Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Malibu
When ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Chevrolet Malibu report ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 23rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 75,800 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.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40,000 miles | 98,000 miles | 100,000 miles | 107,000 miles | 115,800 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
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,500 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 22 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 carries the most reports, with 64; the 2006 has 11. 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.
Tl- the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated while traveling to approach a stop or when a turn was made the steering wheel was extremely hard to turn. The electric power steering failed intermittently. The contact had to apply force to turn the wheel. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who replaced the steering column and the ignition switch. The failure recurred and the contact was not able to turn the key to start the ignition along with the vehicle stalling intermittently. The anti-theft sensor illuminated, service engine sensor and a lock symbol on the radio continued to illuminate. The radio was not working. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact was not included in NHTSA campaign id number: 14v153000 (steering). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 98,000. Dyd
Tl- the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated while traveling to approach a stop or when a turn was made the steering wheel was extremely hard to turn. The electric power steering failed intermittently. The contact had to apply force to turn the wheel. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who replaced the steering column and the ignition switch. The failure recurred and the contact was not able to turn the key to start the ignition along with the vehicle stalling intermittently. The anti-theft sensor illuminated, service engine sensor and a lock symbol on the radio continued to illuminate. The radio was not working. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact was not included in NHTSA campaign id number: 14v153000 (steering). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 98,000. Dyd
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that when attempting to start the vehicle, the key would remain in the start position while still in the ignition switch. The contact stated that in order to resume normal operation the vehicle had to be shut down and restarted. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
Also reported on the 2006 Chevrolet Malibu
Other steering problem
Loss of power steering
Steering column or shaft failure
Other electrical problem
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 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 ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure happen on the 2006 Chevrolet Malibu?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 100,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2006 Chevrolet Malibu?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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