Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2005 Chevrolet Malibu
2 crashes 1 fire 2 injuries 2 deaths 7 of the 33 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Chevrolet Malibu report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 82,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 52,500 miles and a quarter after 185,000 miles, from 28 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 15th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 202,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 164,780 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38,920 miles | 53,500 miles | 81,835 miles | 185,445 miles | 203,700 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash, 1 a fire, 2 an injury and 2 a fatality are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $700–$3,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 24 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2013 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 97; the 2005 has 33. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I was driving on the highway when I smelt a smoke smell then about a min later flames started rolling from under the dash. The fd was called and the stated that he believed it came from behind the airbag compartment. Earlier in the day the heater control module was replaced under warranty at randy reed chevy, saint joseph missouri 816.232.7704 the fire caused total loss to the car. *nm
Driving down the nj turnpike the warning bell chimed and a message stating "power steering" came up. At that point my power steering failed. Once I arrived at my destination and turned the car off and on again, the power steering once again engaged. However on the return trip, with my 82 year old mother in the car the power steering once again failed. Dealer informed me that there was a failure of the power steering control module/motor assembly and electrical. Chevrolet has acknowledged a failure of the power steering in this model, this year and within the range that this VIN falls. However the technical service bulletin only applies if the failure is within the steering column. According to the regional manager I spoke with, the chevrolet warranty dept. Feels that this problem is just one of the issues you will face when owning a car!!! Total and complete failure of the power steering system with no warning and no maintenance ever is just one of those things??? *tw *tr
Driving down the nj turnpike the warning bell chimed and a message stating "power steering" came up. At that point my power steering failed. Once I arrived at my destination and turned the car off and on again, the power steering once again engaged. However on the return trip, with my 82 year old mother in the car the power steering once again failed. Dealer informed me that there was a failure of the power steering control module/motor assembly and electrical. Chevrolet has acknowledged a failure of the power steering in this model, this year and within the range that this VIN falls. However the technical service bulletin only applies if the failure is within the steering column. According to the regional manager I spoke with, the chevrolet warranty dept. Feels that this problem is just one of the issues you will face when owning a car!!! Total and complete failure of the power steering system with no warning and no maintenance ever is just one of those things??? *tw *tr
Also reported on the 2005 Chevrolet Malibu
Other steering problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Other lighting problem
Loss of power steering
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 33 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2005 Chevrolet Malibu?
Across 28 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 82,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 52,500 miles and a quarter after 185,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2005 Chevrolet Malibu?
33 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed