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What the official records show
For the 2018 Chevrolet Malibu, the NHTSA complaint API returned 694 unique owner complaint records across the catalog variants MALIBU when Car Trouble Lab captured this dataset. Those records included 23 reports marked as involving a crash and 4 marked as involving a fire. Injury and death fields summed to 17 injuries and 0 deaths. The NHTSA recalls API returned 6 distinct safety campaigns, including 18V358000, 18V400000, 18V576000, and 19V642000. The captured component evidence profile was ENGINE: 278 tags (40% of unique complaint records), 3 crash-marked, 1 fire-marked, and 2 reported injuries; ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 191 tags (28% of unique complaint records), 2 crash-marked, 2 fire-marked, and 0 reported injuries; POWER TRAIN: 168 tags (24% of unique complaint records), 3 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 1 reported injuries; VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL: 111 tags (16% of unique complaint records), 3 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 2 reported injuries; FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM: 84 tags (12% of unique complaint records), 1 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 1 reported injuries. The campaign evidence profile was 18V358000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP; received 31/05/2018); 18V400000 (AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION; received 14/06/2018); 18V576000 (SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:DISC:CALIPER; received 30/08/2018); 19V642000 (ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:SOFTWARE; received 06/09/2019); 20V668000 (POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION; received 29/10/2020). These are reported-record counts, not a measured failure rate and not a diagnosis of any individual vehicle.
SOURCES
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Consumer Complaints · primary source
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Recalls · primary source
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How to interpret the pattern
The most frequently assigned complaint component categories in this captured query were ENGINE (278), ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (191), POWER TRAIN (168), VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL (111), and FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM (84). Adjacent captured model years reported 2017: 721 complaints and 4 campaigns; 2019: 188 complaints and 1 campaigns. These comparisons are raw record totals, not exposure-adjusted rates. One complaint can carry more than one component tag, so category counts should not be added to reproduce the total complaint count. Too few usable positive mileage values were present to publish a median. NHTSA complaint records are owner-submitted and may be incomplete, duplicated before ODI-number deduplication, or unverified. A high count can also reflect how many vehicles were sold and how long they have been on the road. Use this page to choose inspection questions, not to label every 2018 Chevrolet Malibu defective.
methodology
What to check next
Start with the categories that repeat most often, then compare the complaint description and warning symptoms with the actual vehicle rather than ordering a part from a category label. Check the full 17-character VIN in NHTSA's official recall lookup because a model-year campaign list cannot tell whether a particular vehicle is included or whether its remedy was completed. Preserve diagnostic trouble codes and freeze-frame data before clearing them, ask for repair invoices, and obtain a qualified inspection when a symptom affects braking, steering, restraint systems, fire risk, or drivability. Car Trouble Lab does not determine whether a vehicle is safe to drive.