2012 CHEVROLET MALIBU — Complaint #2080378
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) filed April 4, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2080378 (ODI reference 11652855) concerns a 2012 CHEVROLET MALIBU and was filed on April 4, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 15, 2025. The vehicle had 107,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Pennsylvania based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as electronic stability control (esc), one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same CHEVROLET MALIBU cohort independently describe similar electronic stability control (esc) failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2012 CHEVROLET MALIBU shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 14V252000 (ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, EXTERIOR LIGHTING, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) and 15V269000 ( SEAT BELTS); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The contact stated that while driving at 50 MPH, the steering wheel vibrated and seized. The "ESC" and âTraction Control" warning lights were illuminated. The contact used a scanner and diagnosed the vehicle with steering failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The dealer was made aware of the issue and wanted to charge the contact for the parts. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was approximately 107,000. Parts distribution disconnect.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2080378 |
| ODI Number | 11652855 |
| Date Filed | April 4, 2025 |
| Failure Date | March 15, 2025 |
| VIN | 1G1ZA5EU4CF |
Similar ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) Complaints for 2012 CHEVROLET MALIBU
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TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2012 CHEVROLET MALIBU. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 35 MPH, THE VEHICLE STALLED WITHOUT WARNING, THE VEHICLE WAS UNABLE TO BE RESTARTED. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE SERVICE
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.