Other brake problem on the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu
1 crash 1 of the 22 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 brake problem gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu report other brake problem at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles, from 18 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 20th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 111,143 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.
44% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,267 miles | 24,021 miles | 50,039 miles | 83,000 miles | 114,410 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, 1 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 $300–$1,800 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 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 1997, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 117; the 2013 has 22. 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 2013 chevrolet malibu. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds the transmission would shift abruptly. The contact stated that after depressing the brakes there was slight delay before it engaged. The vehicle was taken to dealer however the vehicle was not inspected. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. The failure mileage was 1,460 and the current mileage was 2,041.
When I was driving I noticed that every so often my brakes would feel really stiff when braking. Later that day, parked vehicle in the driveway and brake lights would not go off, had to go into vehicle and lift brake pedal up to get lights to go off. Noticed later that day that brake pedal was getting stuck down after I released my foot off the brake. Does not do it everytime I break but did start to do it the day we had 90% humidity. Still have to sometimes lift the pedal up to get the lights to go off. *tr
3/20 I was going 35 when it lost power and brake.onstar towed to dealer 4 days later was told it was traction control and fixed. 4/29 going 50 and lost power, and braked to 28 MPH. Onstar again towed to dealer has sat there for 24 days and counting with no resolution from gm. This is a 2013 chevy malibu.I am currently looking to have it declared a lemon. *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 22 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 brake problem happen on the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu?
Across 18 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other brake problem on the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu?
22 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 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