Cruise control failure on the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu
When cruise control failure gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu report cruise control failure at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 72,000 miles. It is the 28th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 134,166 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.
44% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15,705 miles | 16,631 miles | 62,000 miles | 149,871 miles | 149,871 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 $200–$1,400 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 21 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 174; the 2013 has 12. 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.
Driving 55mph on cruise control, I heard a warning chime. Looked at dash and the words engine power is reduced were on the screen. I looked for a symbol on the dash to tell me more and saw the engine symbol was on. The car didn't perform out of character from already going 55 on cruise. Nothing changed in the engine performance. I continued toward home as that was my destination and was less than 15 miles from home. I parked the car in my garage, turned off the engine, waited a few seconds, then started the engine again. The warning came on right away. I called the dealer who I'm leasing the car from but it was a saturday afternoon and they were closed. I did leave them a message to call me on monday and why. I have not and will not drive the car until I hear from the dealer and have a date and time to bring it in because of the concern the engine could power down as I'm driving according to internet forums I since read that others with the same warning said their car did slow down on a fast busy highway. This warning is in the manual that came with the car and says it is the throttle body sensor gone bad. *tr
Driving 55mph on cruise control, I heard a warning chime. Looked at dash and the words engine power is reduced were on the screen. I looked for a symbol on the dash to tell me more and saw the engine symbol was on. The car didn't perform out of character from already going 55 on cruise. Nothing changed in the engine performance. I continued toward home as that was my destination and was less than 15 miles from home. I parked the car in my garage, turned off the engine, waited a few seconds, then started the engine again. The warning came on right away. I called the dealer who I'm leasing the car from but it was a saturday afternoon and they were closed. I did leave them a message to call me on monday and why. I have not and will not drive the car until I hear from the dealer and have a date and time to bring it in because of the concern the engine could power down as I'm driving according to internet forums I since read that others with the same warning said their car did slow down on a fast busy highway. This warning is in the manual that came with the car and says it is the throttle body sensor gone bad. *tr
Driving 55mph on cruise control, I heard a warning chime. Looked at dash and the words engine power is reduced were on the screen. I looked for a symbol on the dash to tell me more and saw the engine symbol was on. The car didn't perform out of character from already going 55 on cruise. Nothing changed in the engine performance. I continued toward home as that was my destination and was less than 15 miles from home. I parked the car in my garage, turned off the engine, waited a few seconds, then started the engine again. The warning came on right away. I called the dealer who I'm leasing the car from but it was a saturday afternoon and they were closed. I did leave them a message to call me on monday and why. I have not and will not drive the car until I hear from the dealer and have a date and time to bring it in because of the concern the engine could power down as I'm driving according to internet forums I since read that others with the same warning said their car did slow down on a fast busy highway. This warning is in the manual that came with the car and says it is the throttle body sensor gone bad. *tr
Also reported on the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Other suspension problem
Alternator or charging system failure
Other driver assistance problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 cruise control failure happen on the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cruise control failure on the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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