Other fuel system problem on the 2010 Chevrolet Malibu
When other fuel system problem gets reported
Owners of the 2010 Chevrolet Malibu report other fuel system problem at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 30th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 25,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 90,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 64,247 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.
22% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25,810 miles | 42,000 miles | 53,500 miles | 75,000 miles | 90,057 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 $300–$2,200 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 23 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2015, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 155,000 miles.
By volume the 2018 carries the most reports, with 67; the 2010 has 13. 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 traveling at 40 miles per hour. I wanted to accelerate. I pushed the gas pedal down to the floor. The car did not respond . I could not accelerate. I did it twice, car did not accelerate.
Our 2010 chevy malibu vehicle has been stalling on the hwy and in the city, regardless of the speed limit. All dash lights turn on, vehicle starts stalling and slowing down, then trembles until the vehicle is turn off. We have had to pull to the side of the road, turn off the ignition, and wait five to ten minutes to restart the vehicle, emergency lights turned on for safety. We have encountered very hazardous circumstances with this vehicle on the hwy as well as in the city limits, always fearing that we may get hit from behind. We have taken our vehicle into the car dealer where we purchased it describing the problem, but to no avail. We are told nothing is wrong with the vehicle, and the machine finds nothing wrong with our vehicle. We have also taken our car to our vehicle mechanic, and told us it was the sensors in the gas pedal, which we had replaced for $400.00. A week later the vehicle started doing the same thing. Again we returned to our mechanic, whom in turn took the vehicle into the chevrolet car dealer service department; and was told that all chevy malibu came defective from the factory with this same problem. The…
I purchased the 2010 malibu, used from the dealership- they were the owners previously. I purchased it in oct. 2011 and have taken it to the dealership 8 times in the 9 months of owning it. One time the entire driver side floor had 1+ inches of standing water in it, after a rain. The esc light continued to come on and off- they couldn't locate any issue- the first 2 times I took it in for that. The oil life sensor never went off for service- I was at 10,000 miles since the last oil change. I took it to my real mechanic to have fixed. The battery went totally dead in it one day- they said it had bad cells in it. And it would also stall, and when going about 40 MPH not accelerate, on inclines. That's when the esc light would kick on, sometimes, and the RPM's would go up and down, all over the place. Finally made the dealership keep it until they figured out something- they kept it a few days, and called me numerous times asking me unrelated questions- they thought I was nuts, because they couldn't reproduce the issue. Finally- they told me a wire in the fuel injection had come loose. My car was so called 'certified' by the…
Also reported on the 2010 Chevrolet Malibu
Other steering problem
Cruise control failure
Other electrical problem
Other driver assistance problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 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 fuel system problem happen on the 2010 Chevrolet Malibu?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other fuel system problem on the 2010 Chevrolet Malibu?
13 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