Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu
2 crashes 1 injury 3 of the 30 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles, from 21 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 114,000 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.
43% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11,000 miles | 21,220 miles | 57,000 miles | 75,000 miles | 125,000 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 and 1 an injury are 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 $700–$3,000 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 24 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2013 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 97; the 2016 has 30. 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 2016 chevrolet malibu. While driving at various speeds, the stabilizing traction warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle emitted a loud noise from the steering wheel and the vehicle shuttered. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the power steering control module failed and needed to be replaced. The dealer de-coded all the warning indicators and informed the contact that a new amplifier was being manufactured. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 2,614.
When parking proximity sensors and parking camera failed, a change in BCM module was needed, after that an alert on transmission system appeared including the parking system again. Car has been with dealer 10 times counting almost 3months without it and without an accurate reason/solution.
2/2/18. Was traveling at 47 MPH when a truck stopped in front of me. I was approximately 10 car lengths away. I hit the brake to stop, felt the pedal vibrate for a few seconds and then the pedal went to the floor and the vibration went away. Pumped the pedal again and slowed the vehicle and was able to get over to the right before hitting the truck. The air bags did not deploy, the auto stop feature did not work. The onstar did not activate.the roads were dry, and the road was flat. Gm sent someone to retrieve the data from the computers, we have copies of the report. The data shows 5 seconds before the crash. According to the braking data, the brake was applied at 47 MPH and the vehicle slowed but did not stop. After getting the vehicle back from the body shop, we had the codes pulled and found numerous codes in the different modules. There was a code u0415-71- invalid data received from electronic brake control module present as a history code. We took the vehicle to a chevy dealer and they confirmed all the same codes. We had to take the car back to the original dealer that did the body work in case it was accident related. The…
Also reported on the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other powertrain problem
Other speed control problem
Other driver assistance problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 30 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu?
Across 21 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 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 control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu?
30 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 19 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