The Chevrolet Malibu is a car with an interesting history. One of the older lines still in production today, the Malibu dates back to 1964, when it was actually a trim level of the Chevy Chevelle. These early Malibus, made from 1964 to 1972, remain a hallmark of car meetups and lowrider culture, especially in Southern California. A ’65 Malibu convertible with chrome rims is right in its element on a beach in Los Angeles County, blasting oldies music.
By the fourth generation, which debuted in 1978, the Malibu replaced the Chevelle with a dramatic redesign. The new Malibu was a foot shorter and up to 1,000 pounds lighter, while actually offering more headroom and cargo space. Station wagon, sedan and coupe designs were offered, with the four-door models becoming very popular in fleet service. After Chevrolet ceased Chevy Nova production in ’79, the 9C1 Malibu became one of the most popular police cars in the country.
In 1981, the Iraqi government ordered 25,500 specially made Chevy Malibus for $100 million, featuring three-speed manual transmission and a 110 hp V6 engine. Conflict in the Middle East would ultimately cut these plans short, but not before 13,000 units made it to Iraq, mostly of which were used as taxis in Baghdad. Today, the “Iraqi Taxi” model is something of a collector’s item amongst Chevy fans. Good luck getting your hands on one, but if you do, you’ll have a truly rare piece of machinery in your collection.
The Malibu has undergone a number of substantial body redesigns from its debut in the 1960s. From the bulky, luxurious classic car look of the first generation to the power car stylings of later iterations and the late-’70s sedan look of the fourth generation, if you compare any one Malibu to another, you might not even guess that they’re the same car line.
By the fifth generation, which debuted in 1997, reviving the brand almost 20 years after its retirement in the early 1980s, the car started to look a little more like the sleek, rounded-edge model we have today, and by 2011, the modern Malibu was really taking shape.
The Seventh Generation
The 2011 Malibu was a part of the seventh generation of the line, which began with the 2008 model. Bryan Nesbitt, now the head of General Motors, redesigned the car under the direction of Robert Lutz, vice chairman of GM. The aim was to create a new Malibu that could compete with the Japanese mid-sized cars that were becoming more popular in the U.S. at the time.
The plan turned out to be a success. While the 2007 Malibu reported strong year-end sales of 128,312 in the U.S., the 2008 reached 178,253 units sold. The 2011 model proved even more popular, hitting 204,808 sales in the U.S. in total.
The seventh generation Malibu was a hit with drivers and a hit with critics, as well. Motor Trend rated it above the Honda Accord and Nissan Altima for 2008’s “Car of the Year”; and Kelley Blue Book named the 2008 Malibu the “best redesign of the year.” Car and Driver suggested it might steal the market right out from under Honda and Toyota, and it wrote that the new redesign would make the car a much more popular civilian vehicle. Malibu sales had, in previous generations, been sold to become part of taxi fleets, police departments and delivery services.
The 2014 Recalls
One of the remarkable things about the 2011 Chevrolet Malibu is just how few recalls it’s had, with just four active recalls listed with the NHTSA right now. For a 9-year-old car (as of summer 2020), you generally expect the list to be a little longer. Then again, you could say they’ve been working on the Malibu for more than 50 years now. While no carmaker may ever achieve true perfection, we have to admit that Chevy came pretty close with the 2011 Malibu.
13036
The 2011 Malibu’s first recall came on May 14, 2014, and it affected an estimated 2,440,524 units, including 2004‒2012 Malibus, as well as the 2004‒2007 Pontiac G6 and the 2007‒2010 Saturn Aura. This recall had to do with the electrical system and the brake lights.
To explain the recall in brief: The brake lights had a tendency to turn on and off at random, which could be, at the very least, confusing for other drivers, and it could result in a rear-end collision.
If you’re interested in the mechanical details of the recall, it breaks down like this: The Brake Apply Sensor was liable to experience voltage fluctuation thanks to increased resistance in the Body Control Module connection. This would cause the brake lights to, at times, illuminate even when the brake pedal was not being pushed, and at other times, fail to illuminate when the pedal was being pushed. The electrical issues also resulted in the driver having difficulty in managing cruise control and moving the gear shift out of park.
And if you know much about electrical systems in cars, you know that’s just for starters. Basically, the whole electrical system was unreliable because of the defect in the BCM connection.
General Motors issued recall number 13036 and began making inspections and repairs on August 18, 2014, notifying owners to contact GM through the Chevrolet help line at 1-800-222-1020, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at 1-888-327-4236.
Dorman Products Recall
The 2011 Malibu’s second recall was actually not issued by GM, but by Dorman Products, Inc., a company that supplied replacement steering shafts for 2004‒2012 Malibus, 2005‒2010 Pontiac G6s, and 2007‒2009 Saturn Auras.
The specific part numbers were 425-167, 2325167 and 7-3073. This affected a potential 7,304 units, and it threatened to provide inadequate steering shaft support for the U-joint bearing, which could result in the steering wheel becoming totally unusable.
Dorman Products issued the recall and began making replacements at their own expense starting in September 2014, instructing owners to contact Dorman at 1-800-523-2492.
The 2015 Recall
The 2011 Chevy Malibu had only one recall in 2015.
15031
Affecting an estimated 437,045 potential 2011‒2012 Malibus produced from April 8, 2010 to October 11, 2012, this recall concerned the steel cables connecting the seat belts to the vehicle itself. The cable had a tendency to slip under the passenger, which means the passenger could sit on it. Over time, it could bend it out of shape and make it more prone to snapping.
Of course, a steel cable won’t last forever with or without someone sitting on it, but the precarious position of the cable meant that the cables could snap prematurely.
GM issued recall number 15031 and began conducting inspections and replacements for the outboard lap anchor mounting bracket starting on November 16, 2015.
The 2019 Recall
The year 2019 saw what would be perhaps the most severe recall for the 2011 Chevrolet Malibu. Fortunately, it didn’t affect that many units.
N182206630
Affecting an estimated 1,145 potential 2010‒2011 Chevrolet Malibus, this recall concerned the driver side front airbag. In the event of an accident, the airbag inflater had the potential to explode because of too much pressure.
In movies, we often see airbags inflate almost gently, as if a feather pillow exploded softly. The reality is that an airbag pops open with incredible force. Airbags are intended to protect full-sized humans, who could weigh upwards of 200 pounds, who are moving at 60 miles an hour or more. You only have a couple feet and a few seconds to break the impact, so while an airbag is softer than a dashboard, it’s not exactly a soft landing. The pressure required has to be carefully calculated, and getting just a few psi off in either direction can be disastrous. In this instance, overpressurization threatened to result in the inflater itself exploding.
GM issued recall number N182206630 and began making inspections and replacements on February 25, 2019.
How Do Chevrolets Rate on Recalls?
According to data from 2016, the industry average is 1,115 recalls per 1,000 cars sold. That means that cars are essentially guaranteed to be recalled at some point in the future. But General Motors comes in at just 958 recalls per thousand cars. Porsche holds the top spot with just 531 recalls per thousand cars, but GM ranks comfortably within the top 10 for least-recalled vehicles.
Most drivers will receive a recall notification at some time or other. It’s simply part of the process. Your carmaker will do plenty of testing before releasing a new vehicle, but at a certain point, you’re going to run out of data that you can collect in a lab setting. Certain defects won’t become apparent until you have thousands of cars on the road for an extended period of time.
The seat belt recall is a good example of just such a defect. In a testing environment, it’s unlikely that anyone is going to notice that the seat belt cable is being sat on, and therefore, it might weaken after a few years of regular use. Once the car is out in the wild, however, the defect becomes obvious.
With that in mind, it’s unsurprising that the industry average is almost 1:1 for cars sold and cars recalled, and it’s impressive that Chevrolets have actually beaten the odds. Perhaps not by an incredibly wide margin, but if you buy a new Chevy, there is a chance that you’ll never have to take your car in for repairs owing to a factory recall. You probably wouldn’t want to bet big money on it, but if you did, your odds would be better than average, and certainly better than betting on, say, a Volkswagen, which have a recall rate of 1,805 per thousand cars sold, meaning that not only is every vehicle nearly guaranteed to be recalled, but that every vehicle is nearly guaranteed to be recalled twice.
How Does the 2011 Stack up to Other Malibus on Recalls?
The Chevrolet Malibu has always been a pretty dependable car with relatively few recalls, and the 2011 model performs roughly on average to slightly above average when compared to other Malibus produced over the last decade or so. The 2012 model has three recalls on record with the NHTSA since launch, and the 2008 has five. After nine years of service, you have to expect a few recalls to stack up, but the 2011’s relatively low four recalls is pretty impressive.
One outlier for recent models is the 2016 Malibu, which has had nine recalls in roughly half as many years on the road as the 2011, including recalls for relatively minor issues, such as potential failure of the seat belt audio warning; to potentially severe concerns, like multiple airbag-related recalls.
If you’re taking recalls into consideration while selecting a used car, the Malibu generally performs above-average in that regard, while the 2011 Malibu is especially dependable.
Of course, safety recalls remain valid throughout the lifetime of a car, and repairs are conducted at the carmaker’s expense. So if you look up your VIN number and find that you have a few repairs pending, you should have no trouble in getting those notifications addressed.
