Other powertrain problem on the 2005 Chevrolet Malibu
2 crashes 2 of the 42 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 other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Chevrolet Malibu report other powertrain problem at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 22 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 141,243 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
18% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6,757 miles | 51,672 miles | 83,000 miles | 118,199 miles | 148,000 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 is 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 $400–$4,500 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 27 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 102,500 miles.
By volume the 2018 carries the most reports, with 138; the 2005 has 42. 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 own a 2005 chevrolet malibu. I have had a "clunking" of the "I" shaft since I bought the car and was told "not to worry about it". "won't hurt anything." "you can have it replaced if it becomes annoying." "is not covered under extended warranty." I have my car at a dealership right now to get the "I" shaft replaced. The shop foreman just came in and told me he has had to replace this on "several" malibus and gm has increased the cost of the "I" shaft because of so many repairs. It use to cost $90-$125. Now he tells me it will cost $150 just for the "I" shaft. He even recommended I file the complaint and see if gm will address this issue and reimburse me for the costs. If a dealer repair shop is saying there have been several cars with this problem, then gm should have corrected this issue at no cost to the consumer 5 years ago. Please help! I am a retired worker and this is killing my meager budget. *tr
At 45000 miles I noticed a popping noise in the front end (passenger side) when I made a left turn. I took it into my mechnic and he said the cv shaft was going out, but it would take awhile before it did. It didnt get worse for awhile, now at 62000, the front end has a horrible shaking, pulls to the right side, pops all the time and the tire on that side makes a weird flapping noise, it almost feels like the tire itself is out of round or something, and it is wearing smooth on the inside of the tire. I have been doing some research and it seems other malibu owners are having the exact same problems, is this a safety issue that needs to be under recall? Is gm aware of this issue? *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that while traveling 50 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated as the vehicle became unresponsive to acceleration attempts. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was advised that the vehicle had engaged into limp mode. The dealer stated that the second and third shift cylinders had also failed, indicating that the transmission would require replacing. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 119,000. *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 42 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 other powertrain problem happen on the 2005 Chevrolet Malibu?
Across 22 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2005 Chevrolet Malibu?
42 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 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