Federal complaint record · Chevrolet Malibu · model year 2016

2016 Chevrolet Malibu

Owners submitted 835 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 77th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2014 to 2018 midsize sedan cohort. The largest reported component group is engine. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Engine · 21% · group n = 303Electrical · 16% · group n = 223Other · 12% · group n = 176Powertrain · 12% · group n = 166Speed control · 11% · group n = 152
835
Complaint records on file
50,000
Median mileage at the reported problem · 522 complaints reported mileage
21%
Of classified component reports name engine · group n = 303
77th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 50 model years

Engine · 2 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Engine21%

Engine reports

Chevrolet Malibu · model year 2016

Reports in this group303
Share of classified reports21%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

Adjacent model years · same badge, different data

The complaint signal has a shape

Compare model years
2015
0.1complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
267 matched incidents
This car
2016
0.4complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
835 matched incidents
2017
0.4complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
698 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
Brake performance · 114 reports

Reports describe braking performance concerns

Cluster 1 of 32016 Chevrolet Malibu
Stalling or shutdown · 95 reports

Reports describe the vehicle stalling or shutting off while driving

Cluster 2 of 32016 Chevrolet Malibu
Warning indicators · 70 reports

Reports describe warning lights before service

Cluster 3 of 32016 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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