malibu Complaints
188 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Chevrolet Malibu, grouped by component category.
188 Total complaints
10 Crash reports
0 Fire reports
5 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are power train, electrical system, unknown or other. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 10 crash reports, 0 fire reports, 5 injury reports, and 1 fatality report. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 43 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 66,281 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to power train, electrical system, unknown or other?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2020 Chevrolet Malibu?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2020 Chevrolet Malibu
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2020 Chevrolet Malibu complaints?
10 Crash
0 Fire
5 Injury
1 Fatality
18 Towed
4 Medical attention
What are the most common 2020 Chevrolet Malibu complaint categories?
POWER TRAIN 26
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 20
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 18
ENGINE 14
SERVICE BRAKES 9
SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 9
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 5
POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 5
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 5
AIR BAGS 4
188 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Shift to park | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2025 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | When putting my car in park and turning the car off I get a shift to park message. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | 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? | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | 75,000 |
| Apr 2025 | POWER TRAIN | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2025 | POWER TRAIN | Park switch in gear shift is faulty | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2025 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2025 | POWER TRAIN | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2025 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 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 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2025 | SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | 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. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | 106,000 |
| Feb 2025 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | "Shift to park" error message and "engine power is reduced" error message | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2025 | STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | After parking the car says I need to shift the car into park even though it is. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2025 | POWER TRAIN | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | 31,803 |
| Jan 2025 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | “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 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2024 | FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | 180,000 |
| Dec 2024 | POWER TRAIN | Trouble going into forward gears. hard shifts into reverse. Hard idle, had transmission valve body replaced in october. Same issues before and after replacement | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2024 | POWER TRAIN | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | 75,000 |
| Dec 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 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. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 3 Towed Medical attention | 57,000 |
| Dec 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Shift to park detected when I have gear in park | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES | I am writing to formally report a critical safety issue with my 2020 Chevrolet Malibu, which resulted in a severe accident and posed significant risks to my safety and the safety of The issue involves the brake vacuum pump, which failed while I was driving. The component is currently with the vehicle, which is stored in a parking facility, and is available for inspection upon request. The failure of the brake vacuum pump caused a sudden and complete loss of braking power while I was driving. This malfunction put my life and the lives of others at immediate risk. On the first occasion, in April, I narrowly avoided a serious collision. Four weeks later, I experienced a second instance of brake vacuum failure, which led to a severe accident. The inability to stop the vehicle safely was directly caused by this malfunction. I contacted General Motors (GM) in April 2024 to report the initial brake vacuum failure. At that time, the issue had not yet been reproduced or inspected by a dealer or service center. Following the accident, I have been unable to confirm whether GM or any other party has The vehicle and component have not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, or insurance representatives since the accident. I reported the issue to GM prior to the accident, but they have not provided any assistance or resolution. Prior to the initial brake vacuum failure in April, I did not observe any warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms indicating a potential problem. The failure occurred suddenly and without warning, making it impossible to anticipate or avoid. This situation is incredibly distressing, and I believe the brake vacuum pump defect poses a serious threat to public safety. I urge the NHTSA to investigate this issue thoroughly and take any necessary steps to ensure the safety of other drivers who may be at risk. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Nov 2024 | POWER TRAIN | Shift to park issue . When the car is shifted to park, the system does not recognize the car is in park mode even though the stick is in Park. It starts beeping and that dash board screen shows SHIFT to PARK. It happened several times in October 2024. The dealer says it does not cover under the warranty and it has on 20000 miles and bought in 2021. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | Faulty Vacuum pump caused catastrophic engine failure. The vacuum pump exploded cracking the cam shaft sending metal shards into the engine. $12000.00 to repair and mechanic will guarantee the work because the replacement vacuum is an only OEM part. I was having braking problems prior to the vacuum pump failing. The brakes would intermittently freeze up and I couldn't get the car stop and had to use the emergency braking system to stop vehicle. Car is still at shop I can't afford the repair and I'm am still paying finance company for car. I have a disabled child and am low income. This has put hardship on me as I live in an area that does not provide public transportation. I don't know what to do. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |