Vehicle Data Hub

2002 Chevrolet Malibu electrical system problems

270 complaints about electrical system have been filed for the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu, which is 36% of all its NHTSA complaints. It is the most reported problem area for this model year.

At a glance

Complaints
270 36% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage
78,000 miles 201 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires
3 and 0
Injuries and deaths
0 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When electrical system problems show up

Electrical system complaints by mileage, 2002 Chevrolet Malibu Complaints by odometer reading in 20,000-mile steps. The median is about 78,000 miles. 0k to 20k miles: 12 complaints 20k to 40k miles: 15 complaints 40k to 60k miles: 34 complaints 60k to 80k miles: 46 complaints 80k to 100k miles: 24 complaints 100k to 120k miles: 28 complaints 120k to 140k miles: 19 complaints 140k to 160k miles: 11 complaints 160k to 180k miles: 10 complaints 180k to 200k miles: 0 complaints 200k+ miles: 2 complaints 040k80k120k160k200k miles Typical: 78,000 miles
Based on 201 complaints that include mileage. 30% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.
View the numbers
MileageComplaints
0k to 20k miles12
20k to 40k miles15
40k to 60k miles34
60k to 80k miles46
80k to 100k miles24
100k to 120k miles28
120k to 140k miles19
140k to 160k miles11
160k to 180k miles10
180k to 200k miles0
200k+ miles2

What the data shows

Of the 201 electrical system complaints that report mileage, the median is about 78,000 miles, and 30% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 3 crashes.

What owners wrote

1. The turn signals would not illuminate. Just stopped working for no reason. Lights were not burned out. Then they mysteriously started working just as they had stopped. For no reason. Incidents became more frequent with no apparent cause. Not weather related. After reading complaints on this site, I found that if I turned on my hazard flashers, the blinkers would work again. 2. I was rear ended on 11/4/11 though and could not get the flashers to work.

Reported at 150,384 miles, March 2011 Crash

I am the owner of a 2002 chevrolet malibu with just over 50,000 miles use. Over the past 6 months the car has exhibited a failure to start. A little research shows that this is the result of a common failure of the GM passlock system. The temporary fix is to reset the system by turning the ignition key to the on position and waiting 10-15 minutes. Needless to say, this is very annoying and inconvenient.

Reported at 45,000 miles, May 2007

Other problems reported for the 2002 Chevrolet Malibu

Electrical system problems in other years

Electrical system problems across all Chevrolet models