cdelta1975

I bought my 2010 Impala about a year and a half ago, and was extremely pleased with it. About 4 months after I got the car, I got a warning light saying service “SERVICE STABILITRACK, ENGINE POWER REDUCED”. I took the car to the dealer and they wanted 600 dollars to change a valve. Needless to say I didn’t have the money at the time, so I started doing some research. Lots of people have had this issue and have changed multiple parts with no fix to the problem. The problem persisted for a while and then something very strange and dangerous happened.
I was driving up a hill and got the STABILITRACK warning message. When I got to the top of the hill the car jerked very hard and I got a new message. “STARTING DISABLED SERVICE THROTTLE”. The engine completely shut down on me. I had to coast to the side of the road luckily there were few cars or I could have been seriously injured.
The car went the entire summer without incident, but now that the cold has started, the STABILITRACK message is back and once again the car shut down on me. This time I was on the highway and I had to coast across four lanes to get to the shoulder. That was terrifying especially with my daughter in the car (luckily she was asleep).
I need to understand why the car is designed to shut down like that. I have heard that it is a safety feature to protect the engine from damage. If that is the case, my question is what about protecting my life? There should be no reason the car is able to reduce power on the engine or shut the engine down on its own. That is not safe at all. I also am wondering, with the number of people that I have heard of online that have had the STABILITRACK issue why hasn’t there been a recall or at least a discount on maintenance. If anyone has any more info on this issue please reply.

sledge.impy

The car is all electronic - no more throttle cables. If the TPS sensor is giving a bad value - do you want the car to act like it is running at full throttle? How does it know how much throttle you are giving it?
The car doesn't know where the throttle position sensor is - so it goes into limp mode.

You are responsible for your own repairs, which you have neglected.

The reduced engine power is mentioned in the owner's manual - you can read about it there in a pdf by googling for it if you don't have one with your car.

slimfine318

I HAVE A 2010 IMPALA BEEN HAD IT 3YRS BEEN RUNNING FINE TIL BOUT 3 WEEKS AGO I TOOK IT TO CHEVYLAND THE GUY CHARGED ME $2114 FOR SUM FRONT END WORK WHICH I DIDNT NEED THEN HE CALLED SAID MY CAR WAS READY ONLY TO GET THERE AND THE ENGINE REDUCED LIGHT STILL ON. HE KEPT MY CAR ANOTHER WEEK THEN CALLED AND SAID THEY FOUND THE PROBLEM AND IT WAS GOIN TO BE 730.00. I TALKED TO THE MANAGER HE SAID HE WOULD GET THE PROBLEM FIXED AND I WOULDNT HAVE TO PAY NOTHING ELSE. WELL I DONE HAD MY CAR BACK A WEEK NOW THE LIGHT CAME BACK ON A DAY AGO N TODAY IT SHUT DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF ME DRIVING SAYING SERVICE THROTTLE. IM SO FRUSTATED AND MAD. CHEVYLAND REALLY PLAYED ME OUT MY MONEY AND I WANA TAKE FURTHER ACTIONS

Tlsouthern

I have taken my car to the dealer this has nothing to do with the person doing anything. Its a GM problem and even their own mechanics will tell you that this is the issue. There is something wrong with them. Maybe when someone gets killed over this and they get sued they will decide to do something about it..oh I forgot they did. They sent a letter that if the car had less then 120000 miles to take it in and they would fix it free. Mileage has nothing to do with this my car did the same thing over a year ago I took it in they did a wiring something and still as I pulled in my drive coming home the same crap happen. Their vehicles are crappy, period.

cleveland63b

they have a special coverage for the most common causes, and its much safer and less expensive for the car disable/slow itself. Would you rather be going wide open throttle with no control? Or have it stick and blow the engine up? Then you'd have an explosion and if that didnt hurt you you'd still be forced to slow down or pull over. The only reason people think its a bad design is because they have no idea how or why it works. Not to mention the OP mentioned they didnt even fix what they were told to fix - how is that GMs fault?

Tlsouthern

How is that GMs fault? Because it is an issue with their vehicles across the board. Does not matter the mileage or anything else. My car I bought the extended and extra plan. I paid the additional $1200 but they couldnt figure it out when it was covered. Then they send a special coverage letter, my car was 3000 miles over. I had a GM mechanic fix it on his own time and yes he said it is a GM issue. It applies to many vehicles not just the Malibu.
Someone is going to die from this and they will find themselves liable since they know of the issues and they refuse to fix it.

cleveland63b

You misinterpreted what I was saying, if the repair is declined then you can't still complain about the same issue. I'm a GM technician myself and there are some issues more common than others but as I have repeated myself many many many times on these forums theres way more things that cause the reduced power mode than people seem to want to admit or acknowledge. So how do you warranty any driveability problem wrong with a vehicle? And at some point it shouldn't be warranty as warranty is for manufacturer defects not wear and tear, if the car is over 120k as when most of the special coverages expire I don't get how its the manufacturers fault. That's like saying a part will NEVER wear out which is BS no matter who how or why it was made. If you heard the stories and dealt with some of the stuff we do i'm sure you're view would be a bit different.

allanpkw

I own a Chevrolet Equinox 2011 4 cylinder and a 2014 Chevrolet Impala. The Equinox is just rolling 70k miles, I first experienced the loss/reduction of engine power (with the Equinox) on my way to wok in a snow storm. This is one scary situation as the roads are a bit slick visibility is low and you can't really see where the edge of the road is; then all of a sudden you lose engine power to a point it feels like you have completely stopped. Pressing the gas pedal does nothing that is noticeable, max speed is reduced to 10 MPH people behind you honking screaming and throwing hand gestures. This is one stressful situation people may panic which may lead to an accident. Thankfully this time there was no accident. After getting the vehicle to a dealer and having it diagnosed it turned out to be a bad front wheel abs sensor. Someone please explain to me why Chevrolet in their infinite wisdom would reduce engine power due to one abs sensor failing. Isn't an abs warning light good enough?

Second time I experienced this loss/reduced engine power was again the Equinox, turned out to be a dirty throttle body. Cleaned the throttle body and problem never returned. Again Chevrolet you really need to consider what failures should constitute the reduced engine power a dirty throttle body should not cause a reduction in engine power.

Third time experiencing this loss/reduction of engine power was in the impala. Returning home from work on icy roads and all of a sudden the traction control light, stabilitrack light along with abs light all illuminate; however this just isn't enough for Chevrolet as the power steering was also disabled. This all happened on 2/20/2019 unfortunately this last occurrence did result in an accident where the vehicle ended up in a ditch and required towing. The vehicle is in the shop being repaired(7k repair bill) and as of this day I do not know what caused the reduction of engine power and all the other lights to illuminate. Once the repairs are complete I am sure I will get a full report. This is a huge safety concern and GM really needs to address it.

Both vehicles will go up for sale and I will never be a GM customer again.

Doreen Marian Orange Hostetter

unfortunately I own this garbage too but as much as I want to sell it... I dont want someone else to inherit my death trap! I will never but Chevy junk again!