GM goodwill program..

[BUTCH1]

About a month ago I was lowering my power seat when it felt like it hit something but inspection revealed nothing. I Googled Malibu seat problems to see if anyone else had this problem, turns out 2004=2007 models have had some issues with the seat frame cracking where the welds are and mine was cracked as well. I called Chevy about the issue, my car is out of warranty (05), told the girl that yea, stuff goes bad on 5.5 year old car but a seat frame should never crack (unless your having freaky sex with a 'biggin on it) and it's a safety concern, a seat is what helps keep you in the car during a crash!, she sent me to the dealer where I bought it today, they inspected it and saw the cracked weld, GM is going to pony up the part($570) and local dealer is going to install it for free ($400 labor) I give GM a lot of credit here they could have legitimately just blown me off but did the right thing.

 

[ussfletcher]

GM is doing much better now than they used to. I had them replace some of the steering wheel control switches for me, for free.

 

[BUTCH1]

GM is doing much better now than they used to. I had them replace some of the steering wheel control switches for me, for free.

I had some problems with those as well but it was within the 3 year warranty.

 

[Bignate603]

That's pretty impressive that they're doing all that. Doing things like that are better than any advertising they could possibly find.

 

[BUTCH1]

That's pretty impressive that they're doing all that. Doing things like that are better than any advertising they could possibly find.

I agree, I thanked the girl and told her this will go a long way towards me buying another GM product when it's time for trade in.

 

[marvdmartian]

Yep, a whole lot better than the late 80's cars they produced, where the clear coat was stripping off in huge chunks, and they just shrugged and said, "Not our problem, your paint warranty was 1 year" (literally, to me).

Later on, once they were aware of high widespread the problem really was, they decided to repaint the cars for free (I believe), but by then, I was already driving a competing company's car, with ZERO paint defects.

 

[BUTCH1]

Yep, a whole lot better than the late 80's cars they produced, where the clear coat was stripping off in huge chunks, and they just shrugged and said, "Not our problem, your paint warranty was 1 year" (literally, to me).

Later on, once they were aware of high widespread the problem really was, they decided to repaint the cars for free (I believe), but by then, I was already driving a competing company's car, with ZERO paint defects.

A lot of cars from that era had paint issues, IIRC the changed traditional priming for some dip process only to find out it had issues down the road. Surprised they didn't offer to repaint it since it happened within the 3 year warranty period.

 

[manimal]

A lot of cars from that era had paint issues, IIRC the changed traditional priming for some dip process only to find out it had issues down the road. Surprised they didn't offer to repaint it since it happened within the 3 year warranty period.

This is very true. My infinity sees a rock on the side
Of the road and a chunk of
Clear coat chunks off the nose....

 

[Bignate603]

I agree, I thanked the girl and told her this will go a long way towards me buying another GM product when it's time for trade in.

And you're telling people about how well they treated you. They turned something that would hurt their reputation (something that should normally never break failed) into something that helps their reputation.

 

[BUTCH1]

And you're telling people about how well they treated you. They turned something that would hurt their reputation (something that should normally never break failed) into something that helps their reputation.

So true, car still runs great, old school pushrod only outputs 228FT/200HP but does extremely good MPG, 23/26/32. Interior components could have been of better quality, maybe that was addressed in '08 with the new model..

 

[bruceb]

Glad they are taking care of it. But I do question $400 (even though you are not paying it) to switch the seat frames. That should be an easy 1-2 hours job at most.

 

[BUTCH1]

Glad they are taking care of it. But I do question $400 (even though you are not paying it) to switch the seat frames. That should be an easy 1-2 hours job at most.

That's what I thought too, everything is right there and accessible, I was going by some who have had it fixed and what they paid, service manager said she would be re-using my old seat, maybe other dealers just replaced the entire seat as a complete unit so more $$.

 

[SparkyJJO]

And you're telling people about how well they treated you. They turned something that would hurt their reputation (something that should normally never break failed) into something that helps their reputation.

True, but sometimes when you have a defect the best you can do is own up to the problem and take care of it.

Every manufacturer has had some defect. Some are really stupid things like the seat frame. But if they take care of it, then good. I'm not going to hold it against them too much if the problem is fixed because things happen.

 

[paperfist]

Not to be cynical, but that in essence was your tax payer bailout money you kindly sent out to GM to keep them afloat.

 

[BUTCH1]

Not to be cynical, but that in essence was your tax payer bailout money you kindly sent out to GM to keep them afloat.

Not "your", "ours" and seeing as I'm getting a $1000 repair for free, I'm way ahead of you!..No seriously, I believe the money GM borrowed has been paid in full..

 

[BUTCH1]

True, but sometimes when you have a defect the best you can do is own up to the problem and take care of it.

Every manufacturer has had some defect. Some are really stupid things like the seat frame. But if they take care of it, then good. I'm not going to hold it against them too much if the problem is fixed because things happen.

Yea, the problems didn't start to appear until these cars got to 4+years old, might have just been a crappy design from a supplier and no one in GM quality control noticed it..

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

You fat?

 

[BUTCH1]

You fat?

LOL, no, 5' 10" 195lbs. Some of the failures I saw posted about peoples 95lb wives driving the car and it failed. Mine looks like a fair amount of corrosion is in the metal but I do live in FL, everything corrodes faster..

 

[WackyDan]

Got an 05 Malibu as well. Got the 3.5.

Have had a lot of minor issues for the most part:

-The turn signal sockets I think I finally have cured.
-Power lock buttons inside flaky
-Power mirrors are flaky.
-All buttons have that painted on finish...which wears off quickly - Very cheap of them.
-Interior plastics have all done poorly, major discoloration/staining
- Cooks any battery at the 3 year mark. Doesn't matter how cheap or how expensive or how rated... 3 years, and need to buy a new battery... Just too much heat in these crapped engine compartments... that isn't just a Malibu issue, but I can pretty much set my calendar to this one's battery failing.
Paint is subpar.

The major:
- The freaking steering columns that GM used in much of their line of sedan and coupes throughout the middle of the last decade. Have had it lubed four times, and replaced once. GM covered it out of warranty as they know they are a problem, but also because they replaced it without asking us first. LOL.

- Now have very slight oil leak from timing chain cover. Yes.. the 3.5 has a timing chain... This isn't a big deal yet.

The car gets great HWY mileage even with the V6, repetitive fill ups on long trips have topped at 37 MPG. The car is the perfect size for what my wife likes to drive. That year, it was one of the safest cars on the road in it's class. We now have just over 60K on it.

Needless to say, I know it is an economy sedan, so my expectations weren't that stellar. There has been enough annoyances however, that I'm skipping even considering GM for our next two vehicles. Ford is probably going to get our next purchase this year to replace my truck, and probably the Malibu eventually.

I've owned used Pontiacs and Chevy, and some were great cars, and some weren't. Those were 1978, 1983, 1986. For a 2005, I thought the Malibu would be of far better quality than any other GM product I had owned. The amount of nagging little issues for a 2005 car however is ridiculous.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Something to bear in mind is 2005 is during Wagner's bean counter days. While I still am sour about government basically firing him (what right do they have to do that? NONE) in one way it was probably a good thing to get Wagner out of there and get someone else who has a better idea about cars and not just the beans.

BTW, I don't understand what the issue is with the 3.5 having a timing chain. I'd MUCH rather have a chain over a belt!

 

[BUTCH1]

Got an 05 Malibu as well. Got the 3.5.

Have had a lot of minor issues for the most part:

-The turn signal sockets I think I finally have cured.
-Power lock buttons inside flaky
-Power mirrors are flaky.
-All buttons have that painted on finish...which wears off quickly - Very cheap of them.
-Interior plastics have all done poorly, major discoloration/staining
- Cooks any battery at the 3 year mark. Doesn't matter how cheap or how expensive or how rated... 3 years, and need to buy a new battery... Just too much heat in these crapped engine compartments... that isn't just a Malibu issue, but I can pretty much set my calendar to this one's battery failing.
Paint is subpar.

The major:
- The freaking steering columns that GM used in much of their line of sedan and coupes throughout the middle of the last decade. Have had it lubed four times, and replaced once. GM covered it out of warranty as they know they are a problem, but also because they replaced it without asking us first. LOL.

- Now have very slight oil leak from timing chain cover. Yes.. the 3.5 has a timing chain... This isn't a big deal yet.

The car gets great HWY mileage even with the V6, repetitive fill ups on long trips have topped at 37 MPG. The car is the perfect size for what my wife likes to drive. That year, it was one of the safest cars on the road in it's class. We now have just over 60K on it.

Needless to say, I know it is an economy sedan, so my expectations weren't that stellar. There has been enough annoyances however, that I'm skipping even considering GM for our next two vehicles. Ford is probably going to get our next purchase this year to replace my truck, and probably the Malibu eventually.

I've owned used Pontiacs and Chevy, and some were great cars, and some weren't. Those were 1978, 1983, 1986. For a 2005, I thought the Malibu would be of far better quality than any other GM product I had owned. The amount of nagging little issues for a 2005 car however is ridiculous.

I got lucky with the bulbs, no problem so far, the steering noise is the intermediate shaft, had mine lubed once but now it's back, it won't fail just makes the annoying noise sometimes. Radio knobs, ditto, (mine ate a CD at year 3 so I got a new radio so mine still look OK), the interior, my side panels came unglued, had to glue 'em back, I got Chevy to replace battery at end of warranty, your right, 3 yrs but my last car (Ford was exactly the same, FL heat cooks 'em), power door locks, mine would go up and down on their own, turned out to be a short in the harness in drivers door, fixed under warranty, pin-striping faded at year 3, had it redone under warranty. I think the redesign in '08 upped the quality of a lot of the interior parts, the 3.5 is remarkably good on gas, I get 23/26/32 and has plenty of power to pass IMO, the '08 models got the newer 3.6 with 255HP and is noticeably quicker than our 3.5, 0 to 60 7.6 (old). 6.6 (new) but cannot match our old school 3.5 for fuel economy, I understand why Chevy did it, the Accord, Altima, Camry have had this type of HP in their V6's for years but for me my car is plenty fast enough as is and the pushrod V6 is a reliable time proven design, I'm hoping no more major problems as I want to get 10-12 years out of it. BTW in case you didn't get a notice in the mail GM is extending the warranty on the electronic power steering to 10/100K due to the high failure rate in the '04 (and some '05's), if yours goes bad Chevy will replace it free. I'm on the fence as to buy GM next time out, as we know a lot of parts in our Malibu's (mostly interior) were not the best quality but maybe that's been corrected nowadays and them replacing the seat frame for free impressed me..

 

[bruceb]

If I have a choice I do not want any car with electronic steering.

 

[exar333]

Not to be off-topic, but VW was pretty helpful to my fiance last month for post-warranty issues as well. Literally less than 4k after her 50k warranty expired, one of her engine fans died, her alternator died, and a brake-line started to go out. VW covered all these repairs after calling the VW USA rep, and the out-of-pocket expenses were only about $100.

It's good to see companies helping out their customers when obvious quality issues are present. After my 1992 GM car, I wasn't thinking I would EVER buy one again, but they have made some great strides in the last 2-3 years. Same with Ford.

 

[WackyDan]

If I have a choice I do not want any car with electronic steering.

I now have two vehicles with this. You can't tell the difference. Main thing is, less draw on the engine, increasing MPG. I only had issues with one vehicle and it was simple a swap of the electric motor that powers the steering... which even if the motor fails you can still steer - you just lose power steering.

 

[WackyDan]

Something to bear in mind is 2005 is during Wagner's bean counter days. While I still am sour about government basically firing him (what right do they have to do that? NONE) in one way it was probably a good thing to get Wagner out of there and get someone else who has a better idea about cars and not just the beans.

BTW, I don't understand what the issue is with the 3.5 having a timing chain. I'd MUCH rather have a chain over a belt!

No issue with it having a chain... Kinda like that aspect actually. The leak right now is just a seep. Noting dripping onto the driveway. Looks like a PITA to get at though. So while I normally jump on repairs as soon as I need one, for the timing chain cover, I'm going to wait and see if it will just remain a seep until we ditch the car. Had it a bit over six years now and am hoping to keep it at least ten.